Thursday, December 30, 2004
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
We did it!
We survived the Hiking New Zealand Christmas Secret South Safari, and it went extraordinarily well for us!
Following my last post, we went to Lake Ohau and hiked up to a campsite near the bushline along Freehold Creek in the rain. We got wet and cold, but slept comfortably and dry and woke to a gorgeous, cool day the following day. We had a fantastic hike up to 2 separate saddles in the basin above Freehold Creek, going as high as 1800 meters, with beautiful views of several mountain ranges and Lake Ohau below. Then we hiked all the way back down to the Glen Mary Ski Club lodge for a Christmas Eve barbeque feast that three of our group had stayed behind to help prepare. That evening and the breakfast feast on Christmas morning were the highlights of the trip for us as Christmas became not so much a time away from home and family, but a special time together with new friends in a wonderful place.
Christmas day was full of unexpected sunshine for a hike near Mount Cook that offered us rare views of Aoraki, the Mount Sefton Icefall and Hooker Glacier. The hike, though not long, had a 500 meter rise in 500 meters of horizontal distance. We crowned our accomplishment with some leftover champagne at the top of the hike, the Sealy Tarns.
Christmas night we camped along the shore of the south end of Lake Pukaki and the clear skies remained for an amazing sunset with views of the Ben Ohau range, Mount Cook and an almost full moon rising to the east. We took a "refreshing" dip in the lake (60 deg F), and enjoyed a moonlight walk viewing southern constellations including the Southern Cross.
The following day we drove to the foothills above the town of Mount Somers as the morning clouds burned off for another unexpectedly sunny day. We packed up and started our 2-night tramp into the back country along the Mount Somers Sub-Alpine Track, spending the first night in an historic old sheep musterer's hut along Woolshed Creek. We also took another "refreshing" dip in a creek nearby filled with waterfalls, but ran out of energy to go into the sauna as the cold wind gusts got stronger and battered our little hut. We enjoyed a warm fire inside and some friendly games of cards.
The group opted not to do the cold and wet water caves side trip despite the advice of our guide, and opted instead to try a more challenging summit attempt on Mount Somers itself. It was "quite a grunt" as our guide put it, but entirely worth it for the amazing views all around at the top as the weather remained perfectly clear for another day. I can't believe how fortunate we were to have such fabulous weather right when we needed it! To the west we could see several ranges including the picturesque Arrowhead Range and even to Mount Cook beyond it! To the east we could easily see all the way across the plains of Canterbury to the ocean, the Banks Peninsula, and Christchurch, where our safari would end.
That night we hiked back down into the bush on the other side of Mount Somers for a stay in a large hut with other trampers. The last day of our safari we awoke to the sounds of cheeky Kias sqwauking and scratching around on the roof of the shed. Several people had missing socks and holes in their boots that they left out on the porch. We hiked out to our van and finally got our boots wet in a couple of shallow river crossings, then drove in to Christchurch to get cleaned up and top it off with going out for drinks and dinner as a group.
We are exhausted and recovering from some scrapes and sore muscles, but really feel good about the whole safari experience. Today we relax in Christchurch under an overcast, then back to flying tomorrow, to Auckland for a day of city experience, then the long flight home and it will all be over! :-(
We hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did (we really did miss you, though!) and hope you have a fabulous New Year!
Following my last post, we went to Lake Ohau and hiked up to a campsite near the bushline along Freehold Creek in the rain. We got wet and cold, but slept comfortably and dry and woke to a gorgeous, cool day the following day. We had a fantastic hike up to 2 separate saddles in the basin above Freehold Creek, going as high as 1800 meters, with beautiful views of several mountain ranges and Lake Ohau below. Then we hiked all the way back down to the Glen Mary Ski Club lodge for a Christmas Eve barbeque feast that three of our group had stayed behind to help prepare. That evening and the breakfast feast on Christmas morning were the highlights of the trip for us as Christmas became not so much a time away from home and family, but a special time together with new friends in a wonderful place.
Christmas day was full of unexpected sunshine for a hike near Mount Cook that offered us rare views of Aoraki, the Mount Sefton Icefall and Hooker Glacier. The hike, though not long, had a 500 meter rise in 500 meters of horizontal distance. We crowned our accomplishment with some leftover champagne at the top of the hike, the Sealy Tarns.
Christmas night we camped along the shore of the south end of Lake Pukaki and the clear skies remained for an amazing sunset with views of the Ben Ohau range, Mount Cook and an almost full moon rising to the east. We took a "refreshing" dip in the lake (60 deg F), and enjoyed a moonlight walk viewing southern constellations including the Southern Cross.
