'Twas wonderful. Now, home!

These past three weeks turned out to be far better than I could have imagined. They were full of adventure, exciting weather, new friends, old friends, and scenery that left me speechless. It seems impossible to relate everything that has happened, but here's a snapshot:

1. I hiked the Heaphy Track over 4 days with two people, Maria from Spain and Juan from Argentina, both who I had never met until the day of the tramp. How did I meet them? Online :) Tramper.co.nz has a great tramping forum to find tramping partners in NZ. Perhaps it was a bit bold, but it turned out to be an incredible experience that I'm pretty sure we were all blessed by. The Heaphy Track is the longest Great Walk in NZ, about 82 km (51 miles), and is located in one of the most remote parts of New Zealand. It begins near Collingwood and ends north of Karamea. I have never started a track in such a remote place. Over the four days, we saw only one person hiking the other direction. The scenery changed with each day and the weather with each hour, from sun to clouds to rain and hail and back again.

We spent our first night out of the bush in Karamea at a funky hostel called Rongo's that hosts the town's only radio station. We even got to talk on the radio station live and join in the Thursday night potluck that brought heaps of food to the table, lots of single middle-aged men, and a Taiwanese family. An experience the still baffles my mind.

2. Maria and I got along well and continued to travel down the West Coast together. We visited Punakaiki, where we saw the famous Pancake Rocks and went on a few day hikes, one that required us to cross a wide river that was a bit deeper than expected. With no one around except a few horses and not wanting to have wet pants and wet boots (they finally dried after being wet for 4 days), we crossed holding our pants in one hand and boots in the other. It wasn't as risque as it sounds. The weather was gorgeous, crystal clear and sunny. Our hostel was right on the beach. We were more than a wee bit happy!

3. In Franz Josef, I ran into American friends who I knew from Christchurch who had a car. They offered to give us a lift to the start of the Copland track. We had planned to hike as far as Welcome Flat. The weather, however, worsened. As we stood there at the carpark for the track with the rain pouring down on us, we read the warnings that many of the streams crossing the track can be impassable and dangerous in heavy rain; we humbly decided that nature had spoken. It wasn't safe to hike this track. Thus, we hopped back in the car with my friends and ended up continuing on with them all the way down to Queenstown. That was probably the single best decision we made the entire time we were traveling. The next day was a beautiful surprise.

4. After a conversation with the DOC and a few short deliberations, we decided to hike part of the Routeburn Track, which begins about an hour away from Queenstown. A famous track and one I've always wanted to do, this seemed like quite a pleasant surprise. The drive to the trailhead was beautiful, with Lake Wakatipu showing itself off, as stunning as usual. We hiked into the Routeburn Falls Hut, which is perched up on a mountainside near a stream. Further on was a gorgeous bowl that we explored until dusk. We went up to Harris Lake, but the track beyond that is unsafe in the winter due to avalanche risk so it becomes an out and back track. That area was one of the most amazing places I have been. It defined beauty. I was in awe. And this is where I turned 26.

5. We had planned to do a night on the Caples Track as well, but couldn't get to the track because of the fords (rivers) in the road and didn't want to risk it with the rental car. Thus, I pulled out my topo map and we found another trail. We headed along Lake Sylvan on the Rockburn Track to the Rockburn Hut. This trail provided a fun challenge, although I think some enjoyed it more than others. Lots of downed trees. Some bushwacking. Swamps and sticky mud, i.e. balancing on logs floating in mud and ending up with wet boots. The destination was a quaint, musty old hut near a river, with beautiful open river beds nearby and of course, beautiful mountains. A little fireplace in the hut and wet wood kept us busy all night trying to stay warm. Special spot. Can't wait to go back!

6. After saying farewell to dear Maria, my roving holiday brought me to Wanaka to visit Corrie and Thom Parks, friends from California. It was lovely seeing them, catching up, and getting a glimpse into their life in Wanaka. Great food, nice walks, and most enjoyable conversations marked my days there. Straight off the bus, we headed to Cinema Paridiso, a very unique and famous movie theater. An array of couches to sit on. Fresh hot cookies at intermission. I think every trip to Wanaka should start like this. Other highlights included getting some cross-country skiing lessons from the patient Corrie at Snow Farm NZ, drinking a Cadrona Ale, hiking up Mt Iron, exploring West Wanaka, hiking part of the Minaret Burn Track, and simply soaking in the beauty of the area. Oh yeah, and Kumara chips! I ate well in Wanaka. Thank you, Parks!

7. My last days in Christchurch have been heaps of fun. Hanging out with my good friend, Claire, and her flatmates, has been wonderful and I even got to go on a nice hike with one of them yesterday. I just might be tempted to stay if they had an extra bedroom.

