3/22 - Christchurch and Jailhouse

The first part of the day consisted of a long drive up to Christchurch. The land here is mostly sheep pastures, which while interesting from a land use history point of view, is not terribly exciting to drive through. Though there was one really beautiful view of Mt. Cook in the distance.

Arriving in Christchurch I needed to check into my hostel, then rush to the airport to return the car in time. It wasn't particularly good timing on my part, but I was able to return the car on time (with about 15 minutes to spare) and get into the hostel, so dropping off the car, I decided to walk back to the hostel since I hadn't had much physical activity for the day. It was about a 9 km trip, but I thought it would give me the chance to see a little of Christchurch, which had been damaged by several large earthquakes in the past six months. Walking through the suburbs I didn't really see much damage, just several brick walls that had collapsed. In all, it was a nice, much needed walk, allowing me to decompress from a day of driving.

I decided to try to save some money on food, as well as to use up some of the food I had left from the road, and so needed to walk to the grocery. This meant another rather long hike - about 6 km return. When I returned, I was tired and hungry, but in good spirits.

After cooking a meal of grilled cheese and stir-fry greens, I (finally) settled in to being in the hostel. Unfortunately, my flight was early the next morning, and I needed to go to bed soon. It was a nice hostel, built in an old jailhouse. The rooms were the old cells where the prisoners were kept. And they even had one that hadn't been renovated. The artwork on the walls was quite interesting and provocative.

After eating and doing Internet for a bit, I was more than ready for bed, and was excited to head off to Australia.

3/21 - Milford Sound and the Kindness of Strangers

The road to Milford Sound.

My first view of the Sound (technically a Fiord) itself:

Milford Sound is incredibly beautiful. There is nowhere else on earth I've been that has quite the same level of blow-you-away amazing views, and the sheer scale of it is astounding. The mind, I think tries constantly to put things into a scale it can understand, and so with things that don't fit that scale - either too small or too big, the brain shrinks or enlarges them to fit. The road to Milford, and the Fiord itself, were prime examples of the minimizing powers of the brain. The nature here is absolutely immense. It completely dwarfs the human presence, but unless you are really paying attention, you can let your brain fool you. The waterfalls, for instance, looked tiny. One, as tall as a fifty story building, looked like a tiny little streamlet...until one of the big cruise ships got near it and looked like a little toy boat underneath it. In general, in my pictures, I tried as much as I could to include a human-made object in them for scale.

On the way, I ended up chatting with a couple who are retired and sailing around the world on their sailboat over a four-year period. I mostly talked to the woman. She had lots of strong opinions to offer about many things. It was definitely interesting to ask her questions about her lifestyle. After a bit, though, I really just wanted to enjoy the natural spectacle, and I eventually excused myself to go take pictures.

After the boat tour I picked up yet more hitchers. There were a couple from the Czech Republic and a guy from Israel who had just finished up the Milford track. This great track is the hardest to do. Not because it's a difficult walk - in fact it's one of the easiest. Its ease and the incredible beauty of its scenery means it is the most in demand. It must be done in a tightly controlled 4 day schedule, and day walks are not allowed. One needs to book it weeks to months in advance in order to get a spot. The finish of the track is right near Milford Sound. And many of the backpackers look for rides back to Te Anau (the town nearest the beginning of the hike).

We had an interesting conversation on the way back. The Israeli and I talked about the medicine in Israel. He said that medicine was one of the most difficult fields to get into in Israel, even though there aren't enough doctors in the country. He had recently finished
his tour of duty in the military - 3 years - and was now traveling prior to starting an engineering degree in university. He hadn't seen any direct action in the recent offensive in Gaza nor in the war with Lebanon, but he had friends who had. He was rather dryly ironic about his reserve status ("I'm not sad that I didn't see any action, since I get to go to any war that happens in the next ten years") and about the role of the US in the reigon ("The US supplies like 90% of Israel's weapons instead of using the money to feed people"). Interesting guy.

After dropping the hitchers off at the same hostel I had stayed in, I continued along the road to Queenstown. I had made a plan to drive through to Wanaka, where I'd booked a hostel for the night. I wanted to see a place just outside of Wanaka called Puzzling World which has a number of large optical illusions. It was recommended, somewhat with tongue-in-cheek, by Hilary's friend John in Seattle.

