Tongariro Alpine Crossing
You know a hike should be good when it was changed to include ”Alpine” in it to make people realize how challenging it is. As New Zealand is such a popular travel and backpacker destination you have a lot of people trying to do some of the great hikes wearing jean shorts and ballerina shoes.
But not us, we were prepared with our hiking boots and hiking pants! Ready to judge those Sunday walkers who thought this was an easy stroll, look at their inadequate gear and laugh condescendingly.
The crossing is 19,4km long including a lot of climbing and a bit more if you decide to climb Mt. Ngarurahoe (also known as Mt. Doom).
This 19,4km would be much more challenging than our 20km leisurely stroll in Abel Tasman. Of course we thought the time estimates exaggerate by hours and though that by starting at 8am we’d be finished around 2-3pm, including the climb to Mt. Doom.
Prior to the Sunday we spent a very cold another thing to look out for – Saturday saw 75km/h winds when 50km/h is the max the recommendations say you can do the hike in. We got very lucky with the weather and Sunday was meant to be perfect.
As the crossing is not a loop or a return track you need to either have a shuttle to bring you from car park to another or arrange a group with two cars. Luckily we had two cars as Richie’s friend from Brisbane, Josh, who night in a close-by free camping spot full of other travelers aiming to do the crossing. One needs to check the weather reports very closely as not only clouds ruin the views, it might be dangerous not to be able to spot the route markers in some of the steep climbs. Winds are now lives in NZ was joining us for the hike and so we avoided paying the $30pp shuttle fee. The car parks fill up really quickly – we left one car at the end at 6.30am and we’re at the start at 7am and got some of the last close spots in the small parking area.
This was definitely the busiest of the walks we have done in NZ, groups of people starting in regular intervals. As we are hikey-people now, fast and confident with our gear, we flew by other people!
Start of the walk, Mt. Doom looming upon us
It took about an hour to reach the point where one has to make the crucial decision: To climb Mt. Doom or not? Sign says 3hrs return and that’s quite a bit to add to an already 6-8hrs long walk. We could already see a lot of people scrambling up and decided to do it.
I thought Cradle Mountain Summit- climb was challenging but at least there you were walking/crawling on solid rock boulders the whole way. Wherever you reached for a grip you knew you could trust. At Mt. Ngarurahoe the ground is deceiving in every step. It’s mainly loose volcanic rock, which can be very sharp and breaks easily, and often means one step forward is two sliding steps down. Since winter is approaching there was already a bit of snow on the way which actually made the climb easier. You could make proper steps and hope the snow doesn’t give in under you weight.
Another thrilling feature of the climb were “Rock!”- yells from other fellow climbers now and then. None of the falling rocks were big but it is steep enough that they don’t really stop before the bottom and at full speed those could have very bad consequences and some people have had to be rescued from this exact mountain after being hit by a falling rock. We heard a story about a guy who dropped his bag on the mountain and it rolled most of the way down with the volcanic rocks tearing it to shreds on the way!
After closer to 2 hours of climbing we finally reached the top. You can either choose to go to the “Frodo ring”-side or the actual highest point – or do both if you have the time and energy. We sat on the warm rocks, surrounded by the steam from the volcano now and then, enjoying our lunch.
I only found out later (should have read all the Wikipedia info before doing the crossing) that nothing was actually filmed at the top of Mt. Ngarurahoe as it’s a sacred Maori place. This mountain was used as a place-holder and the close-up scenes we’re filmed at Mt Ruapehu so any of the ring photos people took are technically at the wrong mountain!
Coming down was a lot quicker. I started out slow and carefully backtracking my steps but the guys were already half-way down sliding on the snow and gravel on their assess and running along with the sliding gravel. Sliding down was actually a lot of fun – except I worried of my pants tearing open at any point – but you really needed to focus on not going too fast or twisting your ankles. Coming down I dreamed about fresh snow and snowboarding it because people do ski these walls down during winter.
