Fjords, Mountains & Meatloaf

Even though Anna and I had made a big trip around the South Island 15 years ago (yip - it was pretty early days), it was literally "around" the outside. Neither of us had really been through the Mainland, and along with wanting to do one of the Great Walks (in this case the Routeburn), this provided the motivation for this trip.

Picking up a car in Christchurch, with a slightly groggy head from too much fun at Pomeroys the night before, we headed straight out into the Canterbury Plains, driving the long way to Lake Tekapo. Not that there is a lot of driving to be done, the steering wheel being necessary about once every 15 minutes. Just as well the scenery is there to keep you awake. You can't get away from the contrast between the gray Alps and the (unnaturally) green plains. Though amidst the somewhat depressingly irrigated farmland was a heartening huge free range pig farm with what looked like plenty of happy (and very big) pigs.

However, as we headed out further into the countryside, there was one discovering that stayed with me for the rest of the trip. Outside of the cities, there appears to be one radio station that dominates all possible frequencies - More FM. It didn't matter how many times we scanned the frequencies, all we seemed to get was More-bloody-FM! And it becomes something akin to psychological warfare, as you caught yourself driving along humming to Meatloaf or Elton John…

Just as well the scenery was so distracting. You couldn’t help but let your jaw hang when driving through the MacKenzie Basin. Surrounded by mountains, with fingers of mineral-blue lakes stretching out from the Alps towering to one side. The first night we stayed in Tekapo – not much to do here but enjoy the views and try to work out which restaurant is going to be the least unpleasant experience. Of course there was the stunning night sky. We drove out somewhere to get completely away from lights, turned off the car lights and were pitched into completed darkness. No wonder the stars looked so awesome.

The next day we made the short drive around to Mt Cook National Park, were we staying the night. Lucky for us, we had an awesome view of Mt Cook the whole day – apparently you can visit there and never get a glimpse. We took a couple of walks out to glacier terminus (lakes at the end of glaciers). Including to the Tasman Glacier where a dodgy tour company tried to tell us we shouldn’t drive out to the car park as the road was rough. Stop in at the National Park Office and they said go for it. The other was a tricky 3-hour return walk where we regularly surprised about the casual wear people had. Two Asian tourists took the cake though, he had a dinner jacket on and she had massive high heels. We assumed that they weren’t going to get far.

It’s a pretty awesome place Mt Cook Village – if you haven’t been there, you should made the effort to do so.

The next day we had to drive down to Queenstown to return the hire car and catch our transport to Te Anau. Driving through Central Otago it was strange to find yourself thinking that the scenery was boring, but it was compared to the MacKenzie Basin. And Queenstown, as it always is, is pretty unappealing.

Arriving in Te Anau, we headed into what we had feared all week – the approaching inclement weather. A great big front had been promising to come up from the south, and just as we arrived in Fjordland, so did it. Not what you want when you about to head off on a 3-day tramp…

However, before that we had a day out kayaking on Doubtful Sound. Ironically, this trip had been ‘doubtful’ ever since we booked it. The company said they needed at least 4 people to make it worth their while. So fortunately, when we called them up the night before, they had 6 booked. And just as well, as the day was awesome. It starts with a long cruise across Lake Manapouri – and all the way could see the brooding rain clouds over the mountains that we had to go over to get to the Fjord. The whole day we didn’t see anybody else or any other craft on the Fjord - it was like we had the place to ourselves. And the rain just made it even more stunning – with waterfalls strung out all along the cliffs. The guide told us just two days ago that they were all dry. You have to remember that rain is the natural environment in Fjordland, so we were in fact very lucky. We spent around 5 hours cruising around the Fjord, we saw a mini landslide just in front of us, and also caught sight of a couple of Little Blue Penguins. And the final reward at the end of the day was the cloud lifting so that we got to see the Fjord open up a bit. So at the end of the day we were soaked, but happy.

The next day was the beginning of the Routeburn, and that rain wasn’t shifting. But again, walked through the Beech rain forest (Beech just may be my favourite tree), it felt right. Though it was a bugger to fight the wind and rain up to Key Summit, which is suppose to have spectacular views, to be only just able to see past your hand. After 5 hours of climbing we finally reached our destination for the night – the DOC hut at Lake MacKenzie. We were pretty sodden by this stage, but had to work out a strategy for nabbing a bed and getting your clothes as close to the fire as possible to dry. This became a bit of spectator sport, as people hovered around waiting for someone to remove there dried clothing from a prime spot. Though it was all drama at one stage when the “burning sock” call went out, and people rushed to pull their socks away from being draped on the chimney. One poor sucker had to throw away is ‘well done’ sock.

