Back from the tramping trail

We have been backpacking (known as tramping here in New Zealand) for the last 5 days/4 nights. We have showered, eaten a hare leg from the grocery store washed down with some free soup from our hostel and are now out at a big internet cafe uploading pictures and updating the blog....

Saturday, Feb 16: We signed up for a full day hike on the Frans Josef glacier, which is one of two very large, but very accesable glaciers on the west coast. They are only 30+ miles from the beach! This region has very tall mountains very close to the shore where there is a near constant wet wind blowing inland. They coast gets meters of rain a year and the mountains get tens of meters of snow a year! This snow then oozes down in glacier form. From balmy downtown Frans Josef it was a 10 minute bus ride and a 40 minute hike to the face of the glacier. We strapped on crampons and started up ice steps cut into the ice by the guides with their ice axes. It was an amazing 5 or 6 hours on the ice. Our group of 11 hike up maybe a mile of the glacier. We went through ice caves and climbed some rather step crevasses. It is hard to describe life in the glacier. To get an idea see the picture we just uploaded in the 2nd and 3rd weeks in New Zealand folder.

Sunday, Feb 19: Today we did our first overnight hike in NZ. We hiked to the Welcome Flats hut on the Copland Track. The track continued on, but quickly headed up into a snowfield requiring ice axes and crampons which we did not have, but our hike was realatively flat and warm. It was a 10.5 mile wet and rocky walk and then we were rewarded with nice mattresses and a natural hot springs, which were nice, but could not hold a candle to the 'hot cold rivers' hot springs from last week. To our surprise there was a german trio hiking with a 9 month old baby. The baby got to ride on her dad's back the entire time. Kristin only got a backy ride over a few streams. I ended up wearing my crocs the entire hike so that we could cross these streams quickly, which meant carrying Kristin to keep her running shoes dry.

Monday, Feb 18th: Back out again from the Welcome Flats hut. We were a little quicker on the way out. Again I hiked in Crocs and helped Kristin over the creeks. Once back at the car, we sped away from the swarming sandflies and drove 5 hours to Wanaka for a two night stay at a very nice holiday park there.


Tuesday, Feb 19th: We had a very enjoyable day celebrating the eve of Kristin's Birthday. We visited the Wanaka Brewery for the daily tour of the tiny brewery on the outskirts of town. It shares its building with a much larger toy and transport mueseum. One of the two employees gave us our tour and our samples. One of the people on our tour was a man that lived nearby that was thinking of purchasing the brewery. It was for sale by a type of silent auction that ended in a couple of days. The only other employee was the owner/brewmaster/delivery man. A very quant and fun little place that had won many top awards for their beer. Also in celebration of Kristin's birthday eve was our visit to the famous and popular couch movie theatre. Also a small owner owned business, which had only old couches as seats and had an intermission so you can buy homemade ice cream and cookies.



Wednesday, Feb 20th: Kristin's birthday! The day started with pancakes and mimosas and ended with a few candles in a little stawberry marshmellow bunny. In between we preped for our big upcoming hike, walked up to the top of the tall ridge overlooking the town, enjoyed a "5 O'Clock Thing" of cheese and red wine over looking the town. Happy Birthday Kristin.


Thursday, Feb 21: We started out today picking up a rental MacPac backpack and catching up on internet errands. Then we drove to a newarby tiny town to pickup the shuttle. We did our last packing at breakneck speed in order to catch the bus. By early afternoon we had started the Routeburn Tramp, one of NZ "Great Walks". We only had two and a half hours walk to the our hut for the first night. Kristin had to hike in flip flops due to the lack of skin on the back of her heels from the Frans Joesef rental boots. There were amazing views from the hut and we sat our at a picnic table for dinner and the sunset, where we met at Swiss traveler and shared a game of Farkle (a dice game we like and carry), known as "10,000" to him.


Friday-Monday, Feb 25th: For the next four days we hiked and then relaxed at our hut for the afternoon/evening. Our light packs and young legs left us with lots of hut time int he afternoons. The weather was perfect and we had jaw droping views of the mountains surrounding us. It is too hard to explain the views, it get an idea see our posted pictures. By Saturday the rain hit and we hiked for a few hours in some serious rain, but we were in good spirits and had packed a liter of hot tea that we made that morning. Technically around the middle of the day we completed the Routeburn trek and started on the Greenstone trek. The trail was the same, but the huts were smaller and much less expensive. We got the hut before 2pm and had an afternoon of drying clothes by the coal stove, talking to other travelers, working on riddles, and playing farkle. Sunday was predicted to have more rain, but it didn't start until about an hour after we reached the hut. The trail that day was through a long mostly flat valley and included many grazing cattle, so of which we had to walk around. Monday we completed the Routeburn and Greenstone trek before noon and the shuttle was right on time at 2. Back in Queenstown we stayed in a great hostel with a hot tub and free veggie soup. For dinner we had the soup and a big wild hare leg (bought in the supermarket) that we grilled on on the BBQ.