Right now I’m using an ancient (Windows 98) pc in a cafe, however, the internet is basically the fastest I’ve found on the West Coast. Anyways, I’m in Westport for the night before we drive to the North coast tomorrow – right now the weather is pretty bad and we’re camping on a vacant property right on the shore – not exactly the most protected location. We shall see how the tent holds up. Hopefully we’ll get to spend some time in Abel Tasman NP on Friday – perhaps on a sea kayak rental or using a water taxi to get to a more remote location for the afternoon. Now for what we’ve been up to…
Friday we left Dunedin and headed for a campsite in the Matukituki Valley west of Wanaka. The last 20 km of the drive was on a gravel road that required several river crossings the old-fashioned way – fording! Anyways, we arrived after dark, and quickly set up camp. This came back to haunt us as the winds picked up after we went to sleep. After a few hours of gale and (probably) storm force winds (37+ mph and 54+ mph winds, respectively) our tent collapsed as the stakes were pulled out. I retreated to the warmth of the car, but Greg, my tent-mate, remained in the flopping tent the whole night! The next day we hiked up a valley to see the high-up Rob Roy glacier and then drove onto Bruce Bay (on the West Coast) to spend the next night.
At Bruce Bay, it rained but the winds were civil, at least – so I actually got a good night’s rest. The next morning we started the tramp up to Welcome Flat hut in the Copland valley. After a 7-hour hike up the valley, we got to exalt in the relaxation provided by the hot-springs – it was the best reward ever. Staying in the hut – with space for 30+ mattresses – it was a nice place to sleep – even if it was pretty damn cold. The next day we hiked out to find our tire deflated – we had developed a slow leak from the drive to the Rob Roy campsite. It wasn’t a big deal to fix (we used that tire goop that you inflate into the tire) but putting on the spare in the sandfly infested parking lot was a NZ version of hell.
Tuesday, after staying in the Chateau Franz backpackers (my first backpackers!), we stopped to check out the Franz Josef glacier, and what a stop it was. Unlike my trip to Alaska, here we could walk right up to the glacier (after going over two meager fences) after so many warning signs, as if 5 signs instead of 2 would make a difference. Anyways, with a little common sense it was a safe glacier to approach. My closest brush with danger came when a boulder rolled over after being destabilized by the glacial movement – the 2+ ton boulder (about 2m wide and 1m thick) rolled within 3m of me – the noise it made was incredible, like any rolling rock but with 100x the power.
Alright, back to my school reading, thats all for now!
