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."