You know the feeling that you’ve accomplished a lot and you think the majority of the walk and work is behind you? Well that’s how we felt after being on the road for 4 hours until we saw the main walk signs saying we still have majority of the actual walk left – 13,4km to be exact. I also had promised to the guys that “yeah I think majority of the climbing is behind is” and I was quite wrong on saying that because the main climb of the crossing was ahead of us.
After the climb you get to the most-photographed point of the Tongariro Crossing – Blue pools. A lot of people walk here and then turn back and later I learned why. The crowds were definitely thinning the further we walked, at the Emerald Lake we barely saw anyone and after that the paths were clear for a long way.
It turns out that all the kilometers after Emerald Lake is very, very boring. And there was still almost seven of those kilometers left. And the worst part is that you can see the pathway going down the hills, you can see it far away in the horizon so it doesn’t stop mocking you and your tired pace at any point. You feel like it won’t end, ever. You calculate in your head that “surely we’ve come 6km now, there should only be 1km left” and then you see a sign telling you “3km to go!”. %!€%#!”!!€
Still 7km to go..
We did made it in the end, the time was 5pm so we weren’t nearly as fast as we thought we would be but at least we got out before dark. Only the painful drive to pick-up the other car from the start through one of the worst gravel roads I’ve seen – in the morning already three cars had punctured tyres.
Instead of spending another extremely cold night in the car without a shower I used my “I am an adult with some money and I refuse to live like this”- card and got us a room in a hostel/motel. Best decision ever.
Definitely the most challenging walk and of the best ones in terms of scenery we’ve done and I would recommend it with Mt. Ngarurahoe climb – I bet without it this wouldn’t feel as rewarding ;). I might consider walking it the other direction because then you have cleared the most boring part first and after the mountain climb you have only 6.6km to go instead of 13.4.
North of South
After three weeks we’ve dutifully ticked a lot of the New Zealand bucket list boxes. After a while you get tired of ticking those boxes. Another waterfall, another rock formation, another hike. At this point we started to relax a bit and just drive without thinking a set agenda too much.
On our way to the Northern point of South Island there was only one “must see” – a rock formation! I took way too many photos of rocks and as you can imagine, none of those came out showing exactly what our eyes saw. I think I need a little bit more practice on this photography thing..
The major destination for any New Zealand goer is Abel Tasman National Park with its sandy beaches and turquoise waters. After the snowy mountains and glaciers I can understand how this place attracts visitors as it is a beachy heaven you yearn after a long a cold winter.
In Abel Tasman you could walk the whole 60km long track in a couple of days but as we had been sick we chose a “light” 20km walk from Torrent Bay back to Marahau. You have to get a water taxi to drop you off and then you make your way back. During the taxi ride we got to see sea lion pups which was another animal highlight for Richie!
Dog puppies of the ocean
The walk itself is very easy, a wide beaten track and I can just imagine how busy it must be during the high season. Majority of the walk goes in the forest and you’d need to go down to the beaches along the way. We were in a real anti-hike mood and as you can’t dip in for a swim we didn’t see the point of adding extra hours to our walk and just kept going. Pretty boring walk this way I must say.
(click the arrows to browse all Abel Tasman photos)
In the end we’ve had enough of walking in the forest and chose a “short-cut” through the low-tide exposed sand. Hiking shoes held the water up until a point and then we had to go barefoot. Not sure if it was a short-cut at all but at least we got to see something other than trees.
Short cut to Marahau
Another way to experience Abel Tasman would be a kayak-tour and I think I'd rather opt into this one than walking as you get to see more views and park at whichever beach you want to!
Since we were quite ahead of our schedule the next day we decided to pay a visit to Golden Bay after all. And glad we did! The drive through the mountains is rewarding on its own and we were lucky enough to have amazing clear skies and you could see the whole bay itself.
First stop was Te Waikoropupū Springs - fresh water springs which were almost empty of other visitors and one of the most peaceful & tranquil places we’ve seen. One could have just sat there all day staring at the water.