What we didn’t expect to see when we arrived at the hut was an 8 month old baby! We ended up speaking quite a lot with the couple – from Aussie – and we even more surprised to hear that they had already been tramping for 3 days!! So they were going to be tramping with their little girl for all of 6 days, and had a little sling system by which they carried her. She was an amazing little kid – she was just about walking without any support, and was for obvious reasons pretty popular in the hut. There is not much to do in the hut apart from cook your meal, talk to a few people and play some cards. Though the night was broken up by the show put on by the hilarious DOC ranger – Clive he was and he looked just as you would expect, short shorts and knee high socks. And eccentric, as he told us all these stories about the hut and the track. It was pretty cold, but a benefit of the MacKenzie hut is that the sleeping area is above the living area, so you get some ‘warmth’ from the kitchen and fire. And were amazed that there was hardly any noise from the baby. Though the same couldn’t be said from the American who snored all night…

The next morning it first looked like the weather could be lifting. But by the time we were heading out, it was raining again. The second day is all alpine, as you climb above the tree line and walk across the top of the Holyford Face. We were one of the first to head out, and has it turned out, got the worst of the weather that day. Later that night it seemed that we were the only ones to get caught in hail. Walking along the face in the mist and the rain, I couldn’t help but liken us to Frodo and Sam (and for fellow Lord of the Ring nerds, in Emyn Muil). Of course, I’m sure Frodo and Sam wouldn’t have been humming “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that”…

Our hard slog was rewarded though as the cloud did start to lift and it wasn’t long until we were walking in the sun. This also meant that we were able to look down onto the Holyford River and across the other side of the valley, where the mountains looked like they had received a fresh dusting of snow. We reached the Harris Summit (the top of the walk) just in time to get a dusting of snow ourselves. Which meant any attempt of going up for the view at Conical Hill would have been a waste of time. So we started down towards the Routeburn Valley through more awesome scenery, as the Routeburn River started threading its way down from Lake Harris. We actually timed it pretty much perfect, we reached the Routeburn Falls Hut just as it started to bucket down again.

The position of the Routeburn Falls Hut was pretty stunning – the Routeburn Falls (funnily enough) along one side, and then a view down the Routeburn Valley in front of you. But it was a lot bloody colder – the sleeping quarters separate from the living area and the fire being hard to get going. Especially when a big group of Israelis decide to camp out in front of it but without any interest in adding any more fuel to it. Israeli tourists – always the same.

The next morning we were very fortunate in that it was absolute stunning – not a cloud in the sky. So we took the opportunity to walk a little way back up the trail – well, I decided to run to make it back up to the Summit again. Of course, a dangerous thing it is to run after a frosty night, as I found out a couple of times slipping on ice. But when we you have views like we had, no slip was going to disturb you.

All that was left with us now was to complete final part of the track, down through Beech forest again and down through the Routeburn Valley. Again, we were reminded how much more spectacular the rain forest is in rain than in sunshine.

We spent out penultimate night in Glenorchy, which is at the end of Lake Wakatipu and just a short trip from the end of the walk. There isn’t much to Glenorchy, but it’s the type of place that, when you visit, you just can’t not start trying to think about how you might be able to live here. Though we did stick out a little bit when we headed down to the pub. I might have been the only guy not to be drinking a quart of Speights – when I asked for a pint of Black Mac, I think the guy at the bar had to remember where the tap was.

Eventually the next day we had to head back to Queenstown – but we relieved ourselves by finding the awesome Atlas Bar with both Emersons and Invercargill on tap. And Anna had booked us in for dinner at the Botswana Butchery Restaurant – which I think she did on purpose considering I’m vegetarian at the moment. But we reflected on what was an awesome trip – you can really see why they brave the winters down here. We are already planning on next walk…

Pics here.

Kai Iwi Lakes (Northland)

Photos here

Ever since Brad & Shaz mentioned stumbling upon this awesome lakes when they tripped around Northland last year, I've been wanting make my way up to the Kai Iwi Lakes. With a long weekend on offer because of Waitangi Day, Anna and I headed up with Rae & Tom to check them out.

Resisting Rae & Tom's urge to leave before the sun came up "to beat traffic", we left at a reasonable hour and got up there in less than 3 hours. We first travelled along the new Northern Gateway Tollroad, which has received a fair bit of press since it opened. What a load of kerfuffle though. It is brilliant - cutting off at least 15 minutes (and probably more on long weekends such as this) with the bypassing of Orewa - though I wonder if the Dairies and Service Stations of Orewa are so thrilled by it. And for those idiots who complain about the queues to pay by the cash toll booths (though there weren't any when we went through) - you should try making it to the 21st century and pay by internet, it's so damn easy.

Skipping the thrills and sights of the infamous Kauri Museum (Anna and I are still scarred by the experience of having to follow Julie many years ago as she inspected every bit of timber and Kauri gum - and trust me, there is a lot of it), it was just a brief stop at Dargaville (and you don't want it to be any longer than 'brief') and we dropped off our stuff at the bach we had hired at Omariri Beach, just 10 minutes from the lakes. It didn't take us long to get to the lakes from there, and it didn't take us long to be wowed by the lakes themselves.

