Saturday, February 28, 2009
Richmond, Not Just the Capitol of Virginia
Having survived our trek in the cloud, Lina and Gil headed south while Oded and I headed north. By chance we stopped for the night in Richmond, a town of no note to backpackers and kiwis alike. We arrived around seven and headed straight to a little festival in town someone told us about. Local wineries and breweries lined the streets serving tastes, glasses and bottles. Tables were packed with locals, young and old, consuming baked potatoes, crepes, and "American" hot dogs. Little boys walked barefoot eating shaved ice, dyed red, blue and orange. A band played in the background, an audience to the show the locals put on. They sang everything from Aretha to Pink to Sweet Home Alabama and after the wine took hold, everyone was on their feet, dancing. Teenage girls in short shorts danced in groups, their bra straps showing for effect. A mother swayed to the music with her son in her arms. Couples with white hair danced dances that have names that I should know (waltz?) and of course a quartet of Israeli boys jumped around, all curly hair and cigarettes. The sun set, at first lighting the sky in shades of purple and orange, but after time faded to soft pinks, blues and some purple still. The music lasted for hours and the crowd only sang louder and danced harder and when it was time to go home, couples strolled hand in hand while the neighborhood kids chased each other with cups of water, the slow at a disadvantage. A small town at its best.
Trek to the End of the World
After some rest and much stretching, Oded and I attempted our second and third multi-day treks. The second, the Routeburn, was a kinder gradient, and full of breathtaking scenery. We tramped 17 kilometers the first day through mountains, lakes, and saw past snow capped peaks all the way to the west coast of the south island. We also acquired two new friends, an Israeli couple on a two month honeymoon, with whom we traveled from the trek to Wanaka and onto the glaciers. We loved this trek for the views, the company and the track.
From the Routeburn, we headed to Angelus Hut in Nelson Lakes, a tramp that almost all the Israelis we've met recommend as one of the most beautiful treks in the whole island. A two day tramp mostly on the ridge, it is meant to be hard, but not as challenging as Kepler (our first trek). The tramp is a back country track and therefore the hut is less expensive, the track is less maintained and the fewer people crowd the path. With two of Oded's friends from Israel newly arrived in New Zealand, Lina & Gil, we headed to St. Arnaud. We began the morning after a rainy night and a dense cloud still remained. We figured the cloud would disappear as the day heated up. Wrong assumption. When the day is cloudy, do not trek in New Zealand. We climbed for a little over an hour, gaining close to 700 meters, and walked another 9 kilometers on the ridge ALL in a cloud--a cloud so thick we sometimes couldn't see the next pole or ten meters in front of us. In the beginning the track was dirt mixed with rocks but after 4 kilometers on the ridge, the track followed a steep path only accessed by climbing hand and foot over unsteady rocks. To top it off, it was both windy and rainy, making the rocks slippery and balance a necessity. It really felt like we were trekking to the end of the world--all white, blowing wind and rain, erupted mountainside and only a few other brave souls heading the opposite direction. Not as inspiring as I had hoped. After almost seven hours we reached our sleeping quarters, a hut set on a beautiful lake--yes, we could finally see!
We opted to walk the ridge back instead of the valley route we had intended to take, in the desperate hope that the day would be clear and we would finally see the views everyone raved about so enthusiastically. The next day was clearer and many hours faster--amazing how seeing in front of you speeds things up. The area was beautiful but I have come to the conclusion that I am either saturated with natural beauty or that when post-army Israelis say "beautiful" they actually mean "treacherous, blister-inducing and not all that different from every other lovely, flat view in New Zealand."