The following day we drove to the foothills above the town of Mount Somers as the morning clouds burned off for another unexpectedly sunny day. We packed up and started our 2-night tramp into the back country along the Mount Somers Sub-Alpine Track, spending the first night in an historic old sheep musterer's hut along Woolshed Creek. We also took another "refreshing" dip in a creek nearby filled with waterfalls, but ran out of energy to go into the sauna as the cold wind gusts got stronger and battered our little hut. We enjoyed a warm fire inside and some friendly games of cards.
The group opted not to do the cold and wet water caves side trip despite the advice of our guide, and opted instead to try a more challenging summit attempt on Mount Somers itself. It was "quite a grunt" as our guide put it, but entirely worth it for the amazing views all around at the top as the weather remained perfectly clear for another day. I can't believe how fortunate we were to have such fabulous weather right when we needed it! To the west we could see several ranges including the picturesque Arrowhead Range and even to Mount Cook beyond it! To the east we could easily see all the way across the plains of Canterbury to the ocean, the Banks Peninsula, and Christchurch, where our safari would end.
That night we hiked back down into the bush on the other side of Mount Somers for a stay in a large hut with other trampers. The last day of our safari we awoke to the sounds of cheeky Kias sqwauking and scratching around on the roof of the shed. Several people had missing socks and holes in their boots that they left out on the porch. We hiked out to our van and finally got our boots wet in a couple of shallow river crossings, then drove in to Christchurch to get cleaned up and top it off with going out for drinks and dinner as a group.
We are exhausted and recovering from some scrapes and sore muscles, but really feel good about the whole safari experience. Today we relax in Christchurch under an overcast, then back to flying tomorrow, to Auckland for a day of city experience, then the long flight home and it will all be over! :-(
We hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did (we really did miss you, though!) and hope you have a fabulous New Year!
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Greetings from Central Otago
OK, my email isn't working here for some reason so sorry if I haven't responded to anyone who was expecting me to. I thought it was a fluke 2 days ago in Invercargill, but I guess it's some routing issue between here and the U.S.
We've had more rainy weather but have been having a fabulous time. Yesterday we enjoyed seeing rare yellow-eyed penguins and up-close looks at rare New Zealand sea lions, as well as the various varieties of unusual birds like siberian terns, and of course sheep, sheep and more sheep. We stayed overnight at an old sheep station last night and in a crib (summer house) at Curio Bay the night before. We've been quite comfy so far and have been eating well, including a wonderful hangi feast last night (cooked underground)!
The best fun is hanging out with all the others in the group and enjoying each other's company. We are spending most of today driving to Lake Ohau where we hope to go on an overnight tramp (hike). Then on to Mount Cook for a day hike, then a 2-day hike near Mount Somers to make up for the day we skipped earlier.
This is probably the last Internet acces until we're back in Christchurch, so we hope all is well at home and everyone has a Merry Christmas!
We've had more rainy weather but have been having a fabulous time. Yesterday we enjoyed seeing rare yellow-eyed penguins and up-close looks at rare New Zealand sea lions, as well as the various varieties of unusual birds like siberian terns, and of course sheep, sheep and more sheep. We stayed overnight at an old sheep station last night and in a crib (summer house) at Curio Bay the night before. We've been quite comfy so far and have been eating well, including a wonderful hangi feast last night (cooked underground)!
The best fun is hanging out with all the others in the group and enjoying each other's company. We are spending most of today driving to Lake Ohau where we hope to go on an overnight tramp (hike). Then on to Mount Cook for a day hike, then a 2-day hike near Mount Somers to make up for the day we skipped earlier.
This is probably the last Internet acces until we're back in Christchurch, so we hope all is well at home and everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Way Down Under
We're in Invercargill, on the southern end of the South Island of New Zealand, as far south as we will go. We are on our way to Curio Bay in the Catlins tonight after spending last night in huts at a lodge south of Te Anau. After experiencing bad weather for 3 days, we had "remarkably good" weather for the first two days of our tramping tour.
It cleared up amazingly well for our afternoon hike up to Key Summit on the Rotebourne Track on Sunday afternoon, offering us a spectacular 360-degree view of snowcapped peaks. We asked our guide, Regan, the names of some of the peaks and he said he didn't know because in the 3 years he had been taking people up that track he had never seen them! We spent the night in huts at a unique spot in Hollyford Valley. It was clear at night so I was able to get my first views of the Southern Cross and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. But of course I was too tired and cold to actually pull out my charts and binoculars to do any further astronomical exploring.
