A Tramping Christmas 2004

Getting Wet

We arrived at the boat ramp for the kayaks and spent some time getting ready for our adventure. These lobster traps were piled nearby, with the peaks of Milford Sound enticing us beyond.

The water of Milford Sound is cold and the weather is highly variable, so we had to dress for being cold and wet, even though the weather was sunny and warmish. The kayaking company provided fleece thermals and hats, waterproof pants, jackets and gloves, as well as the required vest and kayak skirt. It was all very colorful, as Jenny and Elissa show us in this picture in front of our van and trailer.

We finally did get in the water in tandem kayaks with guides in single kayaks. Here is one of our colorful guides for our 4-1/2 hour kayaking excursion. Was this guy's name Jeff? I can't remember, but we had actually seen him and another guide out on the Routeburn Track the day before.

Here we are "rafted up" for our orientation in the fresh water basin of the river harbor leading into the sound.

While we were getting our orientation we could see a small pod of dolphins entering the basin and starting to play in front of us. One of the guides paddled over by them and started getting them to follow him around. Soon we were paddling all over the basin getting the dolphins to follow us and watching them play around us. Here is an image of one riding our bow wave right in front of Claudia.

The guides said they were a family with a couple of very playful juveniles. We were amazed how close in to the kayaks they came, rolling over on their sides to take a close look at us. Here is one coming up for air between Jenny and Elissa's kayak and ours, with Milford Sound in the background.

It was difficult for me to get good pictures, because they would leave as soon as I stopped paddling to grab my camera. But Jenny got some good close-ups, like this one.

We could hardly believe our good fortune with the dolphins and the sunny weather. I think those dolphins would have played with us all morning, but we finally had to leave them and head out on our regular course around the sound.

Day 2 - To Milford Sound

Our second day began early so we could get down to Milford Sound to start our kayaking adventure. The early morning drive into Fiordland National Park was interesting, taking us through the 1.2 kilometer long Homer Tunnel. The tunnel is a testament to the perseverance of Kiwis, having been started in 1935 by five guys with pickaxes. They started from the far side which meant they had to carry all their equipment in. Two of the original five died in avalanches. The tunnel was completed in 1953. This picture out the window of the van shows a bus entering the tunnel. Traffic is limited to one direction at a time.

We descended into the deep shadows of the steep mountains of Fiordland as the peaks blazed in the morning sun high above us. This image only begins to capture the sensation, and gives you an idea what those poor guys had to tunnel through.

When we arrived at sea level we were greeted in the parking lot by a Kea. Keas are actually large, alpine parrots that roost above the tree line, but the climate is cool enough at Milford Sound that the tree line is not far away, and Keas can't resist tourists if they are nearby. Keas are known for their inquisitiveness and intelligence, but they can be a real pain, too, because they like to get into everything and pick it apart. This guy was drinking the dew off the roof of a car. A few minutes later we saw him dragging a stolen bag of bread around the parking lot and ripping it apart.

Down To Hollyford

Obviously, the weather had cleared up wonderfully during the first day to afford us such fabulous views on Key Summit. On the way up we shed clothing as we felt the intensity of the sun and our bodies warmed from the climbing. On the way back down it cooled off again as we re-entered the shadows of the forest and the peaks as the sun started to go down.

We all climbed in the van and Regan drove us a short distance down in the Hollyford Valley to a camp along the river where we took advantage of the comfort of rustic cabins and even hot, wood-fired showers. There were some sand flies there along the river, however, so our two fire starters, Florence and Eric, soon had a fire going with any spare wood they could find, preferably wet wood to make a lot of smoke. It worked pretty well against the flies.

The Hollyford camp was an interesting spot, run by a quirky old guy who had been there for 50 years, according to Regan. I can't remember his name, but I recall Regan saying the guy was there back when the valley was still named for the Gunn's, and before the Homer Tunnel made Milford Sound popular. His little development there included a gift shop and a historical museum that had an entry fee of $1, unless you were staying for the night.

Eric and I hung out around the campfire as it died down and finished off the last two beers we had picked up in Te Anau. We hoped the clear sky would hold through the night for our kayaking adventure on Milford Sound the following day. That night I got up in the middle of the night to drain my bladder of the last beer and was in awe of the night sky. Even though it was not completely dark because there were some outdoor lights on in the camp, and the mountains on each side of the valley blocked much of the sky, the Milky Way still clearly flowed down the length of the sky above, like a reflection of the Hollyford River flowing down the bottom of the valley. I had a great view of the Southern Cross and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. I could have pulled out my star charts and binoculars and spent a couple hours browsing the sky, but I was too bushed and it was cold! Oh well, at least I saw it.

