Goodbye Aotearoa

Well, this is the final blog I will write from New Zealand.  Even as I write that, I'm left with mix feelings.

Upon graduating, I took a risk to forgo a stable income to guide hikes and then come to New Zealand with nothing more planned than a flight to Auckland and 3 nights accommodation.  While I tried to hide it, I was a bit uncertain about how it'd all go. It turned out to well exceed all of my expectations.  Not only did I get a job, I guided jet ski tours and lived 1 block off the beach.  I went on the longest hike to date and spent my record-longest period of time in the backcountry.  I've spent over 40 days in New Zealand's backcountry huts.  I've met friends from New Zealand, America and places every where in between.  I've learned to drive a manual and sail a boat.  I've kayaked with orcas and hiked next to kiwis.  I've successfully hitch hiked and lived out of a station wagon.  I've been amazed at how many people have reached out to give me a ride, bed, meal, or just advice or a chat.  I've had the incredible experience of showing my parents and one of my best friends the place I fell in love with.  New Zealand and its people will always hold a very special place in my heart!

With that said, New Zealand was a bit in my comfort zone.  When I came here in 2013, I knew I'd meet people studying at Otago and make friends easily.  Coming back, I already had some contacts here and some sense of the country, job opportunities, etc.  In two days, I will step on to a plane to Bali and out of my comfort zone.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous at all, but like I've done so many times before, I am sure I will grow from it, learn from it, and experience things I can't even fathom yet.

On Thursday, I will fly to Bali, Indonesia where I'll spend nearly 3 weeks (between Bali, Lombok, and the Gilli Islands) before going to Thailand on July 1st.  Of course I am upset to leave a place that finally started to feel like home, but at the same time am thrilled to see what Asia has in store! Hopefully you got a sense of my "lifestyle" through the blog and have enjoyed following along.

Back to Work

Whoever said I couldn't work hard was wrong!  I choose to play a lot harder, but I am apparently capable of hard work too!

After visiting friends in Dunedin and Invercargill, I got to Wanaka hoping to find a job.  The challenge was that I wanted to work as many hours as possible, but only for 2 weeks or so.  After only 2 days in Wanaka, I found a posting online for a farm job in Central Otago, and took it!

I am a general farm hand, primarily spraying weeds and splitting firewood, but am on a casual contract meaning I can leave whenever I want.  On the contrary, I can be fired at any time, but doubt that'd happen.  Food and accommodation is provided as well, which is good seeing as the farm is quite literally in the middle of nowhere!  It is called Linnburn Station and is nearest to Paerau, but the farm is over 20 miles long and over 8,000 hectares. Needless to say, I've only seen a small portion of it, but they primarily grow sheep and cattle for meat, but also do all sorts of other things. The house I am in is shared accommodation with my own bedroom.  When I got here there were 3 others, but now there are 4--an American, a Swede, and 2 Brits.  All are very friendly, the house is nothing fancy, but gets the job done, and the food is very good.  Surprisingly, we get lots of meat!

We start work at 7:30am, which took a bit of getting used to, but the sunrises are nice!  We finish at 5:30pm and they give us food for dinner, which we all eat at our house together.  The weather has been incredible, which is nice as its a lot of physical work outside.  While it will not go down as the most fun thing I did abroad, it is a really cool experience.  Plus, I learned to drive a manual truck.  While in 4WD offroad.  While towing a 1 ton spray tank.  Talk about trial by fire!  And the farmer still doesn't know that I don't actually really know how to drive a manual.  Anyway, I'm done 1 week and have 1 left, then 2 weeks to enjoy NZ before I follow the sun to Asia!