The good weather continued through Monday morning for our trip to Milford Sound. Our 4-1/2 hour kayaking adventure began right off with a family of playful dolphins greeting us in the basin leading into the Sound! Later Regan told us that only a couple times before have his groups encountered dolphins that close. For some reason they were particularly playful and put on quite a show for us. Tough to get good photos, but great memories of them coming alongside us and giving us a look, and jumping all around. We also saw sea lions and had warm weather and calm water.
Our plans changed today due to the bad weather returning. We have skipped our first overnight hike and moved our schedule up a day by moving on to the Catlins today. It's a bit ironic that on the longest day of the year we won't even glimpse the sun. Maybe we'll see more sun yet!
Happy Solstice!
It cleared up amazingly well for our afternoon hike up to Key Summit on the Rotebourne Track on Sunday afternoon, offering us a spectacular 360-degree view of snowcapped peaks. We asked our guide, Regan, the names of some of the peaks and he said he didn't know because in the 3 years he had been taking people up that track he had never seen them! We spent the night in huts at a unique spot in Hollyford Valley. It was clear at night so I was able to get my first views of the Southern Cross and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. But of course I was too tired and cold to actually pull out my charts and binoculars to do any further astronomical exploring.
The good weather continued through Monday morning for our trip to Milford Sound. Our 4-1/2 hour kayaking adventure began right off with a family of playful dolphins greeting us in the basin leading into the Sound! Later Regan told us that only a couple times before have his groups encountered dolphins that close. For some reason they were particularly playful and put on quite a show for us. Tough to get good photos, but great memories of them coming alongside us and giving us a look, and jumping all around. We also saw sea lions and had warm weather and calm water.
Our plans changed today due to the bad weather returning. We have skipped our first overnight hike and moved our schedule up a day by moving on to the Catlins today. It's a bit ironic that on the longest day of the year we won't even glimpse the sun. Maybe we'll see more sun yet!
Happy Solstice!
Saturday, December 18, 2004
In Queenstown
We finally made it to Queenstown today after having our flight returned to Christchurch this morning due to foul weather. For some reason they thought it was better to fly back where we started than to fly into the side of a mountain. We keep hearing the phrase "remarkably bad weather." But flying into Queenstown this afternoon it looks absolutely gorgeous, though chilly and cloudy. The scenery is truely amazing!
We successfully sped through North Island, enjoying a wonderful cultural experience at the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua and a brief hike through "Mordor" in Tangariro National Park. We were not able to contact the Woods, unfortunately, but did drive around the Tauranga area a bit. We enjoyed downtown Wellington on a Friday night after a good meal in a Malaysian restaurant about a block from the Rosemere hostel.
Auckland reminded us of Seattle with its weather, climate, geography and very international population. Wellington also reminded us of Seattle but mostly for its location on the water and houses covering the hills around the city.
One thing we noticed in North Island is that all the towns look very similar, with streets lined with single-story shops. "How nice" we thought, "that all the sidewalks are covered in front of the shops." (This was true most places in Auckland and Wellington also.) But there is good reason for that: it rains here. A lot. Thursday was the best day weatherwise, with some sun and little rain. Otherwise the affects of "southerlies" and maritime low pressure are having their effect bringing lots of rain and cold. The temperatures in Chicago, Christchurch and Queenstown were all similar today, but we're glad we're here and not in Chicago!
Kia Ora!
We successfully sped through North Island, enjoying a wonderful cultural experience at the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua and a brief hike through "Mordor" in Tangariro National Park. We were not able to contact the Woods, unfortunately, but did drive around the Tauranga area a bit. We enjoyed downtown Wellington on a Friday night after a good meal in a Malaysian restaurant about a block from the Rosemere hostel.
Auckland reminded us of Seattle with its weather, climate, geography and very international population. Wellington also reminded us of Seattle but mostly for its location on the water and houses covering the hills around the city.
One thing we noticed in North Island is that all the towns look very similar, with streets lined with single-story shops. "How nice" we thought, "that all the sidewalks are covered in front of the shops." (This was true most places in Auckland and Wellington also.) But there is good reason for that: it rains here. A lot. Thursday was the best day weatherwise, with some sun and little rain. Otherwise the affects of "southerlies" and maritime low pressure are having their effect bringing lots of rain and cold. The temperatures in Chicago, Christchurch and Queenstown were all similar today, but we're glad we're here and not in Chicago!
Kia Ora!
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Sunday, December 05, 2004