About an hour outside of Te Anau, I saw a woman at the side of the road with a small sign (which I couldn't read). I pulled over thinking she might be a hitcher. Now, when driving, since I finished Tolstoy on my way to Te Anau, I've listening to music, which I blast. When I stopped this time I had Wagner blasting and the woman, MJ, and her husband, Hamish, both in their 40s, walked up to the car somewhat circumspectly as I struggled to shut the iPod off. When I finally stopped Sigfried during the forging of his sword, MJ and Hamish explained that they had taken a trip down to fish and play golf and heading home to Queenstown had been involved deeply in conversation so they didn't notice that their car was almost out of gas. They asked me to give them a ride up to the next little town to get gas. I readily agreed and Hamish hopped in, MJ waiting with the car. On the way, we ran into a flock of sheep who had apparently missed their turn-off into their paddock, and were walking all over the road. At Hamish's urging I passed the several cars backed up behind the sheep and started pushing slowly through them. Hamish said it's the only way to get past them. And, indeed, they did get out of the way.

We reached the station, and Hamish at first tried to insist that I just drop him off and he would flag a ride back. However, he was a rather big guy, and had just spent a day in the sun, and so was a bit disheveled looking. It may have taken some time to get a ride. So I gently insisted that I would be happy to take him back. He accepted, then said that I should come home and have dinner with them. I happily accepted this offer. On returning to their car, I realized that they didn't have a funnel to pour the fuel into their tank. I looked around my car for something to use, but when I turned my head back the two had already come up with a solution - cutting a plastic water bottle's bottom off, and within a couple of minutes we were underway. They stopped and filled their tank, and asked about my diet. MJ used to lead hiking tours and suspected, since I was American, I might be vegetarian.

We reached their house at around 7:30 in the evening. Wanaka is about an hour's drive from Queenstown, so I was thinking about how I would need to call the hostel to plan on leaving me a late key, when Hamish said that he and MJ had talked it over and wanted to ask me to stay the night. I called the hostel, and they kindly agreed to allow me to cancel my reservation. So I settled in to a lovely evening with MJ and Hamish.

While making a salad MJ kept me company, while Hamish prepared a grilled dinner of freshly caught cod and hulumie cheese (yum!). MJ currently works in real-estate. Hamish owns a tile shop, selling to home builders. So both are kind of connected to the tourism industry, like much of the Queenstown economy. They said that New Zealand didn't really experience a big slow-down from the sub-prime bank crisis, the Christchurch earthquake has put a severe dent in their economy. Queenstown, though, has been doing well. After dinner we watched a locally made film of images from Fiordland. Many of the images almost seem to be CGI generated they are so amazing. The mountain sequences looked like the beginning of LotR The Two Towers.

Finally this very full day came to an end. I'm very grateful for meeting MJ and Hamish. They were completely amazing and generous. I can only hope that I will be able to act as gracefully if and when I get into a difficult situation.

3/20 - Kinloch to Te Anau

In the morning, I set out from Kinloch stopping on Queenstown for food and internet. I wanted to set up a boat tour of Milford Sound. I don't know exactly why, but something about Milford has captured my imagination. Fiordland, the name of the area around The Routeburn and Milford Sound, has some of the most spectacular "typically New Zealand" landscape. High mountains cut deeply by glaciers over millions of years has formed these channels so that the mountains seem to emerge directly out of the sea in an otherworldly fashion. I called and made a reservation in Queenstown and then used the Internet in a "McDonalds cafe".

During the drive out of Queenstown I picked up several hitchhikers. The first was a young Dane, who said that he was in New Zealand tying to find "inner peace". Things were too "fast paced" at home. I asked him where in Denmark he lived, and he said that it was a little island town in the north. "Life's too slow there", he said. At the place I dropped him, on the edge of town, I achieved a enviable hitching feat: the hand-off. There was a German guy hitching right where I dropped the Dane. The Dane got out, the German got in. The latter was looking for a rock climbing site he'd heard about, but didn't know the name of, and didn't have very clear directions to. "It's 'shortly' past the sign for a ski resort" was the only direction he had. I went slowly along, and we did pass a ski resort sign, but no turns after it looked at all promising. Finally after obviously having gone far longer than "shortly", we gave up. I left him off at the side to hitch another ride back to town.