Sunshine in the Mountains

On the way up Avalanche Peak

I'm on a role with the blog now!  After the West Coast, I went to Arthur's Pass, which is a small village and a large National Park.  I met a guy on my trip in Kahurangi who lives in the village and let me stay with him and he spoiled me!  Not only did he offer great local advice, he provided a bed (only the 5th time I slept in a real bed since my parents left a month ago), delicious home-cooked meals, and plenty of "hiking food."  Plus he had traveled the world and hiked a lot in NZ and abroad, so had plenty of great stories.  And he had a picture book of NZ's mountains, which I loved, so he let me keep it as a souvenir.  People like him really make the travel experience and give you faith in humanity!

Anyway, his suggestion, based on the weather forecast was to climb Avalanche Peak the first day, then do the Edwards-Hawdon route the next 3 days.  I had an absolutely stunning day on Avalanche Peak and it gives incredible views from the top across the main divide.  In many ways it reminded me of climbing a 14er in Colorado, but these mountains are all under 8,000 feet!  As I said, the view from the top was amazing and the weather was perfect so I sat on the top for almost an hour and a half!

On Edwards-Hawdon route

The next morning I went to start the Edwards-Hawdon route, which the Dept of Conservation considers the hardest level of track below technical climbing, as it had many unbridged river crossings and large sections of unmarked track.  However, Gerald ensured me it was pretty straightforward and the rivers were low enough to be crossed easily, so on I went.  The first day was 4 hours of following the Edwards River, which was partially forested and partially open with views of the mountains on either side of the valley.  Surprisingly, I had the hut to myself! For the first time, I experienced an earthquake, which was rather terrifying in a hut by yourself!  It was only magnitude 4.2, but gave the hut a good shake and my mind immediately went to Nepal and I was waiting for the roof to collapse or the mountains to start spewing rocks at me.  Luckily, after a couple seconds everything was back to normal!  With a nearly full moon, the sky was bright, but the stars were still spectacular.  The next day was the big day with 2 mountain passes and a col.  As Gerald said, the track was very straightforward with where I needed to go.  It took 6 hours to complete, with stops, but was one of the best hikes I'd done in New Zealand! The scenery was unbelievable as you crossed three river valleys with views in every direction of peaks and several tarns!  I've given up on picking a favourite hike, but this is up there.  The sense of accomplishment completing a "challenging" track alone was nice too.  On the final day, it was an easy 2.5 hour walk out the Hawdon Valley where I was picked up again by Gerald and taken to his place for a shower and lunch before going on my way!

On Edwards-Hawdon route

I'd planned to go to Mt. Cook National Park afterwards, but the forecast was awful, so I decided to drive to Dunedin again.  The weather here is surprisingly nice, as I think the storm is still moving east and hasn't made it here yet.  On the drive down, I was guided by the full moon, which lit the ocean.  There's something really magical about a starry night sky or the full moon, winter or summer!  Anyway, I am in Dunedin for a few days, then down to visit a friend in Gore (and get my car fixed), and finally over to Wanaka where I will try to work.  For the first time in the past few days it began to hit me that I leave soon.  While I'm upset about leaving New Zealand, I'm also excited for the next adventure.

Avalanche Peak summit

On a sad note, a friend of mine who I lived next door to when I studied in Dunedin and shared my car with, along with many hikes, passed away in his off-campus house at Wake Forest over the weekend.  While we lost touch since leaving New Zealand, it is still extremely sad, especially as the rumor is that it was suicide.  The reason I bring this up is that I just wanted to take a moment to say that, despite me leaving for the opposite side of the world, I love you all so much and miss you every day.

Now, for a happy ending, the trees here are still holding a bit of fall colour, but many are bare as winter approaches.  With any luck there are two short hikes I still want to do if I can, but otherwise, I couldn't have been happier if the Edwards-Hawdon track was my last big trip in the hills!