(click the arrows to browse all The Waikoropupu Springs photos)
Next up (in the hope of more sea lions) was Farewell Spit but the weather turned very grey and we did only a short walk along the beach line.
I also spotted (excitedly) a “special” lamb that was walking on its knees while everyone else around it was acting as normal sheep do. Unfortunately my vet-student sister educated me that most likely anytime you see a “special” animal, there’s something medically wrong with it. In the case of this lamb, its joints must be hurting and it is easing the pain by relying on its knees :(
We had one more stop left in the Golden Bay list, Wharariki beach. I didn’t expect much, just a quick short walk to the beach and back but how wrong was I! And stupid as I didn’t bother to carry a spare battery for my camera..
The walk to the beach went through the most green hills I’ve seen in New Zealand so far. This photo did not need any editing, these were the real colors.
The beach itself invities you to have a looooong relaxed walk. These we’re the only photos we were able to take before the battery died.
(click the arrows to browse all Wharariki beach photos)
And right after this we ran into the cutest thing ever – sea lion pups playing in the shallow pools. There were so many and they weren’t shy at all! Of course some of the people hadn’t bothered to read any of the warning signs that told to leave them alone and keep your distance and were actually in the pools with them…
This side of the beach was just the beginning and we walked all the way to the other end. This allows to see the famous rock formations from different angles and take all the amazing photos you want to. Now we had to just enjoy the views with our eyes.
Wharariki beach is easily both of our favourite place in New Zealand. Would not have expected that!
Now the only thing left to do in South Island was to escape cold and catch a late ferry from Picton to Wellington.
Glacier-side of South Island
After a relaxing time in Queenstown it was time to head West through the mountain range. We blasted through Wanaka – maybe it would have been worth of a longer stay but as hiking was the only free thing to do there our sore legs after the Ben Lomond Summit voted to move on quickly.
The only way through the mountains is via Haast Pass. It was another scenic drive you could’ve filmed for hours. We stopped in the middle for a quick Haast Pass lookout walk and to learn about the people using this pass way before roads and 4WD’s.
We weren’t in a rush anywhere and found a perfect place to cook when it was still daylight (a rare luxury). Throughout our trip we have pretty much eaten three different dishes – sausages with veggies, bacon-veggie pasta and chicken with veggies. Now we wer’e mixing it up a bit to do tortillas! An expensive investment to a $2.69 spice-mix and a salsa can but sometimes you have to have some luxury on the road.
Next camping spot would have been far away so we decided to camp here and next problem was what to do from 5pm to bed-time when you have a limited amount of battery in my Mac and it’s getting dark soon?
Read! Finally couple of hours just to immerse yourself in to the wonderful world of Station Eleven. I didn’t like that book first (used the word “pretentious”) but warmed up to it in the end. Different way of telling a post-apocalyptic story.
Jackson Bay
My plan had gotten less and less specific about things to do the further we’ve been on the road. I didn’t have anything on Haast or the West-coast and Lonely Planet book mentioned a remote bay as a “must-see”.
It really was remote and small, without any other people than us. We had our breakfast there and drove back the same way we came from.
Fox Glacier
The most common reason to visit the West-coast is to see the glaciers. On the other side, at Mount Cook/Aoraki National Park you could also see the smaller glaciers on the mountain sides and the pits where the glacier used to be but all the massive ones are on this other side of the mountains.
When you arrive to Fox Glacier township you find out that seeing the glacier is not that simple or easy – sadly or luckily, depending on who you ask. One can drive quite close and take a 30min walk to a lookout point where you can admire the ice mass from a safe distance. This lookout point will change depending on the weather and ice conditions. Unfortunately, even though there are multiple signs warning not to go further, some people still try to get closer to the ice and there have been deathly accidents in the past.
Another way to experience the glacier is to go on a guided tour. A lot of people rave about this, saying it was the best experience in New Zealand. You’ll get to fly to the glacier in a helicopter and do a walk with a guide wearing crampons. As these cost quite a bit we opted in for the lookout walk and planned to do an 8-hour hike at Franz Josef (called Alex Knob) that would offer amazing views to the whole glacier from quite high up.
