Tramping for Treatment
Friday, May 7, 2010
The road goes on forever and the party never ends!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Holy Wine and Mussels!
Team Heather has an unfair advantage because the owner brought over some filet steaks from his dairy farm in Christchurch for them to cook up tonight. The guys are fishing right now, so I have a sneaking suspicion that they are going for a Surf and Turf menu for this evening. I guess we get to reap the benefits as well, so I don't really care!
Kieth, the owner, is picking us up on his boat in a little bit to check out the Sounds. It's a little overcast today but still beautiful, and we're all excited to check out this area on water. He's been so great and is hilarious. We highly recommend this place: http://www.tigersden.co.nz/
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Low tide at high tide
Monday, May 3, 2010
Quick and Dirty...
Girls Spa day: check!
Bungee Jumping: check!
18 hour road trip up north to Abel Tasman: check!
About to jump on a boat taxi to camp on the beach: check!
THE SUN IS OUT: CHECK!
We'll be at our beach house in Picton tomorrow night and will have a more elaborate update then.
Everythings great, we're loving everything, even the curvy 18 hour drive up the coast supplemented by pounds of candy and potato chips.
Talk soon!
Jill and crew
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Tramping for Treatment....for real.
After a beautiful photo op with the Trippin’ for Trout boys on our way out of town we started our departure from Queenstown. Clearly, the girls decided to turn our 3-hour drive into a little Michael Jackson , Country Wine booze cruise. With the girls singing sweet tunes and the drivers going deaf, we finally made it to Te Anau at 9 o’clock. This all after having to take a detour due to flooding. That should have been our first hint about the massive amounts of rain in the area. We swung by the grocery store to pick up some backpacking food, grabbed a bite to eat at “The Moose”, and somehow found some rooms at the “Barnyard Backpackers Hostel, nestled up in the foothills, of course near some sheep and cows. We woke up first thing in the morning and hit the DOC (Department of CONSERVATION- please forgive my earlier typo) and drove to the trailhead… just about the same time the rain started to fall.
The first 4 miles of the trail on the first day were right along the swollen lake: nice and flat. Then the climb started. We climbed 3000 feet worth of switchbacks through the New Zealand rainforest until we broke through the tree line into the exposed climate. At this point, we were by NO means dry, so we didn’t really mind the extra rain and wind. We knew we were close to the hut at this point, so it gave us some hope. We finally arrived at the Luxmore Hut (sounds luxurious, doesn’t it) where we had some hut-mates who had started up a fire for everyone to hang our wet clothes above. That night we thought the hut might blow over. The wind was howling and the hut was shaking, but it was 200 times better than sleeping in a tent up there. The next morning we jumped up early, hoping for blue skies, but were not happy to see extra clouds and wind. When our “hut master” Jeff came downstairs, I asked him “Hey Jeff (pronounced Jiph), what’s the good word?” He promptly replied, “There is none…. It’s going to be terrible today. Rain, sleet, hail, snow, wind over 50 mph”. Dang it…. Not what we wanted to hear. None the less, we took off up the hill, and climbed an additional 1000 ft to the Luxmore Saddle, where we LITTERALLY THOUGHT WE MIGHT BLOW OFF THE MOUNTAIN.
Seriously, Kyle made us hike in a straight line 2 feet in front of eachther for protection. Every time you thought there was going to be a lull in the gusts, and would peak out from under your rainjacket hood…. The wind would come full force and bitch-slap you in the face. At this point, our hike must seem a little brutal to all of you, but it was absolutely beautiful. There were gorgeous views (if the clouds broke), an amazing trail, and great friends to share it with. We were all drenched to the bone and our muscles were burning- but we were in it together.
After we made it past the saddle and up another ridge, we finally dropped into the trees… but don’t think that helped with the rain. Now, at this point, we were running DOWN the switchbacks, past waterfalls, and heading to the next hut: the Iris Burn hut, where we had two great hutmate couples: an older couple from Australia who had just climbed Kilamajaro, and a young couple from the north island in NZ. You could see numerous beautiful waterfalls all around the hut and a luscious jungle around us… SO BEAUTIFUL.
