Needing Rest

Five days of being rained on in gale force winds takes a toll. Kristin and I found that out first hand. The funny thing is that it was not until a couple of days ago, when two hours of driving on silly little back roads and pothole strewn gravel roads took us to the sign that notified us that the road was washed out a few km from our campsite for the night.

I stopped the car, turned off the engine and took out the map. The map notified me that we could take another route, which would take us another hour and relied on other gravel back roads not being washed out. Kristin sat silent in the passenger seat, exhausted and hungry. The wind is so strong that it is rocking the car violently.

It became clear that after seven days of camping, three being trekking, we were worn a bit thin. (And although we had stayed in a hostel for Thanksgiving, it was far too short, not really restful, and, as much as I hate to say it, talking to family had the unfortunate effect of making us both a bit homesick.) After a quick talk, we decided that if we did not take some serious time to rest, we would be in no shape to do everything that we have planned for the last two weeks. We had a tentative plan for going to Stewart Island, but had been reconsidering due to some of the costs involved. Well, we decided damn the cost, we need a break from the South Island.

This is how I came to find myself on Stewart Island. Stewart Island is a tiny little island that sits just off the southern coast of the South Island, and for all intents and purposes, it is the island that the rest of New Zealand forgot. 85% of the Island is protected wilderness, and the island sports a number of rare birds, including kiwi. There is one tiny fishing village on the island, Oban, which has a population of 400.

We lucked out and found a standby flight to the island. I say lucked out not only because it cost us less than the tiny little boat that could have taken us, but also because I was warned that the crossing by boat is rough for three days after a storm, and it had been storming for the last 6 weeks. For those of you that know me well, you know how well I do with motion sickness. The plane was about as small as the company running the charter… The plane sat ten including the pilot, and the pilot made our reservations, checked us in, did security, and then flew the plane. For all I know, the company consists of him and the nice lady who picked us up at the landing strip.

And here we will rest our legs a bit. There are plenty of nice day walks (as well as a longer multi-day trek), and sea kayak rentals are half what they have been elsewhere (The town sits in a very sheltered bay, Halfmoon Bay, and so despite the stormy weather, the water on the bay is glass). The beauty of the standby flight is that we will go back when they have room to take us, which should be no longer than a week. :P

Internet is expensive and slow at best, so I will update as I can.

~ matt

Survived!

Did you know that only female sandflies bite, and usually only at dusk and dawn?

Well, from my experiences, all sandflies are female, and they have no concept of time.

We survived the Hollyford Track, although we came out a day early, and only made it one hut in. A couple of things led to this:

• My backpacking stove manual says that it will burn kerosene, and since this is the only fuel I could find before the trek, I decided to try it. It fails to mention that it will not burn it well, and will clog often, sometimes in the middle of trying to boil water, which will require you to wait for the stove to cool, take the stove apart to clean it, and waste lots of fuel in the process. Getting 24 km in on the trail with a stove that was becoming unreliable and wasting lots of fuel, which was limited, was not appealing.
• It dumped rain for 48 hours solid. While my tent stayed dry inside, and was generally a rock-star, the prospects of hiking 2 days in dumping rain, with tearing down and making camp the everyday in the rain, with no means to dry gear, was less than ideal. Also, the hut that we were camped outside of was nice and dry, and allowed us somewhere to watch the rain come down off the mountains.
• SANDFLIES! Milford Sound is infamous for them, and I see why now. We thought they were bad before, but we knew nothing. They swarmed here. Within minutes, any piece of exposed skin was covered. And most remarkably, unlike other sandflies, these ignored DEET after about 30 min, bite through 2 layers of clothing, and found their way into any little crack in the door or space in the zipper of the tent. And, I react worst to these, with a large raised bump that itched so badly that it would wake me from sleep, and lasted for days!

But Milford Sound itself is amazing. 2,000 m tall sheer cliffs that rise from sea level, with water pouring off of them everywhere.

Still no fish caught, although we are getting better at casting, and have been getting advice and tips from many people along the way. The car is rocking so far, and is invaluable to us. We had to buy 2 new tires for it (got a flat and the other was on its way out) but got a great deal on used tires.

We head to Stewart Island in the next day or so, which is the best place to see wild kiwi in all of NZ. Hope to call people on Thanksgiving to say hello before.

~ matt

PS- More pictures soon.

More Pics

Pictures!

Abel Tasman, Fly fishing, and Sandflies, oh my!

Whew! What a week...

It started with a brief attempt at fly fishing. We need practice, and these little flies kept bugging us. More on that later...

Kristin and I have been on the Abel Tasman trek for 4 days, followed by a bit of a road trip. The Abel Tasman is one of NZ's Great Walks, so named for the pure greatness of the scenery and such. They are also incredibly popular, although do not ask me what came first, their popularity, or the recognition of their greatness. It is a 55 km trek though tropical-ish beaches and isolated coves. Half the trip Kristin commented looked like a pirate movie. All the campsites were on lovely beaches (the pic above is camp #1).

The other thing to know about the Abel Tasman is that it is classified as an easy walk. I am not sure how this was determined, but I can say with some certainty that it was anything but easy with a fully loaded pack on. Although following roughly the contours of the coast, the path goes up and down any hill along the way, with seeming little regard for the steepness of the pitch or directness of the route it takes to get there.

The other thing to know about Abel Tasman is that it is populated by sandflies. These, if you have not been so lucky, are spawned by the Devil himself to plague what would otherwise be a wonderful beach in NZ. They are tiny little flies that bite and leave large, swollen red itchy marks on your skin for DAYS. And they itch so badly as to wake you from sleep, and consume your thoughts while hiking. Also, we thankfully had been talked into an all natural bug spray that "works just great against sandflies." Needless to say, we are both covered in bites, and bought some DEET.