Wild West Coast

Paparoa Range

Due to atrocious weather forecasts, I decided to skip climbing Mt. Owen and head straight to Westport at the northern part of the West Coast. The West Coast is known for extreme weather and it didn't disappoint.  When I got into Westport, there were periods of clear, but also periods of crazy downpours.  I decided to go to a holiday park to "camp" in my car for the night and it was luxury!  I got to shower, finally after 6 days, clean all my dishes, empty my rubbish, charge my electronics, and even watch Nepal and Baltimore on the news!  After a great night sleep, I went to Cape Foulwind, which is supposed to be a nice walk, but the weather was slightly less than ideal.  However, I did run into 2 friends who worked in Paihia for the summer!

View from hut to the S. Alps

Next, I began driving down the Great Ocean Road.  This stretch of road is meant to be one of the top 10 scenic roads in the world and it was okay, but I feel that it's a bit overrated.  The weather may have affected it a bit, but I stopped along the way at the Pancake Rocks.  They're a neat area of the coastline where the limestone cliffs have cool lines in them, like stacked pancakes, from the water hitting the cliffs.  Finally, I was on to Greymouth, the largest city on the West Coast.  The weather by now was beyond disgusting--cold, windy, and wet.  I walked around town a little bit, but then lingered in the library, the supermarket, and McDonalds for warmth (and wifi).  I ate a store-bought pizza in my car as it was too cold to cook outside, but still had time to kill if I was to sleep in my car at the trailhead--I can't sit in my car that long!  For the first time in a long time, I decided to go to the movies and saw Get Hard, which was funny.  I even convinced them I was still a student to save $5, so I guess I don't look too old yet!  It worked out well and when the movie was over and I got to the trailhead parking lot, it was after 11pm and I was shortly asleep!  When I woke up after 9am (yes, I sleep well in my car) it was sunny, blue skies for my hike!

View from the ridge of the coast

I was going to do an easy track in Paparoa National Park with good views, so I was excited for it!  It was a very easy hike, but had amazing views.  From the hut, I could see east to the snow-covered peaks of the Southern Alps stretching as far as the eye could see from North to South.  Since I was at the hut by 1pm, I decided to walk along the ridge behind the hut and climbing Croesus Knob.  From there, you could not only see the Alps to the east, but also to the west coast stretching north and south!  I finally made it back to the hut, which I was in by myself, While I couldn't actually see the sunset since the hut faces east, the sky turned pinkish purple and put an incredible glow over the mountains.  It was also pretty cool to actually sit on the side of a mountain and watch headlights and house lights below!  At 9;50pm, two clueless young German guys showed up in the hut, having gotten lost on the way, which is impressive with how obvious that track is, but they started in the dark--dumb!  I noticed I am not super impressed with New Zealand's roads or tourist attractions anymore, but the hikes stun me every time!

Bunks in the hut

Since I got a few questions about huts, I figured I'd explain a bit.  There are over 950 huts in New Zealand from very luxurious to extremely basic.  I've stayed in 33 of them for a total of 47 nights, which ties the number of nights in a tent while at Wilderness Ventures.  That's over 3 months of my life, which is pretty cool!  Anyway, Great Walk huts are the most luxurious and cost between $35-55/night and they include flush toilets, wood stoves, lights, gas cookers, water, and bunks.  The most basic huts are free and include little more than bunks.  However, a "typical" hut has bunks with mattresses, a cooking area with a table, a wood (or coal) stove for heating, and water from either rainwater or diverted from a stream, along with an outhouse.  Most huts are between $5-15, but I have an annual hut pass, which was $120 and allows me to stay in nearly any hut!

Cooking area, table, and wood stove in a hut

To those of you following my knee saga, it is still very slightly swollen, but there is no pain at all anymore,  Likely, I'll need an MRI if the swelling doesn't heal, but won't do that here.  I am off to Arthur's Pass National Park today and met a guy last week who lives there who is letting me spend a night at his place!  Tomorrow I hope to start another hike as the forecast is good for a few more days, then may turn again, so we will play it all by ear.  Anyway, I am slowly making my south again hoping, if the weather is good, to hike in Arthur's Pass and Mt. Cook National Park, then visit friends for a few days again before looking for work!