The past 12 weeks in New Zealand have been SWEET AS. I am thankful. And although it's always hard to leave this country and the Kiwis, I am ready to head home, to see my family and some other special people, to go back to grad school, to enjoy what's left of California's summer.

Cheers!

Sea foam on Heaphy Beach. Looking south just after sunset.

Heaphy Hut. It had a beautiful view of the Heaphy River mouth and the Tasman Sea.

Day 4 of the Heaphy Track, about to head out. 4 days prior we were strangers. Now we're friends.

Peaceful Karamea.

Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. And sunshine!

On Truman Track, just north of Punakaiki.

Our favorite hostel. Punakaiki Beach Hostel.

Lake Wakatipu. On the drive to Glenorchy and the start of the Routeburn Track.

Beautiful bowl above Routeburn Falls Hut. This picture doesn't do the area justice. It was amazing.

Moon and mountains from the Routeburn Falls Hut.

Driving towards Rockburn Track.

Beautiful river valleys near Rockburn Hut.

Rockburn Hut. We got the fire going!

Lake Wanaka.

Cross country skiing with Corrie at Snow Farm NZ.

More Heaphy pictures to come. Blogspot is not cooperating.

Packing up and heading out to explore

Today was my last day of work. It was a good end to 8 weeks working with the Advanced Energy and Material Systems Lab at the University of Canterbury. A great experience that I am thankful for!

Tomorrow is my last day in Christchurch for a while. "I'm going on holiday." I'm heading to the top of the South Island on Sunday to hike the Heaphy Track, which ends near Karamea on the West Coast. From there, I'll be traveling down the remote West Coast, exploring and hiking, finally ending in Wanaka to visit with friends and savor one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm excited! And with the current weather forecast, there will almost surely be some good tales. Be patient. They will come.

If you like maps, here's a link to a map of my journey. Note that the section from "C" to "D" is wrong. We'll be walking the Heaphy Track through Kahurangi National Park.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Christchurch,+New+Zealand&daddr=SH+1+to:Nelson,+New+Zealand+to:Aorere,+Tasman,+New+Zealand+to:Karamea,+West+Coast,+New+Zealand+to:Franz+Josef,+West+Coast,+New+Zealand+to:Wanaka,+Otago,+New+Zealand+to:Christchurch,+New+Zealand&hl=en&geocode=FYvCZ_0d5TlKCimBC3YDPooxbTG_g5lNp_4isA%3BFQAEd_0dNO1WCg%3BFf5Biv0doBpUCinZgua4D-07bTFfQyBe-gz5Lw%3B%3BFUaciv0deTdCCimzUAWAXbEkbTGhUYGXPxE_EA%3BFVfvaf0do8QkCinDQpbLWX4pbTFXvNPkXfLAcw%3BFdXzVf0dXMMUCinD3lVNpEjVqTEt5ifaBcFLQA%3BFYvCZ_0d5TlKCimBC3YDPooxbTG_g5lNp_4isA&mra=ls&via=1&sll=-41.182788,172.718811&sspn=1.138993,2.469177&ie=UTF8&ll=-44.308127,176.704102&spn=8.664385,19.753418&z=6

Field trip in the mountains with the Kiwis

I joined my host and her energy engineering class for a weekend in Cass, about 2 hours west of Christchurch. The University of Canterbury owns a "sweet as" field station, where we stayed. While the students performed an energy audit of the facility, the rest of us worked a bit, socialized, hiked, etc. We even got to the Bealy Pub to watch the All Blacks vs. Wallabies rugby game, which was being played in Christchurch. Go All Blacks!

The most interesting part of the weekend was being submerged in Kiwi food. It was like being at camp... You ate what you were served. Here's a sample menu:

Breakfast- Canned spaghetti on toast or canned fruit (peaches or pears) on cornflakes

Morning Tea- Muffins and tea/coffee/milo

Lunch- Pumpkin soup with a roll and chicken pie

Afternoon tea- Biscuits (cookies), fruit and tea/coffee/milo

Tea*- Shepherd's pie with chips (french fries) topped with gravy

Dessert- Sticky date pudding with custard and cream (just after dinner)

Supper*- Scones and tea/coffee (a couple hours after dinner)

Add all that up! That's a lot of food. Sometimes you just had to politely pass. I'm pretty sure the average Kiwi doesn't eat that much. I came home and ate steamed broccoli and cauliflower for dinner.

*By the way, some NZ lingo you should know:

Cuppa = Tea

Tea = Dinner

Supper = After dinner coffee & dessert

Awesome "flying saucer." Heading west out of Christchurch.

Cass field station.

Me, in conversation with Sid on the top of the mountain while he was taking pictures.

Looking towards the top of the mountain we scrambled up.

At the top with Ron, a Kiwi and the trip organizer, and Stephanie, a German professor.

Eating my chicken pie, topped with tomato sauce. I just trusted the Kiwi boys behind me. They said it would be good. And it actually was. Much better than the vension pie I had in Greymouth.