The Kai Iwi Lakes are lakes that have been formed by rainwater in depressions of sand dunes. This combines to make what is for me the best swimming spot I have ever been to in New Zealand. The lake is crystal clear and surround by soft sand, and the main swimming beach is just superb. It has a shelf that is waist deep which stretches out for 50 metres before suddenly dropping away steeply. The shelf is perfect for mucking around - and especially for throwing and catching a tennis ball (which Tom and I engaged in for hours). A group of guys had also erected scaffolding (not OSH approved that's for sure) right on the edge of the shelf with about a 5 metre jump into the deep. And if you got bored of that, you could simply go for a proper swim off the shelf.

The strange thing - to me anyway - was that the lake wasn't busier. Sure, there were plenty of people there - but I was surprised it wasn't packed. And it seemed that most people there seemed to be tourists (and mostly English tourists at that) - the lakes obviously must be on the Lonely Planet trail. Now that I know they are there, I will be definitely planning return trips whenever there is weather that is as good as we had that weekend (it was hot and we hardly saw a cloud in the sky the whole time).

So three days up north, and three days spent at the lakes. Though in the Saturday we did go for a drive further north to Hokianga Harbour, stopping in to check out Tane Mahuta - which Rae hadn't seen before. All in all, a great long weekend away. We arrived back on Sunday afternoon to an Auckland that was still baking, so had to head to the beach straight away. However, this has been followed by a week of weather as humid as I can remember - including the hottest temperature recorded in Auckland for over 100 years, and sticky nights where the low one night was recorded at 22.1 degrees (not comfortable). If only I could pop down to the lakes...

North by Northwest

That was the direction we headed on the morning of Easter Saturday with Rae & Tom and Duncan & Leanne to spend the week up in the Bay of Islands. We had a place in the sleepy town of Russell - New Zealand's first capital, albeit for only a year. And what a brilliant relaxing week it was.

Duncan and Leanne were only up for the weekend, but with it being Easter weekend, sleepy Russell was pretty much in a coma. Nevertheless, we made our own fun, Duncan's birthday was cause for some champagne, and the boys trumped the girls in every game we played.

On the Easter Monday we thought we would head over for lunch at Kerikeri and a look around. Now, you would think that if you owned a cafe, a long weekend Monday would be a pretty good day to be open. You would think.... But no, Kerikeri was as dead as the Dodo, and we ended up doing four laps of the place before we found somewhere for lunch - only to be charged an additional 15% surcharge (thank you General Secretary Clark and her comrades). In fact, we were a bit miffed about all the fuss that is made of Kerikeri, there didn't seem much to it to us.

On the Wednesday, we decided to make the journey up to the tip on the country - Cape Reinga. Note for anyone else thinking of making the trip - it is a bloody long way! With a short stop in Kaitaia (you wouldn't want it to be a long one), it took us nearly four hours to drive all the way up. We kept ourselves amused, however, but trying to guess the name of Craig & Suz's new baby boy - I still can't believe it wasn't Larry!

And though you would think there be good scenery along the way - there isn't. Even though you travel up a thin strip of land, the road someway bisects it perfectly so that you have little glimpse of sea until you make it to the Cape. All you do see is farmland, upon farmland, upon farmland. And noticeably very green farmland - no drought up here.

But the long journey was well worth it - Cape Reinga is a pretty special place. The coastline is a dramatic place, not least the meeting of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea. To opposing swells meet dramatically just off the cape, looking somewhat akin to a river rapid. Cape Reinga also plays an important part in Maori mythology - where the dead are meant to leap off on their way to the afterlife. It certainly could have engaged in some good marketing on the day we were there, as octogenarians were being dropped off by the bus load.

The return journey in the afternoon was much more enjoyable. First we stopped off down 90 Mile Beach for a picnic lunch. Heading back down along the eastern coastline, we drove up to the very picturesque Matai Bay for a swim in its horseshoe-shaped bay. This was followed up by stopping at the fabled fish and chips at Mangonui (including some sneaky oysters) - which were superb. When we finally got back to Russell, it was nearly a 12-hour round trip, a long day, but a good one.

That ended up being enough for us, as we decided to spend the last two days just hanging around Russell. There was a good swell out, and Tom and I made the most of it. Our days had settled into a comfortable rhythm of....sleep in, brunch and beer, a read of newspaper, a body surf, a couple of pints at the local pub (which were only £3.50 - $3.50!!), then dinner and a few more drinks.

It was with some reluctance that we packed up on Saturday morning, it was so relaxing just hanging out in Russell - where the fish and chip shop and the pizzeria are closed by 7pm every night. It is certainly the pick of the towns around the Bay of Islands, cut off from the mainland by a 10 minute ferry ride, it's not as tacky as Pahia or dull as Kerikeri. Even though we were only away for a week, it felt like it had been a month. You know you've had a good holiday when you are planning how to return the very next weekend.

You can see some holiday pics here.