The Top of the Bottom

This one should actually be short, so let's get into it!

PuPu Springs

After leaving Nelson Lakes National Park, I went up to the Golden Bay area, which is the northwest section of the South Island.  I haven't been here before, but wanted to check out a few things.  Along the way, I stopped at the Pupu Springs, which is meant to be the clearest flowing water in the world!  It was pretty clear to say the least!  Afterwards I went to Farewell Spit, which is the longest sand spit in New Zealand and basically splits Golden Bay from the West Coast.  I walked along the beach there for a bit, then checked out Cape Farewell, which is the northernmost point on the South Island.  I just made it to Wharariki Beach on the West Coast for sunset, which was stunning!  Finally, I went to a deserted gravel area I noticed earlier to camp in my car for the night.  Turned out, 3 other cars had the same idea and it was a great spot, right on the coast!  I slept great under a sky full of stars and awoke to an awesome sunrise!

Sunset at Wharariki Beach

From the Tablelands

After checking out a bit more in that area, I was on to Kahurangi National Park in an area called the Mt. Arthur Tablelands.  On the way, I checked out a town called Takaka, which is a very unique little hippy town!  In the tablelands, there is a hut that you can literally drive to, which was convenient--like a free hostel!  The next morning I hiked a few hours up a ridge and across the tableland.  It is a really different area as it is a giant plateau surrounded by high peaks almost as if a few mountains just got their tops chopped off to form a big plateau.  The area is also full of strange rock formations and caves, which were neat to check out.  Unfortunately, the weather the rest of the trip turned quite a bit wetter, so I skipped climbing Mt Arthur and instead went to Asbestos Cottage for the night.  It was a very cool hut as it was over 100 years old (but restored) and it was a couples house for nearly 40 years as the man mined asbestos!  I had that night to myself, which was nice after sharing the hut with 12 members of the Wellington Tramping Club the night before.  The next morning, in the heavy rain, I went back to my car and decided to stay at the drive-up hut again.  There was another group from Auckland there who were friends, some of which had been hiking together for over 35 years!  While it is a bit annoying to have big groups in huts, they do tend to share food.  I certainly didn't lose weight on this trip!  On the drive back, I stopped at Harwoods Hole--New Zealands deepest "vertical shaft" aka cave/sinkhole!

Sunset at Wharariki

As most of you also have heard by now, I have booked a flight to Bali on June 11, so will officially be leaving NZ for Asia!  For now, I've got a bit more exploring to do, then maybe work for a few weeks, before leaving!

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, what a busy and amazing past month I’ve had! I assume you have heard all about the trip with Mom and Dad, so I’ll keep that section brief!

All of us in Milford Sound

Mom and Dad got in to Queenstown and it was so great to see them after 7 months! I gave them a bit of a break to walk around Queenstown and eat the famous FergBurger, but then we were on the road to Te Anau.  After walking around a small wildlife park and meeting one of my CouchSurfing hosts, I think everyone was ready for bed.  The next morning we were on our way to Milford Sound in Fiordland—one of my favourite drives and places in the world.  Despite being a bit chilly, we made all the usual stops along the way at the Chasm, Mirror Lakes, the Cathedral, and finally, a Milford Sound cruise where Mom and Dad got their first introduction to NZ fur seals.  As if that wasn’t enough for one day, we were headed over to Dunedin.  Another town with a  special place in my heart, I showed them around where I used to live, my Uni, downtown, the Railway Building, my favourite restaurants, up Signal Hill, out to the Sandfly Bay viewpoint on the Otago Peninsula, and drove them (and my trusty car) up the steepest street in the world.  They even got to meet Hannah, who stayed with us in Maryland, and Andy, my best friend in NZ!  That afternoon, it was on the road again for Mt Cook.  Coming into Lake Pukaki was stunning.  I had never seen it in such clear and calm weather with a perfect reflection of New Zealand’s tallest peak in the lake!  After a night by Lake Tekapo, we went into the park and walked to Kea Point, which gave great views of Mt. Cook, Mt. Sefton, and the Tasman Glacier Lake.  That night, we headed to Christchurch where we walked around the remnants of the earthquake-destroyed city and gave Mom and Dad their first Thai dinner!  Finally, I took it a little bit easier on them with a short 2 hour drive to Kaikoura.  The coastal town has bright blue water with mountains in the background and seals