At The Summit

At the end of a spur off of a nature trail loop we found the actual top of Key Summit! Here is one of Jenny's pictures of eight of us resting there.

Jenny was taking the picture, Elisabeth was still on her way up, and Regan was taking his own pictures. We found that it was a good sign when our guide was taking pictures. Even though he had been there many times before, Regan said it was the best view he'd ever seen there.

Here are some more images of the happy trampers. Vera and Marja, the Finnish contingent:

Anna, Florence and Astrid:

Eric, enjoying one of primary tramping fuels, chocolate:

Jen and Elissa, about 6 hours after meeting and they are already best buds:

And lastly and leastly, the Americans, Dane and Claudia:

What In Tarn-Nation?

Viewing the mountains in New Zealand's South Island is a lesson in glacial formations. The most obvious type of formation on our Key Summit hike was the tarn. What is a tarn? "Tarn: an alpine lake formed in a depression carved out by a formed glacier, e.g. Lake Marian" as stated on the plaque on glacial formations near the summit.

Here is Jenny's nice zoom shot of Lake Marian tucked in a hanging valley across the Hollyford Valley from us.

But we didn't just see tarns at a distance. We got up-close and personal with several on this hike, like this one with the Humboldt Mountains and Hollyford Valley in the background:

And this one:

And this little one overgrown by some of the local alpine flora:

And speaking of the local alpine flora, here is another plaque along the track to the summit describing some of the unique features of these alpine bog wetlands:

Key Summit - Near The Top

The panorama I posted on January 8 of the view near Key Summit was taken while standing on top of this marker.

If you click on the image to view the larger version you may be able to read some of the text. In the image Florence is copying down the text in her journal, so maybe she will share it with us here. From her perspective, left to right, it lists the Earl Mountains, Darran Mountains, Humboldt Mountains and Ailsa Mountains (listed as "Alisa Mountains" on at least two maps that I saw--not spelled the same but close enough to make Elissa happy).

Apparently Key Summit is actually in the Ailsa Mountains because on the marker below the Ailsa Mountains it states "Key Summit, 3,046', a point from which rivers flow to three coasts: to the south coast via the Eglinton River to Tuatapere; to the west coast via the Hollyford River to Martins Bay; to the east coast via the Greenstone River and Lake Wakatipu to Balcluthia." Oddly enough, that evening we would follow the flow to the west coast part way down the Hollyford Valley and sleep alongside the Hollyford River, the following two days we would follow the flow to the south coast all the way to Tuatapere, and two days after that we would cross the flow to the east coast at Balcluthia.

Key Summit - On The Way Up

After driving south and west to Te Anau through Southland we continued north along Lake Te Anau and the Eglinton River valley, along the inland edge of Fiordland National Park. We stopped for lunch just past Lake Gunn, at an access point for the Routeburn Track, one of New Zealand's "great" hikes. After lunch we headed up the track to Key Summit, about an hour and a half up the trail. And I do mean "up" the trail; it was a good warm-up hike for what was to come later in the trip.

We headed up through a rainforest similar to the forests near Te Anau where some of the scenes for Fangorn Forest in the Lord Of The Rings movies were shot. We saw several small streams and waterfalls and started to get familiar with the flora of the area.

The weather had cleared up splendidly throughout the day, so we had some fine views on the way up. The peaks that are normally shrouded in clouds were silhouetted against a clear blue sky. Along the way someone asked Regan what a particular mountain peak was, and he said "I have no idea. I've never seen it before!"

As we got above the tree line we stopped to soak in the view. Notice the moon rising over the peaks of the Humboldt Mountains just above Claudia's head.

I posted the full 360+ degree panorama from near Key Summit previously (on January 8), but here is another smaller 2-frame panorama of just the Darran Mountains across the Hollyford Valley. Mount Christina (2502 m) is on the left generating a cloud off the top.

Getting Under Way

Our tramping tour started at 8:00 AM on a cool and drizzly Sunday morning in Queenstown, the self-proclaimed extreme sport capital of the world. We all threw our packs in the back of the trailer and climbed in the twelve passenger minibus to begin our adventure.