The dive
My original plan was to do a skydive at Wanaka. I had chosen the 15,000 ft. one but as we went to check-in, the visibility allowed to do only 12,000 ft. After preparations and putting my gear on they informed me it’s even worse and people can only do 9,000 ft. There was no point on paying still hundreds of dollars for a very short freefall so I took a refund and hoped I would get another chance later.
And at Franz Josef we did. As Richie wrote about our sky-diving experience in an earlier post, we did the highest New Zealand has to offer – 19,000 ft. (6km) and for the same price as the smaller one would have been in Wanaka (thanks to Richie!). And I’m glad we did. Not only do you get the sky-dive but a 15min scenic flight where you can see the whole mountain range, the glacier, Mount Cook and everything that surrounds it.
Everyone says sky-dive is the most amazing experience they have done and they can’t wait to do it again. Well, it was definitely an experience but a more terrifying one for me. It wasn’t that I was afraid of the jump or the freefall, it was the absolutely freezing air that froze my face and made it almost impossible to breath. I remember just thinking almost the whole time “why the fuck anyone wants to do this” :D it didn’t help that we we’re recovering from the flu and I felt the pressure in my ears.
I haven’t given up on sky-diving yet and will do it again when I am 100% healthy because it must be enjoyable right?!
Beyond the dive we did not do much in Franz Josef. It was pissing down rain the morning we woke up in our car and I got soaked bringing the breakfast stuff to the shelter. Now I found out in practice what difference it does to have a GoreTex Active-layer jacket instead of GoreTex-Pro – this one did not really hold the pouring rain. On the positive note I have a reason to buy a new jacket.
The cold and the wet got us both got sick and we checked into a private room in a hostel (what luxury), stayed in bed two days and watched Lord of the Rings. God those movies are long!
The big jump - by Richie
He shows me his watch and taps the screen, it says 18.1ft. he takes my oxygen mask off along with his own and puts them back on the wall. “ONE MINUTE” he shouts. We all shake hands, fist bump and smile, some of us more nervously than others. The engine shuts off.
Oh fuck, we’re here.
It goes quiet for a second. Then the door swings open and the noise and cold of the wind rush in and disrupt the calm.
So this is really happening then...
He tells me to hang my legs out the door and I do. He’s right behind me.
We rock backwards and then forwards, “ONE!”
Backwards…. “TWO!”
Oh shit
Backwards
Oh fuck
“GO!”
FUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK
We roll forwards out of the plane.
Body goes down, stomach jumps up.
I catch a breath after a few seconds of screaming and he taps me. I can uncross my arms.
I focus on breathing which is tricky when air is being forced down your throat at 200kmh.
I compose.
He points at a snow cover mountain top, Mount Cook presumably.
We spin around and he points at another.
We spin.
A Glacier.
We spin more and more and more.
He points out more mountains and glaciers.
I start to wonder if he’s just pointing at the same one over and over for the laugh.
I get used to falling
80 seconds is a long time
Eventually I hear a noise and we straighten up. He has pulled the cord and the parachute is opening.
Well that’s good news.
The harness tightens and we slow.
He asks how my ears are and I realize that I forgot to equalize them to account for the pressure difference between 19,000ft and whatever we were at then.
I equalize.
He gives me the reigns and tells me how to make it spiral. I do.
He points up “that’s your friend up there”.
He tells me to aim towards the landing zone which I do and he takes the controls back from me before we land and I inevitably get us both hurt.
I ask him if we can aim at Heini who has already landed to give her a scare.
He says no.
He tells me to lift my legs up and we land on our ass.
We disconnect, stand up and shake it out
Someone collects our gear and we walk over to the other guys who are waiting
Authored by Richie, the other traveling half
Franz Josef 19,000 ft. skydive (not me but just imagine me face on this person)
Queenstown time!