From the Routeburn, we headed to Angelus Hut in Nelson Lakes, a tramp that almost all the Israelis we've met recommend as one of the most beautiful treks in the whole island. A two day tramp mostly on the ridge, it is meant to be hard, but not as challenging as Kepler (our first trek). The tramp is a back country track and therefore the hut is less expensive, the track is less maintained and the fewer people crowd the path. With two of Oded's friends from Israel newly arrived in New Zealand, Lina & Gil, we headed to St. Arnaud. We began the morning after a rainy night and a dense cloud still remained. We figured the cloud would disappear as the day heated up. Wrong assumption. When the day is cloudy, do not trek in New Zealand. We climbed for a little over an hour, gaining close to 700 meters, and walked another 9 kilometers on the ridge ALL in a cloud--a cloud so thick we sometimes couldn't see the next pole or ten meters in front of us. In the beginning the track was dirt mixed with rocks but after 4 kilometers on the ridge, the track followed a steep path only accessed by climbing hand and foot over unsteady rocks. To top it off, it was both windy and rainy, making the rocks slippery and balance a necessity. It really felt like we were trekking to the end of the world--all white, blowing wind and rain, erupted mountainside and only a few other brave souls heading the opposite direction. Not as inspiring as I had hoped. After almost seven hours we reached our sleeping quarters, a hut set on a beautiful lake--yes, we could finally see!
We opted to walk the ridge back instead of the valley route we had intended to take, in the desperate hope that the day would be clear and we would finally see the views everyone raved about so enthusiastically. The next day was clearer and many hours faster--amazing how seeing in front of you speeds things up. The area was beautiful but I have come to the conclusion that I am either saturated with natural beauty or that when post-army Israelis say "beautiful" they actually mean "treacherous, blister-inducing and not all that different from every other lovely, flat view in New Zealand."
Face to Face
It is ever popular recently not just to speak of global warming and the environment but to also change your ways to help turn back the climate clock--going green, reducing our footprint. So we remember to shut off the lights, unplug the coffee, buy local produce, recycle, walk to work, all in an effort to keep the world's glaciers from receding to a state of nonexistence. These simple acts, if done en masse, could very well affect change, but this whole concept of glacial recession may be too abstract to truly inspire action. Having stood face to face with many glaciers in one week--Rob Roy, Fox & Franz Josef--I can say that it is way more motivating than any documentary.
As you drive up the road to view the glaciers, signs are posted as far as one kilometer out to show where the glacier reached in the 17 and 1800s. The glaciers themselves are beautiful, milky white turquoise ice, sculpted in jagged peaks, both reflecting and shaping the rocks that the ice once covered. But the glaciers have receded, and substantially--the glacial rivers are all rock bed and the ice changes everyday.Standing at the foot of these glaciers really inspires the feeling of witnessing a natural phenomenon, one that may sooner be history than present.
As you drive up the road to view the glaciers, signs are posted as far as one kilometer out to show where the glacier reached in the 17 and 1800s. The glaciers themselves are beautiful, milky white turquoise ice, sculpted in jagged peaks, both reflecting and shaping the rocks that the ice once covered. But the glaciers have receded, and substantially--the glacial rivers are all rock bed and the ice changes everyday.Standing at the foot of these glaciers really inspires the feeling of witnessing a natural phenomenon, one that may sooner be history than present.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Australia does not live here
We chose the Kepler track, a 50K trek in Fiordland in southwest New Zealand. The first day was 6 flat kilometers followed by a steady 8K uphill climb that brings you out of thee tree line to
The third day should have been the easiest--a flat 22 kilometers back out to civilization. I learned quickly that flat has a different meaning in New Zealand--it also includes steep ascents and descents. Funny how English works differently in different places. It took us six hours of fast walking before we finally crossed the swing bridge that brought us back to the world where things other than feet count as transportation. The three days were full of beauty, nice folks and exhilarating climbs, but by the end each step hurt, all my muscles were sore and I was cursing not having stretched more along the way. Lessons for next time...
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Porpoise Bay
Freeze frame for a second: this sounds amazing and fortunate but please consider that the day was sunless, the wind was whipping, and the water temperature was somewhere around 12
We also managed to see sea lions, seals and the rare yellow-eyed penguins throughout the day at different coastal spots. While I miss the constant presence of kangaroos, NZ has some great fauna of its own.
39 million sheep, 4 million people
We started in Christchurch, a quaint city with a great art museum, street markets and a nightlife and backpacker scene that we quickly figured out is rare outside of Queenstown. Our first task was picking up our new van--we moved out of Astro Boy and into Golden Tops, a name that
After leaving Christchurch in Golden Tops, we spent our first few days in the
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