We drove past The Remarkables--a range of peaks in the Hector Mountains--on the way south out of Queenstown, and the overcast was already starting to lift.

Almost anywhere you go in New Zealand you see lots of sheep, and Southland was no exception.

But we were surprised by the number of deer farms we saw. Venison and deer antler products are a big export for New Zealand.

We stopped in Te Anau to pick up our twelfth passenger, Eric, and to make our first grocery, alcohol and potty stop.

The view from the back seat, my preferred seating location because there was a spot where I could stretch my legs out. Note the abundance of long hair. Not enough short hair on this safari.

The Cast of Characters

Here is the complete cast of characters for this tramping saga. In addition to the eleven safari participants, we had two guides. Regan was our guide for the first eight days, at which time Daniel was kind enough to take over for the last two days so Regan could attend his sister's wedding.

Regan is a skilled guide with a talent for making the experience enjoyable for everyone in the group, and clearly loves his job!

Daniel is operations manager for Hiking New Zealand on South Island, and is part owner. He is a prototypical Kiwi stud and seems to have tramping in his blood. Here he is with Dane and Claudia at the party at the end of the safari.

Our group was blessed to have two mother/daughter pairs participating, from two different countries. Astrid shared the youthful vitality of her daughter, and was the only one in the group who could do the splits!

Astrid and her daughter, Anna, are from Germany and must do a lot of hiking at home, because they were usually at the head of our pack. Actually I think Anna may have had a pet mountain goat at one time because she could practically run up the mountains.

Marja and her daughter, Vera, are from Finland. Marja loves camping out so much that she slept in a tent every night, even when we had comfy cabins to sleep in!

Vera was the youngest of the group. Here she is showing off the bottle of snow she collected at the Sealy Tarns.

Elisabeth is also from Germany, but lives in Australia most of the year now. Here she is opening her Secret Santa gift on Christmas morning.

Elissa is from England, and joined our tour directly after coming off of the Hiking New Zealand Volcanoes and Rainforests safari on North Island.

Eric is from Holland, and joined our tour after going on the West Coast Wilderness tour led by Regan. He is one of the group's two fire-starters, always on the lookout for some good wood for a campfire.

Florence had the sexiest accent on the safari. It even sounded good when she was cursing at the rainy weather. Her home is France, and ours was her third Hiking New Zealand safari on her visit to New Zealand! Florence was our other fireperson, and always had great enthusiasm for getting a fire going.

Every group has to have one and, well, let's just say that Jenny was it in our group. She is clearly completely insane. This image shows Jenny holding her Nikon D70 camera with which she took many of the images shown here, but she appears to have a greater affinity for the instrument in her right hand.

Claudia is the sexy gal from Chicago.

Dane is the weak-kneed American. Claudia and Dane are lovers, the only ones of the group so far as we know, though Elissa and Jenny did become quite close...

Pukaki Dip

On Christmas evening some of us took a dip in Lake Pukaki, and Anna and Jenny were even able to swim in it despite the temperature. Regan told us the water was about 60°F. All I know is all the swelling in my knees was completely gone within seconds of touching that water.

After a couple minutes Jenny commented "It's actually quite warm in here, isn't it?" I took that as proof she was either extremely competitive or completely loony, and I never have decided which is actually the case.

In this image Dane, Anna and Jenny are all smiles as they swim, but Dane's smile is actually more of an expression of shock that is frozen on his face. Florence is sitting on the shore and Mount Cook is in the background at the other end of the lake on the right. Claudia went for a dip too, and Marja swam later in the evening.

One Moon Ago

As I watched the almost-full moon rise over Lake Michigan this evening, I was reminded of the view we had of the same moon one month before, rising over a different lake in a different hemisphere. The air is much colder here in Chicago tonight, but it is just as clear and the moon has the same orange glow as it rises just above the horizon.

It was actually Christmas night a month ago that we took these images along the shore of Lake Pukaki. Here is one of our campsite in the shelter of the pines near the south end of the lake.

Below is one of Jennifer's gorgeous wide-angle shots showing the light of the setting sun on Mt. Cook on the left and the moon rising on the right.

The southwest edge of Lake Michigan is covered with jumbled piles of snow-covered ice today, floating in the frigid water. Thankfully, Lake Pukaki wasn't nearly so cold when we were there and took a dip in it.