A day in the life, part two - Hut Life

Hut Life

We thought it was time for another installment of our everyday life series. This time its about life in backcountry huts. New Zealand has a system of backcountry huts through a lot of the trails here, especially in the South Island. There are different categories of huts, some are free, others are $5-10 a night. They also come in varying sizes. We've stayed in everything from a 2 bed to a 34 bed hut. We've got an annual pass which makes it easier because we don't have to buy tickets when we're in towns. They're mainly pretty basic - bunks with a table and benches and often a water tank, but they are far superior to our tents. There have been so many down in the South Island that we've only spent two nights in our tents since arriving here two weeks ago.

The joy of having a hut is the 'modern day' comforts they provide. For example, we can write in our journals and eat dinner sitting at a table or on a bench rather than perched on a rock or branch, we can get water straight from a rainwater tank instead of crouching by a stream filtering it, fireplaces to dry our wet gear and, best of all, we can escape the sand flies.

Theres often things to read too, people leave books and magazines that they've finished with that we devour when we can. The other day Dennis was reading a National Geographic from 1983 about 'new' satellite technology. They're normally a little more up to date than that.

We like reading the hut books too. Every hut has a hut book to record who comes through. This information is used in search and rescue situations, but you can also write general comments as well. Some are funny but others feel it is a complaint forum too - 'track needs more boardwalk', 'times posted are too fast/too slow', 'take me back to the city to real food!'. In the Richmond Range there were books that dated back to the mid 1980s which were really interesting to read - we were preschoolers! In the more popular huts, like the ones through Nelson Lakes National Park, all the books are new from this year.

Pictures:
Alice and Dennis eating breakfast - Old Man Hut - Richmond Range
Alice outside Porters Hut - Richmond Range
Dennis writing in journal inside the Red Hills Hut - Richmond Range
Downes Hut - Wanganui River
Dennis chopping wood - Whakapapaiti Hut - Mt. Ruapehu

Speed Racers

We started off on a track on the shores of Lake Rotoiti, Destination: Lake Head Hut. Not a terribly long day, but we got a bit of a late start. Little did we know it was a huge hut, 32 bunks. It being a Friday night it was quite full. We had the pleasure of sharing the hut with 25+ people. It was a bit overwhelming, until this point we have shared huts with only 3 people. This hut was quite accessible compared to most we have been in, only three hours hike from St. Arnaud. There was even a jetty at the end of the lake which cut the actual hike down to 15 minutes. Let me tell ya, I got a bit envious off the spreads of food people were pulling out. Plus they all had huge gas stoves and lanterns. They had all the stuff that we don't carry. But its great because we come across people with pack envy. They all wonder how it is possible to carry so little, to last so long. It gets easy to cut out the excess when its all on your back. Really makes me glad that Alice and I spent so much time researching ultra light gear. We decided to have a quick look over the maps to plan out where we would be sleeping the next bunch of nights. Wait, do we have enough food? I know your thinking, didn't he just talk about how light the packs were? Yeah I did, but people with light packs sometimes don't bring enough food. oops. We underestimated by a day or so. Well, I guess we'll do a bit more each day. We ended up finishing a 6 day section in 4.5 days. We didn't cut off any of the hike time, just had a few longer days. We are backpacking machines! Completing large sections hours under the estimated signs even passing other hikers along the way. Being so far south, we are able to hike for longer, it stays light here until 9:30 at night. This means if we walk fast, don't eat lunch until 4pm, we can fit in a lot of kilometers in a day. And these were not by any means flat days. We went over two relatively high passes including Waiau Pass at 1870 meters, our highest point in the South Island so far. We even got to see snow again!! It made me feel as if I was right at home in the northern hemisphere. Pretty fun descending down fairly steep pitches in sneakers with a full pack, I got a bit wet. There were no shortage of river crossings, over 75 in this section alone. You don't get wet in all those, some you can boulder hop across. Others require gritting your teeth and walking through the icy cold snow melt water. Al and I have worked out an agreement, because she constantly has her heels taped up due to her still un-callused feet, I tend to help her get across the deeper rivers with out getting wet. How? Well 2 ways: 1.) The Pack Horse - I make three trips across, one with both the packs, a second to return to the other side and a third with al on my back. 2.) The Sack of Potatoes - I, with my full pack on, sling Al over one shoulder with her pack still on and cross. Still not sure what I get out of the arrangement? It may be hard to believe, but this section was even more stunning than the Richmond Range. The South Island seems to get better end better, except for the sand flies Well, we are now having a rest day in Hanmer Springs, even Backpacking Machines need a rest. A college friend of mine has joined us here to hike with us for a while. David Gibb, or just Gibb to most, is coming fresh from a desk job looking for a bit of a lifestyle change, we don't think that will be a problem. Al and I have decided we'll slow the pace a bit to ease him into it.