This would be our holiday from holiday. A couple of nights in a proper bed in a hostel with shower and Wi-fi included was a welcomed break from sleeping in the car, trying to find a place to do our dishes. It was also our chance to socialise if we’d still know how. About 4 weeks 24/7 together without other human contact than a random Pak’n’Save cashier can make you feel a bit alienated from the social circles.
The arrival day was a sunny one and we spent some of it just sitting on the beach, watching a group have a swim (clearly a dare as the water is well below 10 degrees) and I drank coffee from Starbucks, my first $4,50 coffee since I quit working. Can’t afford that luxury anymore..
Queenstown had a familiar ski-village vibe and I could have stayed there for the winter season, just snowboard and do nothing else for 4 months.. Facebook's 'On This Day...' reminded me that it’s 9 years since my winter in the French Alps and that’s way too long ago. I started secretly planning to make Richie a snowboarder so that we could move to the Alps for one winter but not sure when we’ll have time for that.
Since the winter has not arrived yet, we had to find something else to do than snow-related activities. Only thing is that all these adrenaline-escapes Queenstown is so known for are very, very expensive. How about $200 for a swing that lasts a couple of minutes? Same for a bungee jump? After going through a thorough cost-benefit analysis we chose rafting and a skydive for me since I’ve never experienced the joys of a 45sec freefall.
We rafted the same river that was used for the scene where Arwen rescues Frodo. Didn’t see any water horses as the water levels are lower in autumn but we got some exciting rapid descents and a lot of relaxed paddling during the 2,5 hours we spent in the river.
On the road to Paradise
Since we had the leisurely luxury of just winging it on some days, we took our car for a day-trip to Glenorchy, Paradise and even further. I had some hazy directions of a place where Gandalf rode to Isengard and despite not being the most obsessed LOTR-fans we decided to follow the narrowing roads there.
Once we had spent way too much on activities it was time for the other type of financial extortion Queenstown is known for – nightlife. Only to find out we can’t really do nightlife and alcohol anymore.. Went to bed at 12.30am, mostly because (this is what we tell ourselves) the next day was our only chance to do the full-day Ben Lomond Summit hike and we didn’t want it to be more of a suffering than it already would be.
Ben Lomond Summit is a 6-7 hours return trip that climbs over 1,100m from Queenstown to the Summit. To this date, the most vertical climb we had done was Cradle Mountain Summit which was apprx. 600m so it was interesting to see how this turned out.
It was a long walk but worth it! Especially when couple of those birds from my nightmares showed up and were every bit as cheeky as the stories tell. One of my favorite moments was three of them surrounding Richie slowly, leaving him with a deathly 20m rocky fall as the only escape route. Clever Keas!
The walk back was very painful, we must’ve caused some weird looks and laughs as the last 2km was walked partly backwards to give our toes some rest.
Only thing left to do in Queenstown was to go purchase the next hiking item – hiking trousers! We had done careful comparison over the four days and believe or not – Richie spent over 100 dollars on pants. Unfortunately, both of us liked the exact same brand and model so I said I would get the beige ones and Richie green to avoid the “matching trackies”-phase of our relationship. Only to find out well out of Queenstown that I bought the green ones as well so I guess we are at the matching phase now!
Lastly – don’t know how I left this last – Fergburger is as good as they say. Ate there twice. Best burger place I have ever been to.
Night terrors at Fjordland
They say New Zealand has it all. And now I have started to understand this statement a little better. So far, we have seen mountain scenery you could experience in the European Alps, walked on empty beaches with waves ready to be surfed and driven through thick forests and Windows XP-green hills.
What else could this country have, isn’t this already enough for 4,7 million people?
Fjords. You know, those things that Norway is really proud of. Only to find out that someone is better at branding than them and calls their fjord “the Eight Wonder of the World”. Milford Sound is maybe the most famous fjord in the world so Norway you’d need to step up your game a bit. Or stop being so expensive, either would work.
The drive to Milford sound is beautiful and has those famous wheat-colored fields that make such a good “hey look at me walking casually in the middle of tickling crops while stepping into mud and god knows what”- Instagram moments. I had just tried to describe to Insta-clueless Richie the perfect field-photo he would need to take when we spotted the perfect field – with about 20 others trying to take that same photo.