By the next morning, we were ready to rock the 12 miles of flat terrain. Without the elevation challenges of the days before, this day seems really easy, AND WE EVEN SAW THE SUN!!! It was SO glorious and brightened all of our days. The rain subsided, and we even thought we’d make it to the next hut without being totally drenched…. Then we saw the waist deep water we had that had taken over our trail. Lake Manapouri had swelled WELL over it’s boundaries, and had flooded our track. It was actually quite comical for all of us to cross -just another adventure!
The next hut was right on the lake, and was an amazing little beach house. We ate the last of our dehydrated food, and stayed up REALLY late: like 8:00!
The last morning, the brave trampers without blisters (ie… not me) hiked the last 17 k to the van, (most of which was in waist deep water) while the other half of us hiked the shorter route to another exit point.
We all jumped into the van, and started the dance party in the van back to Queenstown. We were bruised, we were battered, and absolutely exhausted: but we felt GREAT. The only open “great walk” in New Zealand was just that…. It was great. We shared some great struggles and triumphs on this trail, and that of course led to some great laughs. It’s definitely a backpacking trip we will not forget.
Now back in Queenstown, we took a much-needed shower, ate a delicious dinner, and a few brews. The following days will include possible bungee jumping, fishing, maybe a spa day for the girls, and plans for another tramp up north on our way up to the beach house. AND PLUS WE’LL HAVE DAVID GOODMAN HERE TOMORROW!!!
Friday, April 30, 2010
WE'RE ALIVE...but wet!
We just got off the Kepler Track... 4 days, 3 nights, 500 mm of rain! Seriously!
It rained, it stormed, it hailed... and the wind bitch slapped us in the face all day... BUT IT WAS AMAZING!!! 60 km of tramping, that's like 36 miles!
We're going out for a well deserved burger in Queenstown right now, but we'll post more stories tonight!
LOVING NZ!
Jill (with 16 blisters)
Monday, April 26, 2010
"This is the first time it's rained all summer!"
Once we made it to Christchurch, we picked up our 10 person van with gear trailer, which is hilarious, and started the adventure of driving on the wrong side of the road in the passengers seat. Brian, who was the first brave one to drive kept hitting the windshield wipers when trying to turn on the turn signal, and we all kept yelling at Kyle who was in the 'passengers seat' to put his hands on the steering wheel.
After 3 hours in the car and a long drive down a dirt road, we pulled up to Braemer Station - a sheep farm right on the Lake, which was turquoise blue. This place was so great! Kitchen, beds, sheep and cows out the window, and so old and cozy. We cooked up a great dinner there, and fell asleep early, after such a long commute.
The next morning we braved some rain, and took a walk around the lake AND of course a dip in the lake! Let's just say it wasn't that warm.
We gathered up our stuff and hit the road again, heading to Queenstown in the rain. We stopped in a town called "Twizzle" (please just imagine the SnoopDog references we keep coming up with) for a beer and some brunch and while talking to a local woman, asked about the weather forecast. She said: "Oh man, this is the first time we've gotten rain in the past couple of months- We love it!"... go figure! We kept on trucking to Queenstown, and when we arrived in this great little town found out the Routeburn Track, the main "tramp" we planned to do the next day (today!) had been flooded out, and hikers had been evacuated from the huts the night before because the water was up to their belly buttons. Guess it doesn't matter after all if my boots are waterproof or not!
We checked into our hotel, and stumbled across the perfect dinner spot "The Cow", an old-school pizza and pasta restaurant which had coincidentally been recommended to us by a VR co-worker. Still tired from all the traveling, we grabbed a beer (NZ has GREAT beer!) and headed back to form a plan of attach for the next couple of days.
Our original plan had been to hit the Routeburn today, but currently the guys are talking with the DOC (Department of Transportation) to see what we should plan with this weather that's currently on the South Island. When we first got here with all the rain, we threw out a couple ideas like catching a flight to Tahiti or Australia to lay on the beach, but then we remembered that we are in NZ, NOT at work, it's beautiful rain or shine and have 12 days to feel out. So David, if you're reading this, the Routeburn might happen while you're out here!!! We're meeting in just a minute to nail down some plans for today that might include bungee jumping or jet boats.... TBD!
So there it is: the first blog post in New Zealand.... We're here.. we're safe, and we LOVE IT!
Miss you all!
Jill
From Kyle "BAM!"