The road to Te Anau is not very exciting. Lots of deforested mountains swarming with either sheep or (farmed) deer. The deer look completely out of place here in these treeless fields. It's kind of disturbing to one's image of New Zealand as a natural paradise, and in that way was interesting to me. The stark reminder driving through most of the country, including the road to Te Anau, that a westernized lifestyle has fundamentally changed the landscape here is important. In general, when entering the many beautiful places in New Zealand I have now seen, I feel just as I do when I enter a national park in the US: here is a tiny little sliver of land (that still dwarfs the individual) that our rather rapacious way of life has packaged and commodified for our consumption. The beauty isn't cheapened by being a commodity, but it certainly is changed.

On arrival in Te Anau, I got set up at my hostel, and quickly made my way to the Kepler track. This is another three day "Great Walk" into the Fiordland. I had toyed with doing its 60km in two days, but then realized that I just wouldn't have time for both it and the trip to Milford. So I chose to just do a day walk. The sections of the trail easy to reach on day walks are simple "walks in the woods". Knowing it would lack the mind-blowing views just made me relax my pace and just enjoy the woodland. The birds were out, so I took the chance to do some birding. On the way, I ran into two people headed in the opposite direction who were just finishing the entire track - a German man and a Scottish woman from Glasgow. They asked about how it would be to hitch, and I told them I would probably be just walking in about an hour, then could give them a ride. They gladly accepted. I continued my walk, which included a beautiful marshy wetland, and headed back. The German, Anders (I think) and the Scot, Hazel (I'm sure...hey, she was cuter) were waiting in the lot. We chatted on the way back about my distant relatives in Scotland, on my father's side several generations back, who our family doesn't really keep in contact with, and about their plans for New Zealand.

I invited them out to dinner, but both ended up having other plans. So I ended up going out to a nice restaurant in Te Anau (my second higher-end meal in a row!) and had a nicely done filo summer squash. I ordered a Burgundy with it (having discovered that I like them from my Napier wine tour), but it turned out to be a really atypical Burgundy, not buttery and full-bodied at all! A little disappointing, but it did complement the meal well, so all was not lost. After dinner I bought a bottle of wine, did a little Internet and drank a glass, then went to bed, anticipating my boat trip the next day.

3/19 - Routeburn Track

Early in the morning I awoke with the sun and started toward the Routeburn track. Normally people take three days to do this hike. It isn't a circular path, and normally you have to either have to arrange transport from the other end back to the beginning (which takes about five hours, due to the shape of the valley where the roads go). So I decided to try to hike about half way in, to the high point. Sheila and Gary said that going to Harris Saddle - the halfway point will give a really good sense of the track.

The trail starts out following the course of a river through a  winding mountain pass. The grade is really gentle, allowing views through the trees of the majestic peaks. I did a bit of birdwatching while hiking along. Eventually the grade steepens as the track climbs out of the valley, and up above the tree line. The views for this section were fairly blocked, but you need to concentrate on the track anyway. At the tree line is one of the backpacker huts. Now, "hut" might bring to mind the three sided shelters along the Appalachian Trail. Not even close. The huts in New Zealand are like little backpacker hotels. They are four sided, have sinks with running (filtered) water, and stoves for cooking. I merely stopped at the hut for a snack and the view of the valley I had just climbed out of (which was breathtaking).

Immediately past the hut, the steep grade continues, bringing you above the trees, and into the alpine zone. After rounding a bend in the trail it's almost like stepping into another world. Gone completely, like it never existed, are views of the lush valley. These are replaced with a quiet alpine landscape, with the mountains still climbing on either side. The only noise when one stops is the wind, which moves almost constantly through. The alpine area continues with variable grades, but always climbing, until the trail passes by a high mountain lake. I was reminded of the mirror lake outside of the east moria gate in LotR. Quiet, softly rippling waters sparkle in the sun.

The saddle, the midpoint of the track has a short, steep side trail that takes one to the top of Conical Peak for potentially amazing views. Unfortunately, the clouds were down on the mountain when I reached the top, and didn't allow for views, but I'm still glad I did the trail. (that climber in me got my fix for the day).