Dennis

Photos:
Mt. Travers and the Travers River
Us at Travers Saddle
Al near top of Waiau Pass with Lake Constance in the background
St. James Walkway

The Richmond Range: big mountains and naked hiking

Well, not totally naked, but almost. And no, we haven't run off to join the nudist movement but we did have to negotiate a waist high river. But more on that soon.

The Richmond Range. We'd been talking about this section for ages because we knew it would potentially be the most difficult section of our trip. And it was so far, but nothing we couldn't handle. We had some long days, steep climbs up loose gravelly rock faces, tired legs but also stunning views and great feelings of accomplishment. It was our favourite section yet. You need a few challenges along the way or else everything blends together.

There were so many huts through this section, we didn't use our tent the whole week. In fact, there were enough huts we could spend the night, and stop for lunch in one each day. They were also some of our favourite huts; small, cosy and in beautiful locations. I think Porter's Hut was the best - it was a tiny 4 bed hut with a door so small you had to stoop to go through it. We saw one other person the whole time we were in the Ranges. We met Graeme on our first night when we were staying at the Roebuck Hut. He knew of a shortcut up the river and over a spur that would cut out a chunk of trail. He'd never done it but someone had written an account of the unmarked route in the hut book so there were details of where to go. We were feeling adventurous so decided to give it a go.

Things didn't start off that great. We were crossing the Pelorus River right outside the hut, I slipped off a rock and submerged both my boots into the river. I'm not a big fan of walking in wet boots because of the blisters, so I had to spend the rest of the day changing socks every break. Oh well, what can you do? We continued up the river along the banks until we couldn't stay dry any longer. We changed into our 'frogs' (The Warehouse brand of crocs) and started wading. Only a minute into it the water was up to my short line, "Retreat, retreat". We stripped off our lower half of clothing and continued on. It was a pretty funny sight. Full packs, t-shirt, trekking poles and frogs. Luckily it was an isolated spot otherwise we might have scared the locals. The river never got higher than hip height so we didn't have to strip off anymore, the water was freezing.

We started up the spur just after the confluence of the Pelorus River and Mates Creek, possibly the most gorgeous spot we've come across so far. (If anyone is planning on doing this section you need to start from the Mates Creek side, there are cliffs on the Pelorus River side.) It was an easy bushwack, the trees were spaced apart and the undergrowth wasn't out of control. It was a cool feeling, we were in an isolated Range where there were very few people and the tracks weren't beaten in, and on a spur with no trail where even less people had been. Pretty incredible.

We followed the ridge line up, and up, and up. That day our elevation started at below 200m, we worked our way up to over 1500m with many saddles in between. It was pretty slow going at times, we found ourselves billygoating around cliff tops and sometimes fighting our way through small spiky trees but eventually we linked up with the trail. We were exhausted and starving at this point. We cooked up one of our emergency meals that Dennis had been carrying since Auckland. We put too much water into our instant cheese mashed potato mix so it was more a baby food type soup than potatoes but I swear nothing has ever tasted so good. I was instantly revived to head on for another two hours to Old Man's Hut. We didn't arrive there until 9:30 at night, walking down the steep track to the hut in the dark but it was worth it. We were two huts ahead of where we would have been if we'd done a big day on the trails.

The next day we continued on our uphill mission. We were above the treeline for most of the day, getting up to over 1700m in a very barren rocky landscape. We came across all types of rocks - scree fields you could run down, 'treadmill' gravel where you had to keep moving to stop sliding back down the hill, rough boulders and also lots of tussock. Our boot soles definitely wore down on this section. We'd stand on one peak and see the next one about 2km away. Then you'd look down, and down, and know that you'd have to descend 300m, then climb 400m to get to it. Our thighs got a workout that day, but it was a lot of fun.

So the big mountains, endless river valleys and stunning views kept up all week. We are already in love with the South Island, the rest of the trip has a lot to live up to. The bush is quite different and its not as muddy which is a huge novelty. But there are sandflies which form a constant buzz around you whenever you stop.