Sunday brought a big storm. Driving back to Christchurch.

Queen Charlotte Track

Day 1 started off on my bike with my loaded pack on my back at 5:30am in the dark. And it was 23F. This was perhaps the most interesting start to a backpacking trip I've ever had. Negotiating the gravel driveway was the hardest part. Once I was on the icy road, I was a strange moving black outline of inertia with flashing red and white lights. Quite a scene. I got weird looks from the only 2 people I saw. So where was I going? To my friend Lisa's house. There weren't any buses to the City Centre at this hour from my house so I had to bike 15 minutes to Lisa's house to get the bus from there. Two buses, one boat and eight hours later, we arrived at Ship Cove, the start of the Queen Charlotte Track. It was a gorgeous day. Calm and sunny. We hiked an hour and a half to our campsite right on the water, arriving just before dark. The trail was a bit slick from the rain earlier in the week... I fell down in the first hour. Little did we know, it was only going to get wetter. The highlight of the night was fending off the Wekas, birds endemic to New Zealand that like to steal campers food (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weka). One got away with a big ziploc bag of Lisa's sundried tomatoes and apricots, but she ran after it and retrieved them. She happened to have a tent stake in her hand at the time, making the whole scene quite hilarious for Will and I to watch. Again, little did we know, we'd be battling Wekas all weekend for our food.

Day 2 was rather uneventful. The skies were cloudy, but it was a nice, long walk (14 miles), mostly near the water. Again, we got to Camp Bay just a bit before dark. And then it started raining. We rushed to get the tents up and then cooked dinner in the rain under a tree. After shoving some food in, we climbed into our tents. I think this was when Will started belting the Backstreet Boys from his tent. Lisa relaxed. I played some solitaire. It rained hard all night. The wind howled through the trees but the tent maintained its structural integrity (too nerdy?).

We woke to Day 3 and more rain. The camping area was beginning to flood. We had a few options to get a water taxi out early, but decided it didn't make much sense. It seemed much more sensible to hike 15 miles in a torrential storm. Isn't that what most people would conclude in this situation? We set out and the rain lightened for a bit. And then... it poured and poured and poured. And was it windy! We hiked along the ridge most of the day. The wind funneled over it. Trees fell down on the trail. A rain jacket, rain pants and waterproof boots meant nothing. I was soaked to the core. Just keep moving! That's the only way we could keep warm. But it wasn't so bad. Whittaker's dark chocolate and PB & honey sandwiches helped too. We arrived at our final campsite in Portage Bay at 5pm. Portage Bay is a small town just over the hill from where the boat was picking us up the next morning. A quick change of plans occurred once we saw the campsite. It was flooded, extremely exposed, and there was no cooking shelter once again. Another wet night in wet tents wasn't sounding so appealing. But we did see a sign for a backpackers hostel on the walk to the campsite. We stumbled over there and knocked on the door. By this time, it was dark and everyone was getting cold. They let us in!!! It was a beautiful spot, more like a bed and breakfast, perched up on a hill and we had it all to ourselves. Hot showers! Warm food! Yahtzee! And in the morning, a beautiful view!

We enjoyed a relaxing morning, drinking tea and eating oatmeal before heading to catch the water taxi to Picton and then the bus back to Christchurch. This time I caught the bus straight home and picked up my bike from Lisa's the next day. Just in case you're wondering, I don't recommend riding a bike with a loaded pack on.

Kaikoura. A reststop on the bus trip north.

Day 1. Ship Cove. Start of track.

Day 1. Beautiful, peaceful Sounds.

Day 2. Looking back towards Resolution Bay.

Day 3. Not documented.

Day 4. View from the "hostel" bedroom. Portage Bay.

A different New Brighton

I biked along the Avon River to New Brighton on Sunday with my friend, Lisa. Last time I was in NZ, the highlight of New Brighton was the great thrift store, where I outfitted myself in cheap but unfashionable winter attire to keep warm for the winter. This time, New Brighton brought other interesting sights. Some observations and highlights...

Countdown supermarket workers enjoying a lunch break watching the waves, sitting on a transformer outside the store in New Brighton. Doesn't this remind you of construction workers in New York City or something of the sort?

Art in the sand. The tide came up eventually and soon the "artist" collected his rake and hoe, strapped it onto the side of his black beach cruiser (bottom left) and rode off.

New Brighton Public Library. The sweetest library I've ever been to. It's right on the beach! That's me pretending to read a magazine, but actually just staring out the window.

Nice waves and crazy surfers in freezing cold water. Many didn't even have hoods or gloves.