The way down was a bit slower. While I love climbing, my boots make descents less enjoyable. I bought these boots recently, and they tend to give several of my toes blisters. This especially happens in the descents, as my feet tend to be crammed toward the front of the boots. By the end of the hike, my feet were definitely not happy. :-(

In honor of my wounded feet, I decided to baby myself in the evening. I had left a message with Kinloch, that if they had a vegetarian option for their 3 course dinner, I would like to sign up for it. They did. And it was AMAZING! They apparently get chefs from various high-end restaurants to cook at Kinloch, and everything tasted divine. Of course, I had just hiked 16 miles with some really steep grades, so just about anything would have tasted good, but I really think this went beyond good. I had some left-over wine from the previous night with Sheila and Gary, and it complemented my meal perfectly. This has been my nicest day yet in New Zealand. Happy and full, I snuggled into bed relatively early to get a start down to Te Anau to hike a bit on the Kepler Track and set up a boat trip on Milford Sound.

3/18 - Whateroa to Kinloch

The next morning I woke to a grey sky, but assurances from several people that the weather should be clearing. I thanked Gary (Arab) for his hospitality, then took off for lands further south. My first planned stop was the Franz Josef Glacier national park. There is a hike here that allows you to get practically to the foot of the glacier.

                                             

There are some guided hikes that allow you to traverse the glacier, but it's dangerous to do on one's own, because the glacier can suddenly shift, trapping an unwary traveller. It was amazing seeing the glacier. What particularly caught my attention was the river emerging from within it. It was carrying so much mineral deposit, that the water took on a whiteish color.

After visiting the glacier, I continued south, and the rains followed me. And because I was driving, this wasn't a bad thing. Some of the most breathtaking scenery passed me by - huge tree covered cliffs partially obscured by low-lying clouds, waterfalls cascading down their wooded cliffs, lending an air of otherworldly mystery to their majestic appearance.

After taking a rest (despite the excellent sleep I'd had at Gary's, I still hadn't caught up on the debt of the several days before), I continued on south, slowly leaving the coast, and rain behind me. I drove straight past Wanaka and Queenstown - I planned to visit both on the way back. I made my way to the Kinloch lodge, about a half hour past the small village of Glenorchy, near the entrance of the Routeburn track - the hike I wanted to do the next day. The picture below is a rainbow I saw on my way to Glenorchy.

                                      
I was placing my stuff in my four bed dorm room and coming out the door which looked across a small courtyard to the common room, and there were three people waving at me. After a second, I realized these were my roommates. I went in and introduced myself. Two of them were a world traveling couple of Canadians named Sheila and Gary. They were traveling in New Zealand for a couple of months. Prior to that they had traveled widely around the world. We ended up sharing a hot tub and a bottle of wine and chatted about travel. They gave me advice about Thailand. Including that it would be a good place to learn how to scuba dive. It is a three day course for PADI certification, so I think it will fit nicely into my time in Thailand. It was really nice chatting with people who I feel like I connected with.

3/17 - Christchurch Airport to Arthur's Pass to Whateroa

My flight from Auckland to Christchurch, despite being unbelievably early, was uneventful. I landed in CC and immediately looked for a car to rent. The several earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks since Sept has smashed the central area of the city. Many people have left their homes, and many businesses are still closed. I wanted to just get out. After getting the car, I started out toward the west coast via Arthur's Pass.

Another area recommended by Hilary's friend John, it is a national park that crosses the Alps and has many waterfalls and walking trails. Along the way, I picked up my second set of hitchhikers. These were a couple - she from South Africa, he a kiwi - who worked for the Dept of Conservation studying the endemic birds of the area, specifically a local parakeet species that is endangered (the common themes of habitat loss and predation by rats). It was raining fairly heavily when I picked them up, and they had given up for the day clearing non-native plant species from the area. Along the way they recommended a hike in Arthur's Pass.

After dripping them off, I visited the park welcome center where I picked up a pair of rain pants. Then I set out on the recommended trail in the pouring rain. It was beautiful watching the water stream down from high in the surrounding mountains. I quit when the trail wanted me to cross a stream, grossly swollen by the rain to a raging torrent. I continued on to the coast, and briefly made my way north to the town of Greymouth, but after finding most things closed, I ventured south toward "Arab's" (my friend Sarah Shepard's father). He welcomed me with a meal of cabbage and potato and gave me a bag of apples to take with me. I was so tired from my journey that I didn't get to talk with him as long as I would have liked, but we did have a nice chat about his past work with the cockapo, and on clearing small islands of invasive predators in order to create habitat for threatened endemic species.