Day one started with a late start from the trail head... about 2 hours later than we were originally planning. Our campsite (which had to be pre-booked and were in high demand) was 14 km away, and it said that it was an easy hike there. We pushed hard, and generally kept good spirits, but the trail took a toll on us. We were definitely getting a bit haggard and were looking forward to camp when we stumbled across a sign that announced that our campsite was another hour on. We lost hope. Well, maybe just a little hope... We sat at that spot, trying to rally ourselves for the extra hour. Less than a minute down the trail we found another sign that said 30 minutes. As we came to learn, the time and distances on the signage were guesses at best. We stumbled into camp, set up the tent, and went right to bed... or at least tried. We were woken by a group of school children who had decided to claim the beach we were staying at as there own.

Day two, and we are not well rested, sore from the day before, and not looking forward to what should be, distance-wise, our longest day. The first three hours are ok, with only a slight mishap along the way. On the middle of a suspension bridge, we paused for a photo. Unfortunately, the wind picked up and blew the hat right off Kristin's head. Not to be set back, and knowing the hat would be essential for the next 2 days, I climbed down to the stream and swan across to get it. The water was so cold that I had trouble breathing. Yikes!

After lunch, the rain began. Of course it started as we tried to cross a section of the trail only crossable during a low tide, and about 3 hours after low tide. We end up drenched to the bone, cold, wet, sore and not in high spirits. It rained the next 3 hours of our hike, and through the night. We went to bed worried our trip would be spent in the rain.

Thankfully, the next day was warm and sunny. Unfortunately, we were rough by this point. 2 days of long hiking with the packs had nearly destroyed us, and we had another 12 km day ahead of us. We did it, but only just. Hiking on beautiful beaches seems like it should be great. Hiking in loose sand with a heavy pack on for hours is less fun... trust me.

Day four was a short hike, followed by much rest and a boat ride out.

It was quite the adventure to be sure.

We have spent the last few days camping, washing and showering and generally relaxing. Today we are in my favorite place ever, Blenheim! We are wine tasting and taking advantage of the free internet (although it is slow and crowded on a Sunday afternoon). Tonight we will head toward the west coast. If we feel up to it, we might give fishing another try or two, although paranoia of the sandflies has made us a little leery. (They love streams, forests, the West Coast and the flesh of the innocent, or so we hear.)

I will try to upload more pics when we get better internet.

~ matt

On the Road!

Kristin and I are packing up her room in Lincoln, NZ. We have an approximate plan for the next couple of days. We have 5 weeks to travel around NZ, and it should be a blast.

Yesterday we purchased a fly fishing rod, reel, line, and flies, as well as the required licenses. It was a bit expensive (~$400 NZD, $140 of that the license), but the rod can come home with us, and considering many of the camping sites we are planning on staying at are located next to prime fly fishing spots, it should pay for itself rather quickly, both in terms of food costs and entertainment. Neither of us know how to fly fish, but we have a pretty good idea. :P

So, the rough itinerary is thus:

• Tonight we drive ~3 hours to a campsite on the west coast where we can pan for gold and fish.
• Tomorrow we stay in Nelson, where I began my travels, and I will get to show Kristin all the cool things there are to see.
• The Abel Tasman track is next, with beautiful beaches and semi-tropical forests surrounding it. Possibly will do part of the track via sea kayak.
• Up to the north tip of the south island for the scenery.
• Queen Charlotte Track, and green lipped mussels at Havelock (just for Linda).
• South to Milford Sound.
• South more to Steward Island, the best place to see wild kiwi!
• Up to Dunedin, home of Cadbury Chocolate NZ, beautiful harbors, and nice buildings.
• Back to Cromwell to show Kristin where I have been living and working, including wine tastings and possibly even making the Friday after-work pub meeting to say hi to the people I have been working with.
• Drive through Central Otago, home of NZ merino wool and beautiful alpine lakes. We have an appointment for Kristin to tour a salmon farm at some point.
• If we find a way to work it out, we will be selling my car in Christchurch, "relocating" a rental car from Christchurch to Auckland for free, and spending our remaining time on the North Island before flying back to the States on Dec. 11th.

This should be a great trip.

I am not sure where and when I will have internet along the trip, but I will actually be taking lots of pictures and will update this blog to share our adventures as best I can!

~ matt

Good Bye Cromwell.

So, I finished my last day on Tues. I think my boss was trying to leave me with a good impression, because my last day was easy as. On leaving, my boss gave me two bottles of wine, saying "Here's for being such a great bastard." This was accompanied by a slap on the shoulder. :)

On my drive up to Christchurch, I was continually struck by just how beautiful some of the landscapes were. In my mind, I was making a list of places to come back to.

Kristin and I sat over a table-sized map of the South Island, pointing out places we would like to see, things we would like to do... planning a grand adventure.

It has been decided that Kristin and I are buying fishing poles, and we will be fishing through out our trip. One pole will be a fly-fishing rod, and we will be trying our best to teach ourselves to fly fish (this due to the fact that we are in one of the world's greatest fly fishing destinations, or so I was told by a flabbergasted sports store owner when I asked about spin rods).

I am excited. Very very excited. Ahead of me is a month of camping, hiking, wine tasting, fishing, and general exploration alongside a wonderful girl.

This should be a grand adventure for sure.

~ matt

PS- On a secondary note, for those of you who are always frustrated by what to buy me for Christmas, I will make it very easy for you. I need new clothes. I discovered when packing from Cromwell that I in fact do not own a single piece of clothing without a loose seem, hole, or missing button. Not a single one. Not even exaggerating. I accidentally tore a huge hole in my shirt trying to take it off. Old Navy large shirts fit me well, but pants are tough due to the "Burleigh Butt." :P

Now if only my siblings were that easy, huh?