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.