My new reality

There is a reason for keeping on top of writing while travelling: the days go almost as fast as my memory disappears!  The last few days of our South Island NZ tour wrapped up with more amazing scenery and laughs from our tour mates and guides (who are now our mates).  I’ll try to remember our escapades from the past few days.

Yet another sunny morning greeted us in Franz Josef as we boarded the trusty van for a trip to Lake Matheson.  A short 2 mi. walk around the lake provided stunning views of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook from a different angle than previously (now looking south).  The lake suffered from Canada goose congestion but the mirrored views were fantastic.  We enjoyed a short coffee stop at the gift shop and then moved on to Lake Wanaka.  It was a fairly long drive up and down through the mountain passes with few stops to view a couple of the many waterfalls along the way.  There were plenty of pulloffs for our polite driver to allow faster vehicles to pass, apologizing to Greg at each one.  “Sorry, Greg” for the guy who had expressed impatience at NZ courtesy.  Many many more one lane bridges were crossed on these highways.  We passed by Haast on the West Coast where we lunched on the beach, then through Makarora and along Lake Wanaka and over the mountain pass/isthmus to Lake Hawea and back along Lake Wanaka at its southern end to Wanaka.  More sheep and cattle grazed roadside.  Wanaka was very trendy, a smaller version of Queenstown, with boutiques, athleisure, and souvenir shops amongst the many, many eateries and drinkeries along the shore of expansive Lake Wanaka. The crowds here seemed very young and everyone was enjoying outdoor drinks making me wonder “does anyone here work?”. We stayed at our hotel, Edgewater, a short 30 min walk from town.  Greg and I had taken some time to stroll through town on arrival with a visit to a wine bar, bringing the average population’s age up a bit.  Dinner was at the hotel once again.

From Wanaka we drove back up to Makarora in the morning.  An amazing day awaited: we were helicoptered into Siberia hut on the Wilkins River valley in the Mt Aspiring National Park. After another thrilling chopper ride through mountain passes and along mountain ridges we hopped out and began hiking.  The weather was cloudy on high but sunny and warm on the ground.  We tramped through golden meadows along the glacially fed river then hiked up and over a mountain shoulder to a valley meadow further downstream.  It was a challenging yet relaxing hike.  The hardest part was the constant descent of about 1500 ft over tripping rocks and roots which was tough on my knees.  Did I mention I’m looking at TKR (total knee replacement) possibly later this year?  I’m mostly pain free but have limited flexion with bone spurs and no cartilage.  I’m thrilled to have been able to travel and do this trip.  Thank goodness for my trusty hiking poles (this Boomer’s choice of name for “cane”).  We had plenty of time to traverse the track with lengthy snack rests on mossy logs and a particularly tasty sandwich lunch provided by Ryan and Cameron.  At the end of the hike we were greeted by longer legged, faster hiker Ryan who had beers cooling in the cold river waters and also by sand flies and bumble bees.  The views were glorious as we skipped rocks and swatted bugs awaiting our jet boat pick up which returned us to our van downstream.  The jet boat was fast and had us wetted with quick turns and spins.  The river depth was quite low with the summer’s drought but the boat skimmed over the shallow water past wading cows and other hikers to our journey’s end.  Returning to Wanaka we were treated to one final dinner together in one of the trendy Italian restaurants.  Salute!

Ugh! Our last day arrived but we still had more adventuring ahead to close out our 2 weeks of amazing hikes, weather, food, laughs, and sights. It was very windy, though sunny, as we boarded boats on Lake Wanaka for a bumpy 35 min ride to Mou Waho Island.  I opted to sit outside as the views were stunning.  At Mou Waho, we met our Eco guide who gave us a tour on our short hike to Arethusa Pool, describing the birds and birdcall, native vs invasive vegetation, and efforts to eradicate non-native predators along the way.  This island is attempting predator free status since it is uninhabited.  We stopped at several lookouts before arriving at the Pool which has a small island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island within an ocean (the last island being NZ).  As the wind was picking up we decided to descend to leave earlier although a few of our faster mates went to the top for photos (Greg).  The boat ride back was fun and a tad more splashy.  We enjoyed a wee bit of free time in Wanaka before departing.  We spent that hour chatting with other tourists from Australia we met on the sidewalk.  Everyone has been so friendly here! 