Knee-high at its best...
The crops weren’t that high though – or I am just taller than an average travel blogger/Instagrammer? – so my photos don’t really convey the vision we had. Richie the Art Director told me to gallop, run and jump graciously and I tried with not-so-photogenic results. I guess you need to take 100 photos to get one good shot, right?
After the mandatory photo session, we found our camping spot and did a weekly cleaning. I say weekly but up until now that is the only time we have done it. While all the doors were open, a little friend flew in. I remembered the Kea warnings and was sure it was going to steal everything it possibly could and tried to make loud noises and gestures (that’s also how I speak sometimes) and a tiny black bird came out. It wasn’t afraid of us at all, hid under the car and tried to go back in at every opportunity it got. As it wasn’t the evil Kea, I didn’t care that much and we finished cleaning.
And the night came….
Camping spots are usually pitch-black dark unless you are in a holiday park. Here we were also the furthest away from any buildings or other cars.
We were watching our daily dose of Modern Family when I heard a weird sound. Like someone really small trying to knock on our car. Possibly nothing, continued watching the show. Until we heard that and weird digging-through-our-car noise. I was starting to freak out, sure of that the evil Keas had come and they had a master plan to destroy us.
Richie went for a look outside, didn’t see a thing nor any marks on the car.
But the noise continued, only stopped when we knocked the trunk door back. This went on until it was time to sleep and I opted for ear plugs since ignorance is bliss. I woke up couple of times during the night time hearing the same noises so this wasn’t the most relaxed night.
Surprisingly the next morning there were no signs of our night guests. No marks in the car, nothing. Explanation came when the friendly ranger told that the robins (the tiny friend who tried to sneak into our car) like to eat the insects off the car. What a relief!
Foggy morning drive to Milford Sound
Now that the night terror mystery was solved we could head off to our Milford Sound cruise in peace. The prices for the cruises are usually $80+ but thanks to bookme-site we got ours $40 each. Waterfalls, fog, more waterfalls and then to Richie’s great joy, closer look at sea lions! And after that, playful dolphins. Take that Norway, I bet you don’t have fjord dolphins?!
(By the way, the popular Live-stream of a Finnish freshwater seal, saimaannorppa, is coming back this May. Tune in here https://wwf.fi/en/norppalive/. In previous years we have watched a seal mostly sleep and turn, named it Pullervo ("tubby" could be the closest translation) and saw it finding a partner. People had their second screen at work tuned into Norppa-Live all day.)
As the weather wasn’t the best we skipped a longer Gertrude Saddle walk and chose Lake Marian track instead. 1,5 hours climbing in a muddy path in the forest and at the end you are rewarded with a beautiful mountain lake. This put our hiking shoes to a true test and we survived all the mud! Lululemon active wear pants didn’t though and this was the moment we started to plan the next item in our path-to-become-hikers- purchase list.
From all the places we’ve seen in NZ so far I’d spend more time in Milford Sound and spend that time on multi-day hikes such as the Milford, Routeburn or Kepler track. Too bad you need to book these super-popular routes well in advance, the booking opens now for next summer..
But also, seeing all this makes you also appreciate what is close to home. Lapland and Northern Norway was the destination for our childhood trips and only know you come to realize how beautiful and unique those places are. Norway the Eight Wonder, Milford Sound the 9th ;)
All the roads are gravel
Driving around New Zealand does not always make sense. Our previous spot, the Mt. Cook village, was just on the other side of the mountain range and in the West you’d have the famous glaciers – Franz Josef and Fox Glacier - where we would be going later after a looong detour on the East coast.
The east coast in our dreams meant animal encounters – penguins, seals, maybe dolphins and even whales.. but of course all these are season dependent. As we have learned many times by now, it is not the penguin season. Apparently, no-one knows what penguins do or where they go after they have raised their babies at the shore. One sign said they sleep in the ocean. The theory of relativity was finalised 101 years ago but we still don’t know where the penguins go!
