Mt. Cook National Park

Mt. Cook National Park - one of the must-see places in New Zealand. This was made clear by the staggering amount of Japanese tourists in the area (easily the most I've seen in any one place outside of Japan). However, it is rightly so popular. Those sites of towering snow-covered mountains in the middle of summer contrasting with the greenery that surrounds you, the tremendous sounds of avalanches roaring down that make you feel as if the sky was crumbling down - simply awe inspiring.

Even though we arrived a little later than planned we were still set on doing everything we came to do. Starting off with hiking to the Hooker glacier. This was the the first glacier I'd ever seen, but I knew not to raise my expectations high as I'd heard it wasn't the most exciting one. We couldn't get too close to it as there was a glacial lake separating us from it. However, this didn't stop Niko from getting the full glacial experience. He decided it would be cool to climb an iceberg never mind that in order to get to one you actually had to swim in the ice cold water, and so he did to the amusement of everyone watching him.

After this short (3-hour front and back) hike we were ready to head to our main destination - Mueller hut. This was a very steep track up the mountain taking 3-4 hours to climb. Being the fit trampers that we are it took us 3 :P As we had started rather late in the afternoon we got a few remarks from people going down that we should hurry before the sun sets. One of our goals was to watch the sunset from the hut so that was our plan anyway and I must admit parts of the track would have been extremely difficult to walk in the dark having to climb large rocks and all. However, we weren't too worried as we were walking at a good pace even if my legs demanded a few breaks along the way.

Was a bit surprised, but the first part of the track was mostly stairs... really steep stairs but stairs none the less. They went all the way up to a lunch spot with a couple of tarns in which you could see the reflection of Mt. Sefton so I took a moment to capture it on camera as the lack of wind made the reflection as clear as can be.

When we finally reached the top we were a bit disappointed as it had gotten cloudy and we had to forget our goal of seeing the sunset... Couldn't see most of the amazing views we had heard about from passers-by, but luckily we were staying the night and had plenty of opportunities to do it the next day.

We woke up the next morning early enough to watch the sunrise and although it seemed as the clouds hadn't moved on, just  minutes before sunrise they cleared and opened up all the awesome views we hadn't been able to see the day before. As the sun was coming up we made our way up Mt. Olivier who's summit my friend Oliver was extremely excited to reach. The sun came up painting the mountaintops a warm pink colour as it rose and we admired all the natural beauty of the remarkable scenery in front of us.

Native buttercup

Mueller glacier

C1 Espresso

Haven't blogged about cool new places in a while, so here goes. Last week I was told about an awesome cafe I should visit and was surprised and excited to do so after hearing what makes it interesting.

So, the main feature is ordering a meal of the pneumatic sliders menu. This means that your food will be delivered to your table in a capsule which is whizzed around the cafe from the kitchen through plastic tubes that wind through the interior. This was awesome! Such a fun experience, you really feel as if you're in a sci-fi film.

The meal you get is very cute, your choice of 3 mini burgers and some fries, all very tasty :)

And it doesn't end there, not all is what it seems at this quirky place. They have a decorative yet fully used veggie garden surrounding the seating area outside the vegetables from which they use in their meals, an antique looking sewing machine that dispenses espresso coffee and a bookcase that opens up to become a doorway. Also, some witty little details help create an artistic atmosphere that really makes visiting C1 a must do in Christchurch.

Bush-bashing in Fiordland

Knee deep in mud, waist deep in water and neck deep in ferns and grass. Had a true Hobbit experience tramping off track in Fiordland national park this weekend.

Our trip started off right after work on Wednesday when the three of us set off heading south driving until some ungodly hour in the night and having to stop at a random place in Te Anau. Didn't choose the best place... Received a personal wake up by a lady from the council and were asked to leave as we had set up camp on private property... should have known that there were houses near by as the sound of sprinklers could be heard all night...

Anyway, after an early start I was struggling to keep my eyes open, but the views were so incredible that I did my best not to fall asleep. We parked right by the forest where our 'track' began. After about 15 minutes of bush-bashing through quite dense vegetation we entered a clearing. However, I think I would have been happier in the bush as the whole clearing was a giant swamp with pools that were waist deep... I was so set on not getting wet that I took extra care to step on vegetation consisting of flax and denser moss. Almost ended up falling head first in one pool (flax saved me) but dunked my feet in so wasn't too bothered about going in knee deep in the mud after that. 

After this oh so joyous walk in the muck we finally came to the river, washed off the mud when crossing it and had lunch in the sunshine :) We then went on to tramp up the Florence stream going through the water, then the bush, crossing the stream many times to try and find the less dense forest with more deer trails and less spiky plants. Beautiful views opened up on every river bend and I became really glad that I was doing this.

For the first night we set up camp in the forest and spent the whole evening fighting with the sand flies to which there were no end until night fell (made me miss the days when mosquitoes were the only worry...). We woke up in the morning to find them completely covering the outside of the tent, felt like something from a horror film where the insects were coming to get you. So, after breakfast in the safety of our tent we were off again. Plenty more ground to cover :)

When we walked past a large mossy yet dry open space we decided to set up camp and wonder a bit further up the river to what we thought would be some lakes. Instead we reached a beautiful waterfall with a pool in which we spotted a trout. Of course Niko's fisherman instincts kicked in right away so he stayed behind to try and catch it while we hiked up the cliffs for a better look at the waterfall. As soon as we got up we heard Niko yell out that he was successful. And so we had probably the best dinner while camping ever: spaghetti with trout and sauce we improvised from some pumpkin soup :P 

Had to defend against the sandflies again, running around, dancing, doing cartwheels (or in my case attempting them and falling down on the soft moss repeatedly). The guys fashioned some interesting outfits to defend on another level. Also, somehow smoke doesn't deter them as it does mosquitoes which really disappointed us as it would have been an easy fix.