But wait! There’s more!  Continuing south towards Q’town we passed the famous bra fence (self explanatory) and the Cardrona Hotel (oldest continually operating hotel in NZ).  Vineyards began appearing everywhere on valley floors, many covered with bird-resistant netting.  Our final sightseeing tour: lunch and a wine tasting at Kin-Ross in the Otago region just outside Q’town.  I’m not a big fan of whites nor the NZ reds (Pinot noir, not enough body or tannins for me) but I gave it a good effort and the lunch was tasty.  Now melancholy about ending our trip, we boarded the van one last time with sentimentalities exchanged with the guides and the group.  We had a few more scenic stops while crossing the Remarkables mountains, then we were dropped off at our respective hotels.  Two thousand miles driven (as a passenger) over 14 days, over 50 miles hiked, innumerable laughs and great memories made.  It would have been sad but Greg and I had something to look forward to: Christina joined us that afternoon!!!  The journey continued …

We were now back on our own itinerary.  We walked through town showing off our newfound familiarity with all things NZ and Q’town to Christina.  On our way to dinner at the wonderful restaurant Rata Christina ran into an elementary school friend!  They knew each other was in NZ as they keep in touch using social media but to actually run into her, having not seen her in 20 years?  Small world, so cool.   

After all these weeks of spectacular weather, the next day, St Patrick’s Day, dawned with clouds and spritzing rain.  Our flight and excursion to Milford Sound were cancelled as they were getting 5 inches of rain on the coast.  Pivoting, Greg and Christina hiked up the Gondola path that Greg and I had done our first day here, then took the gondola down.  I stayed back for reorganizing and catching up on laundry.  We then headed to one of the many Irish bars in Q’town, Pog Mahones for Irish stew and Guinness.  Later the Irish bars would be crowded and crazy loud. We arranged to take the coal fired steamer ship TSS Earnslaw down Lake Whakapitu to Walter Peak.  The weather was cloudy with spitting rain but we enjoyed the breezy front deck ride.  We also watched the crew shovelling coal into the engine.  Walter Peak farm was a beautiful Victorian house and sheep farm built by the McKenzie family set on an English garden location with the mountains overhead.  It’s now a tourist destination offering dinners and walking yours. We took the Eco tour with Charles, a quiet French gardener, who showed us the veggie gardens and various trees.  We then enjoyed “tea” in the garden shed.  “Tea” is an understatement as the table was covered with scones, charcuterie, cheese, crudite, and sweets all prepared from the gardens.  The chef was sweet and a little goth and totally charming. Charles then led us to another part of the property where we planted more native trees (my third tree in NZ as there was another planted on Mou Waho).  It was a perfect afternoon as we headed back on the steamship Earnslaw again braving the elements on deck for the dramatic views.  We headed out to dinner at the Bunker, barely able to fit any more food in but also too late to cancel the reservation.  I think the waitress noticed.

Next day, same rain.  Our morning jet boat ride was cancelled due to canyon flooding.  We rescheduled our afternoon wine tasting tour to an earlier time, doing a little shopping til then.  Our private tour with driver “T” took us to Amisfield, Brennan, and Mount Edward winery tastings with lunch again at Kin-Ross.  The weather was clearing yet cool. We did purchase a few bottles which we jammed into our already stuffed suitcases. 

Our final morning in New Zealand we squeezed in a jet boat ride on the Shotover River as a replacement for the previous day’s cancellation.  Fast and thrilling, but chilly, the boat driver raced the boat through narrow river canyons.  The boat slid close to the canyon walls and 360’d in wider river areas.  There was lots of whooping and gasping on the boat, mostly from me.  So fun! After a trip to the convenience store for Tim Tams (chocolate coated chocolate cookies!) and a quick change at the hotel (QT Queenstown) we headed to the airport.  Goodbye lovely Q’town and New Zealand! 

Packing list for the hiking tour:
-3-4 First layers: quick dry, not cotton, short sleeves
-2 second layers, long sleeves.
-1-2 Third layers: merino or fleece.
-1 packable down jacket, warm hat, gloves -waterproof rain jacket e.g. Goretex; need for boats, wind, rain
-waterproof rain pants optional
-2-3 lightweight, quick dry long pants
-1 pair hiking boots/shoes, broken in and clean
-1 pair trainers/sneakers
-4 pairs thick walking socks (I double socked)
-sunhat / cap
-water bottle or camelback
-dry bag for clothes
Casual Clothing
-1 pair jeans or other casual pants
-1 pair shorts/skort
-2 tops/shirts
-pjs
-1 swimming suit
-underwear
-2-3 pairs socks
-1 pair sandals (flip-flops etc)
-Passport
-travel Insurance
-travel documents
-Visa/NZeTA-apply online
-motion sickness tablets opt.
-insect repellent, tho the guides shared
-sunglasses
-medications
-sunscreen and lip balm; very high UV here!!!
-toiletries
-current converter-not too big, it’ll interfere with switches on the outlet
-travel alarm clock or phone with alarm
-spare bootlaces
-phone and charger
-walking poles if you use tho the guides shared (pack in check-in bag)
-1 full sized suitcase max 50 lbs.
-1 day pack (25 l) without dried banana peels, check pockets!

Laundry pods or sheets, ziplock bags, plastic bag for wet gear, backpack rain cover, Compeed pads for blisters, lanyard for cell phone, packing cubes,