We didn’t spend a lot of time in Dunedin, just enough to drive through the city twice as I missed a well-hidden turn to a super cheap auto store and we had to go all around again. Now we don’t need to try to sneak into hostels to charge our electronics as we have a power inverter. Unfortunately this has meant that as the Mac is always charged, we can spend way too much time watching shows during dark nights at the camping grounds since there is nothing else to do.. (Read?! I think I had to read a lot this year. Next night then.)
Tunnel Beach near Dunedin was our first stop and since it was already 10am, it was more than appropriate time for ice cream! There are small shops selling real-fruit ice-cream scattered around NZ and it is delicious.
This day was meant to be one of those ones where you drive a bit and stop a lot. My planning notes said we could do everything from Tunnel Beach to Slope Point with multiple stops in between in a day but as we have learned, my planning can’t always be trusted.
Drive to Nugget Point Lighthouse takes up surprisingly lot of time as you need to drive there and back on a slow curly road. But it was worth it – we saw sea lions! About 300m away and they were mostly brown lumps that moved a bit… but still!
Someone is extremely happy after our first animal encounter!
Now the time was already past 2pm and it wasn’t long before dark. So we decided to skip both Purakaunui Falls and Cathedral Caves and drive straight to somewhere near Slope point to camp. Only to be tempted to drive 25km one-way on a gravel road for the possible promise of close-by sea lion encounters at Jackson Bay. We walked the whole beach, almost lost Richie in the fog, saw some monstrous sea weed trunks but no sea lions.
Now we were kind of in a rush and the gravel roads just continued. To add to this, destiny threw another obstacle on our route – bridge renovation and a detour. We were directed to drive through the middle of the thick Catlin forests and I don’t think any other backbacker has driven through that Fanghorn-type of silently threatening forest. The thickness of that jungle-like view was astounding and it would have been quite an adventure to go and wonder between the trees. Only problem is that I’m not sure if you could get in, the green walls surrounding us were so thick.
Catlins forest
After a very long time we finally got out and were approaching Slope Point camping area, now we just had to navigate based on the map as there we hadn’t had phone service in the past 3 hours. That was also awesome because I had no idea what there was at Slope Point because my plan notes did not say anything else than “Slope Point”. Luckily we found the camping spot and asked other smart people around who enlightened us that is the Southernmost part of New Zealand we could visit the next morning.
And so we did!
Climb Mt. Cook
After an unsuccessful penguin quest at Timaru, we headed back to the familiar backpacker route towards the majestic South Island mountain range.
We were pumped after enjoying our first breakfast with an actual table, drove quiet gravel roads with sheep everywhere and took only a couple of wrong turns before joining all the other touring people in buses to experience the tranquility of Lake Tekapo
Both Lake Tekapo and Punaki are quick stops unless you want to try to spend an hour to find a spot where it looks like you are there alone without fifty other people with their professional camera gear. I have started to feel serious camera envy or inadequateness with my precious LX100 but I guess I must learn to walk before I can run. And seriously, how do you carry that heavy gear and three-meter tripods to everywhere you go?!
Lake Tekapo , as you can see we are here alone without fifty other people...
When I was creating our New Zealand plans (and Tasmania and Western Australia), sometimes I have been very specific in my notes, sometimes less. After visiting these two famous lakes, I turned to consult my plan and next bullet point on the list was to “climb Mt. Cook”. Let’s go!
Those who know a bit more about New Zealand geography or famous mountains overall might have paused there and thought that climb might just be off-limits to mine and Richie’s mountaineering skills. After all, it is the highest mountain in New Zealand, covered in snow and ice all year around and is recommended only for the most experiences alpine goats such as Sir Edmund Hillary.