Woke up the next morning to find that my watch had stopped and so we had no idea how to tell what time it was. It was cloudy so the sun wasn't going to help us either. We decided it must be quite late already as we had woken up pretty late the day before as well. However, we managed to walk the whole way back and get to the car at 5pm so maybe it wasn't that late after all :P

Test number 1 - poke it

We spent the night at a camping place near Queenstown where Niko confused a guy when he was looking for bugs at night (apparently people try to find gold in the lake and the guy was surprised when Niko said he always finds what he's looking for :D ). Had a look around Queenstown the next day. Quite a busy place, maybe I'll come back when it's not the middle of tourist season... Anyway, on the way home we stopped for a bit of bouldering and the guys did some cliff jumping into the river.

This was truly an amazing experience, going into the wilderness and being so close to nature... Simply incredible.

The cuddle tree

Challenge accepted

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I could help her out on a project by participating in a mystery challenge that I and a group of other participants would take part in. Naturally I was all in. So, one weekend the 5 of us set of to Arthur's pass where we were to complete the challenge.

We started off walking through a cave stream which was waist deep (also, quite cold...) at times and the current was strong enough that it was quite difficult to pass certain areas, but luckily we were able to help each other (which I believe was an important aspect of the project). We would stop every so often to answer questions about ourselves such as what is my dream, what would I change about my life etc. I was tasked with recalling a funny event in my life and couldn't help but share the antics of last valentines day, which was a night out I'll never forget (even though I still can't remember being put in charge of keeping a friends glasses safe...how I was tasked with it still escapes me, loosing them was inevitable). Anyway, the cave was an excellent experience, loved every minute, although perhaps next time I will consider my attire a bit more carefully, no use wearing long trousers if they're gonna get wet anyway :P 

The second part of the challenge took place above ground in Castle hill, a popular site for bouldering and rock climbing which was exactly what we were going to do. Our mission was to find a boulder that would be challenging for everyone despite our different skill levels (mine being zero since I'd never done it...). So, we set out to find the perfect boulder for this task. We finally found one that would be possible for me to climb and had a harder side for the guys. We all managed to reach the top and concluded this portion with a group photo (Niko had 10 seconds to run up and make it in time, but with a couple of practice shots this was done in the most timely manner :P)

Tasks like these require difficult training

Leap of faith

Faze 3 was a much calmer exercise only requiring some creativity and thought, but it had been a long day so we decided to regroup the following evening to finish it. The task was to take everyone's experiences which have had an impact on their lives and put them all into a story. We were split into pairs and decided to have some fun with this. Thus, our story of Dziumbulabu set in the year 3333 and how he travelled to the planet of Kanukafloria was created.

This challenge was an awesome experience and it felt great to help out a friend and to learn more about each other. Bring on more!

Abel Tasman

After a wonderful New Years eve with cocktails, night time bike rides, fireworks in the park and dancing under the stars I was ready to kick off the new year with new adventures. And what hat better way to start the new year than with one of the Great Walks of New Zealand? 

We hadn't had a plan of where to go and didn't have any bookings which is not the usual way to go about making a trip to one of the busiest tracks in NZ especially during high season, but whatcha gonna do, when there's a will there's a way and so we set off at 4am for Abel Tasman national park to walk the coastal track with its numerous beautiful beaches having booked random campsites just 5 hours prior to departure hoping they wouldn't kick us out if we decided to stay the night in a different one :P

Having missed the road to the beginning of the track we ended up starting it about 4 hours in but did not regret this decision. With the weather on our side, we had a pretty chilled day, walking from one beach to the next, relaxing, taking photos and enjoying ourselves. 

Had to make one tidal crossing at the end of the day to get to the campsite (one we actually booked :P ). We were lucky that the tide was still low enough to cross, only knee deep in a couple places. After setting up camp, we were warned of some bad weather coming through the next morning and to try to make a start before 10am as high tide is midday and we would get landlocked otherwise. Naturally we started just before then

We set off the next morning through a rain storm, as the tide was coming in. The rain was practically falling horizontally due to strong winds and picking up sand which 'gently' massaged my legs (shorts may not have been the best choice here...) causing me to fasten my pace to get past that awful area.

The next couple of hours were spent walking through the rain, which with all the fern trees felt like walking through a tropical rain forest. A good time to just let the mind wonder and keep on walking. Will have to use your imagination on how that looked, as no photos were taken by me at this point ;)

To our relief, it completely cleared up in the afternoon and so we spent our time on another beautiful beach as the tide was going down and we saw the landscape change in front of us. Another tidal crossing later we arrived at one of the largest campsites of the walk which we had no booking for, but luckily weren't checked :D

In the morning, decided we had had about enough walking and took a water taxi back to where we started, therefore missing out on a couple hours walk at each end, but doing all of the middle part of the track :) However, the day was still young, so we drove up to more gorgeous places at the top of South Island. Saw some unforgettable sites, which is lucky as again, rain stopped me from taking photos to remember them from :P.

A great start to what will hopefully prove to be a great year! More adventures coming soon ;)