Plains to mountains to beach and back again

No plans for the weekend. An itch to get to the mountains. (I was tired of just looking at them through the window in the women's restroom on the 5th floor.) Thus, I made a spontaneous decision to take the train to the West Coast on Saturday morning with an American (the dangling sleeping bag girl from the Hurunui trip) and two of her English friends. They had tickets to take the return train back on Sunday, but I decided I would spend Sunday night in Arthurs Pass in the Southern Alps. The idea of taking a train or bus back through the mountains the next day without getting to play in them seemed most painful. I bought my train ticket late Thursday night and reserved a hostel for Saturday night in Greymouth. I checked the bus schedules for the return trip. There were still openings and since it's the off season, I figured there was no rush to book the bus and that I would do it Friday. I worked Friday, got home, and decided to book the bus tickets... but, the Arthurs Pass to Christchurch Bus was full. Hmmm. "Oh well, I'm still going," I thought, "something will work out." I figured I would check on it later to see if there were cancellations. If not, I'd try to make friends in the hostel or find some friendly folk to get a lift with, i.e. hitchhike. There is only one road through Arthurs Pass and almost everyone driving east on it goes to Christchurch.

I caught the bus to the train station at 7am Saturday morning in the rain. The train set off west, through the suburbs of Christchurch, in the fog. The Waimakariri River Gorge is supposed to be one of the most beautiful features of the ride. It was beautiful indeed, but the fog limited the visibility. After a short stop in Arthurs Pass, we got back on the train and entered an 8km tunnel. When we emerged, all the passengers on the train, exclaimed in unison, "woah"... it was crystal clear and sunny. What a contrast to the east side of the divide! The train had an open air viewing car which was fun, noisy, and a bit awful when we went through the tunnels, as all the diesel exhaust came funneling down the tunnel. But it was a great place for picture taking, if you could keep your hand steady.

Greymouth is a small, modest town that sits on the west coast at the end of the train line. It was absolutely beautiful and pleasant in Greymouth. (Last time I was in Greymouth, it was, well, grey.) We took a walk on Point Elizabeth track along the coast and were even treated to a gorgeous sunset. Dinner was the low point of the night. A venison pie! I've been wanting to try a meat pie and wanting to try venison and we were at a pretty nice restaurant. Seemed like the time to go for it. And well, I don't wish to eat another meat pie. Perhaps, it was just a bad one. I'll try to keep an open mind.

I caught an 8am bus out of Greymouth. The sun was rising. I felt pretty special to experience the loveliness of that morning. I sat in the front seat of the bus and the chatty kiwi bus driver kept talking to me. We talked energy, everything from haphazard hydro schemes to ocean energy, cars, petrol, the details of running a bus company, etc. I hopped off in Arthurs Pass around 10am. He thanked me for the nice chat and off I went. A day by myself to explore the mountains and I couldn't see a cloud in the sky. I changed into my tramping gear, dropped my pack off at the hostel, and went to the DOC visitor's center to check on the hikes in the area. I decided on a track, filled out an Intention card so they would come find me in the morning if I didn't make it back and headed for the trailhead.

I climbed up Avalanche Peak via Scotts Track. It was up for about 2.5 hours, starting at 730 meters (2400 feet) to about 1500 meters (4920 feet), which is where I decided to stop because I didn't have crampons, an ice axe, or a friend. The peak sits at 1820 meters (5970 feet). Next time! But the views were amazing! And I even got a bit of an arm workout. Both hands were required for maneuvering along this trail, which was rocky and/or eroded in sections. I enjoyed a quick lunch on the mountain, then noticed some clouds billowing over the nearby Mount Rolleston. I observed the clouds and the wind for a bit, then decided I should head down. I made it down while the weather was still nice and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and drinking a fancy hot chocolate.

Monday was rainy. I layered up, with a rain jacket and rain pants as the outer layer. I hiked around the lower elevations to Devil's Punchbowl waterfall, then took a connecting trail to Bealy Valley for a little extra exploration. Then I headed back to Arthurs Pass to catch the bus home to Christchurch. Yes, it turned out there was just one spot available. No hitchhiking this time.

It was a wonderful weekend with a nice balance. Time with friends and time alone. Leisure and adventure. Beach and mountains. Sun and rain. I was happy!

Winding through Waimakariri River Gorge on the train.

"Woah, it's sunny on this side!" West of the Southern Alps.

The crew on the train.

View from Point Elizabeth, 6km north of Greymouth.

Point Elizabeth Track trailhead. And a beautiful beach!

Mountain wave clouds!

Heading up Scotts Track.

10 second timer. A bit squinty and a bit blurry-- the wind kept shaking the camera.

Mount Rolleston.

Delectable hot chocolate. Kiwis take pride in their cafe drinks.

Grateful

Some sunshine, some clouds, a seemingly warm 10C (50F) with a light breeze, a delicious bowl of Hubbard's muesli topped with sliced fresh Golden Kiwi (http://www.hubbards.co.nz/productList.aspx?cid=17). I think this day could go in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."