Thus I edited my plan to say “do hikes in Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park” and voila, that’s something we can do. We have become “hikey” people after all and our experience is just accumulating day after day. The Cradle Mountain Summit walk was done with runners, Lululemon active wear that’s more suitable for Bondi’s Saturday brunches, and a waterproof jacket from K-Mart (you guessed right, that belongs to Richie) but Aoraki saw the new us wearing real hiking boots! Richie buying shoes that cost over $100 can be classified as the eighth wonder of the world (sorry Milford Sound) and since we are so early in our journey I don’t know what to expect in a couple of weeks – maybe a real waterproof Gore-Tex jacket?
On our way to Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park
We had one night to spend at the village close to all hikes and we ran through the most popular and easiest of all walks, Hooker Valley. I’d recommend trying to do it as early in the morning as possible or go quite late as we did. It was still very busy but I can just imagine summer afternoon traffic jams on these paths..
There was no free camping around the Mt. Cook village so we opted in to stay at the only camping site that cost $13 per person for the night. Not bad for these views..
Dinner on the way before we run out of gas....
As we had run out of gas last night and couldn’t have proper brekkie or dinner, we couldn’t stay another night and do full day hikes (add another lesson to camping n00bs list – check how much gas you have left before you go to far-removed places). As a result we chose Kea point walk (very easy) and half of the Mueller Hut walk up to Sealy Tarn at 1,300 meters. Quite a steep climb but views were amazing. Coming down is a lot quicker and we were back at the car before 11 am..
Kea Point without Keas
Only thing left to do was to find a free shower. This is the fun part of living in your car trying to keep a low budget – where to find hot, preferably free, showers, especially after multi-hour hikes… Luckily at the Mt. Cook there are public showers but not the type we like – free. $2 for 4 minutes of hot water is not a problem for me, the efficient person I am, but it’s not enough to cover Richie’s hair routines and I find myself donating a minute of my time to make sure my partner’s weave looks good in photos
Three point summary a la Alex Stubb about our adventures:
- Don’t climb Mt. Cook unless you bear a resemblance to great mountaineers.
- We loved Aoraki/Mt.Cook – try to stay there at least two nights to do a variety of walks, even an overnight one on Mueller Hut.
- Remember to carry a lot of $2 dollar coins with you, there’s no such things as free showers in this cruel world..
Hello New Zealand!
Now we’re already in the second country on our to-do-list and I had a feeling it will be one of the best ones. Didn’t quite know what to expect – except hikes and sleeping in a car for five weeks – but none of those expectations were met or topped by having Christchurch on a Easter Sunday as our first day in this magnificent country.
Arriving at 5am, walking through a ghost city hungry and tired, not seeing almost a soul got us vary after a weekend in buzzing Hobart. Another lesson to add to our list of things to know – try not to arrive at a new place when it’s a public holiday and everything will be closed.
We found one place selling Weetabix and luckily had cash to pay for it as they didn’t take foreign cards. Ok. Lunch and dinner was a delightful Tuna Subway to top off our last night’s dinner at the Melbourne Airport international terminal’s Hungry Jacks. Eating healthy is not cheap and since cheap is what we’re after our bodies needed to stand this two-days-of-fast-food period.
Initially we were planning to rent a campervan for the 5 weeks we would be spending in NZ but after giving it a bit more thought we decided to look at this as an investment opportunity, possibly the only kind you can afford while traveling.
Buying a car!
Now we are owners of an awesome 2002 Toyota Estima that will be our home for the five weeks in New Zealand. It has a table, a bed, two-burner cooker so basically all we ever hoped for. It took us (Richie) 3 days and about 6 test drives to find this beauty. That was 3 days too much in Christchurch but at least I had a chance to update the blog and read (I have a lot of catching up to do..).
First stop after Christchurch was a penguin town Timaru but unfortunately, we didn’t see any here either. I can sense Richie’s disappointment of me promising all these amazing animal sightings and not seeing anything so the pressure is building to spot something and soon..
Timaru penguing expedition in photos:
The car did not disappoint on our first night, it was so warm and cosy compared to the tent in Tasmania and I was in heaven to cook our brekkie standing up soaking the awesome Hobbitton-like views surrounding us!