Sunset in Kaikoura

playing all over it!  At the top of the town viewpoint, we watched a gorgeous sunset.  Next we went to Abel Tasman National Park where we collected cockles (clams), despite Dad’s post-Alaska claim that he’d never do that again!  (It’s a bit easier and far less dirty here).  The following day we took the water taxi to Anchorage Bay to relax in the sand and I showed Mom and Dad what a (luxurious) New Zealand Dept. of Conservation hut looks like.  After the beach, we headed to Picton through the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive and on to the ferry to Wellington.  In our last day together, we checked out New Zealand’s Parliament Building, the Beehive, the Supreme Court building, and Te Papa, New Zealand’s National Museum.  The trip finished with lunch overlooking the ocean and then off to the airport where Mom and Dad had a long journey home and I had new adventures waiting.  It’s always hard to say goodbye, but I had an absolutely amazing time with Mom and Dad.  Their trip will be one of the special moments

Anchorage Bay, Abel Tasman

that come to mind immediately when I think of my travels now and far into the future.  From sharing my favourite spots to discovering new things together, I couldn’t have asked for a more fun time.  Once they had left, it was time for me to look forward to my next adventure—being a volunteer Hut Warden for the Department of Conservation at Angelus Hut in Nelson Lakes National Park.  (Sorry, I tried to keep it short…)

Climbing Angelus Peak

Nelson Lakes is an area that I’d heard great things about, but never been to.  Apparently Mom and Dad took the good weather with them, but despite the forecast I was off to Angelus Hut with an extremely heavy pack in the thick cloud and light rain.  I finally made it to my home for the week around 5pm and found out that I had the place to myself for the night, which was good as it gave me a chance to figure things out for myself before dealing with others. Hut wardens are responsible for radioing in to the Visitor Centre at 8:30am for a weather update, cleaning the hut and bathroom area, splitting firewood, then radioing in again at 4pm and then giving a hut talk and collecting fees at 6pm.  All of the “work” usually only took an hour, which meant I had from 10-4 to myself. Unfortunately, the weather was awful for the first 3 days—rainy, cloudy, and cold.  I still managed to get up to Sunset Saddle, but the views were less-than-impressive in thick fog.  I spent a lot of time reading near the fire, but after my night alone, there were more people though the next few days.  On the 4^th day the rain turned to sleet and the 5^th morning was beautiful.  Overnight everything had turned to snow and the sun had appeared for the first time revealing a lake surrounded by beautiful white mountains. With that, the water tank froze and would remain frozen for the rest of the week, but luckily there was no shortage with the snow and the lake.  I attempted to climb Angelus Peak, but was forced to turn around 100m from the top.  I took the more direct, steep route, which worked out fine until the top pitch which was a thin layer of ice covering all the rocks.  Anyway, between the food provided by the DoC, the food I carried, the books on my Kindle (I finished 2 and started a 3^rd!), the sunshine in the mountains, and the company

View from the hut!

from various people of all walks of life from all corners of the globe, I had an amazing time at Angelus Hut—one of the most stunning places I’d visited.  However, of course, it’d be too simple for me to be done my Nelson Lakes National Park adventure there.  Instead I decided to carry on for 4 more nights to get to Blue Lake.  Blue Lake is meant to have some of the clearest water in the world and the clearest non-tropical seawater.  With visibility reaching 80m, it is pretty impressive!  I also met a German girl who had the same plan of going to Blue Lake Hut for 2 nights and her and I did a day trip up Moss Pass, which gave great views of the Sabine River Valley, and D’Urville River Valley.  We saw kea and chamois, as well as my first Blue Ducks—a rare New Zealand duck!  The only downside was that I had to walk for nearly 30 hours over 5 days to get to Blue Lake and back, so I am now exhausted, but definitely not regretting it!

Lake Angelus

So, where does my adventure take me next? That’s the million dollar question.  In the very short term, I plan to spend tomorrow in the civilized world of Motueka, then visit Golden Bay and Farewell Spit.  If the weather remains good, I will then hike in an area called the Arthur Tablelands in Kahurangi National Park.  From there, I’d like to do a bit more hiking in the Richmond Forest Park before doing a road trip slowly working my way back down to Dunedin, Gore, Te Anau, and Wanaka to say goodbye to friends.  At the latest, I think I will leave New Zealand by mid-June.  Where I’m going, though, remains to be seen. 

Back In The Mountains

Gertrude Saddle

This blog will be less controversial than the last, so for those of you who didn’t enjoy that one, hopefully this one is better!  Since coming off Stewart Island I have managed to stay busy!  I went and spent a night at an old friends whose in Invercargill and resupplied on food and what not before heading off to Te Anau.  I am still convinced Te Anau—the gateway to Milford Sound and Fiordland—is the most beautiful place on earth with endless hiking opportunities!

Somewhere on Greenstone-Caples

I also may have failed to mention that I bought a car here again—a 1997 Honda Orthia!  However, since I was going by myself and had all day, I decided to hitch down the Milford Road rather than drive (and pay for gas).  I had hoped to climb Gertrude Saddle, but due to the clouds was planning on settling for Lake Marian.  Luckily, a local drove me down the road and told me that it was meant to clear and Gertrude Saddle would have great views, so I ended up doing that instead!  I am so happy she gave me that advice because the saddle gave amazing views across the Gertrude Valley on one side and through several valleys all the way out to Milford Sound to the west!  The hike was more of a rock scramble, so really fun!  As if that wasn’t good enough, I also had three Kea (the world’s only alpine parrot and my favourite animal) fly overhead!  Needless to say, Gertrude Saddle was incredible, but, unfortunately, the size of my knee was pretty incredible too… The following day, since the clouds were much lower, I decided to hitch up again and hike to Lake Marian.  It’s only a three hour hike, but was rather steep and ended at an alpine lake, which was gorgeous.  I even had the lake to myself for about 15 minutes!  Slowly but surely I am discovering more and more of Fiordland, but it’s such an unbelievable and untouched place!

McKellar Saddle

Afterwards, I opted to do the 4-day Greenstone-Caples circuit.  It was a relatively easy hike, so I thought it’d be good for my knee and it’s just outside of Queenstown, where I had to pick up my parents.  While the walking was generally easy through wide river valleys, the scenery was still really pretty and the weather turned out to be much better than forecasted.  The huts were extremely fancy and the other hikers were quite different than I was used to from Stewart Island—many of them were very inexperienced.  The highlight of the trip was going across McKellar Saddle, a subalpine saddle, that links the Greenstone and Caples valleys and was full of awesome views.  Again, it was a nice, easy hike, but it made me realize three things.  First, my knee is not healed.  Second, it would be nice to have someone to hike with.  Lastly, I am starting to get a bit bored but flat walking and getting more and more interested in vertical climbing.  Maybe that will be my next endeavor!

From McKellar Saddle

Anyway, my parents are now up somewhere high above the Pacific and I cannot wait for them to land and start our trip!  It will be very busy, but also full of amazing places and much-needed time together. After they leave, I will almost immediately start a one-week stint as a volunteer hut warden for the Dept. Of Conservation meaning I will be living in and looking after a hut on an alpine lake for a week!  From there, I have no plan really except to hike as much until the snow stops me!  However, I still am not sure what I am doing in/after May, so that’s the next mission—to figure that out!