Dennis had his first equipment casualty this section. He slipped off a rock about a metre high onto more rocks. I looked around to see him lying on his side on the rocks and instantly had visions of a broken something and me running out to get help. He was fine, his trekking pole was not. It snapped as he fell. We've become big advocates of trekking poles, they make the uphills easier and take a lot of the stress off your body. He didn't like one pole, he was like a bird with a wounded wing, not knowing what to do with his other arm. Luckily we've found a replacement end for him which we should have by the next town.

Well, I've been rambling so I'll leave this here. We're enjoying staying with Jean and Chris Richards in St Arnaud at the moment. Thank you so much for having us.

Alice

Photos:
Alice wading into the Pelorus River
Bushwack ridge
Us on the summit of Mt. Rintoul
Dennis on the summit of Mt. Ellis
Maitland Creek River Valley

The South Island, the first 2 days

So we've finally made it to the South Island. We started our nine day section with our heaviest packs yet, mine weighed 18.4kg and Dennis' weighed 20.8kg. They felt fine though, not nearly the insane burden that I was imagining it to be. We must be getting in shape!

We had a bit of a rough ferry ride from Wellington to Picton, Dennis spent half the time wandering around the windy decks trying to focus on keeping his breakfast down but we made it in one piece. We actually ended up having one of our longest days distance wise that day, making it 37km to Havelock and we didn't even start until 12:30. It was the promise of really good fish and chips at the Havelock Hotel for dinner that kept us motivated. We knew the kitchen was open until 8:30, we made it soon after 7.

It helped that the scenery was amazing, we were walking along a coastal road looking at the islands of the Sounds all afternoon. It was weird thinking that we were soon to be leaving the coast, and wouldn't come back to it until the bottom of the island, just before the finish.

We spent our second road day walking along the Pelorus River, a beautiful river that we actually followed right into the bush in the Richmond Range. It was probably the clearest river I've seen, with deep emerald green pools, waterfalls and cool boulders and rock canyons. We treated ourselves to an ice-cream at Pelorus Bridge, our last bit of civilisation before heading into the wilderness for a week... or so we thought.

On our way to the trailhead we met an American couple who lived at the end of the road, and another family who were staying with them. After chatting for a while about what we were doing we were offered a place to stay for the night. A comfy bed sounded way better than our tent so we accepted. And it got better, it wasn't just a comfy bed, it was a comfy bed in a treehouse! The treehouse was so cool, it was a big room way up in the air with huge tree branches coming through the middle of the room and a stairway leading up to it. Thank you so much to Dennis and Sharon Capell for your generous hospitality. We had a great evening with you all.

Alice

Photos:
Sounds with ferry
Capell family tree stump
Coolest tree house ever
Pelorus River

Tramping with Project K

Today Dennis and I met up with the 12 Project K participants from St Bernard's College in Lower Hutt to do a tramp around the Wellington hills. We started from Days Bay, near Eastbourne, and walked up the Main Ridge Track to the Wainuiomata Lookout. From there were headed over to the firebreak roads, then on to Hayward's Reserve and finished up at the Hutt Valley Tramping Club.

We really enjoyed seeing the programme up close. The boys were on their second day of the programme and all did really well, keeping up a good pace and achieving their goal of 'finishing the tramp with a positive attitude'. We're very jealous of their upcoming 3 week outdoor wilderness camp filled with tramping, abseiling, rafting, climbing and ropes courses.

It was great to get a better understanding of how Project K works. The 14 month programme costs around $4000 per participant, none of which is funded by the student. For these boys, they will have their community challenge in January and will then be paired up with a mentor who they will meet one-on-one with for a year, focusing on goal setting, confidence building and leadership.

This is a very worthwhile programme. After one day we could see the enthusiasm of the participants, and how dedicated and well organised the facilitators were. There are still plenty of shoes to be added to our donation shoe pile, so don't be shy about showing your support.

Alice and Dennis

Photos:
The tramping group at Wainuiomata Lookout with a view over Wellington Harbour
Debriefing at the end of the day at the Hutt Valley Tramping Club

Heading Home

Almost three months ago I arrived in New Zealand to hike the countryside.
I knew before I started that this journey would be more then just walking.
Over the past few months I have experience and enjoyed so much Kiwi hospitality,
and have seen some of the most beautiful, ever changing scenery. Its really difficult
to pick out a favorite moment or event because I have enjoyed it all. I have made it
to Wellington from Cape Reinga, roughly about half way, and have decided to end my
hike and go back to Lake Tahoe. I would like to thank everyone that has helped us
along the way. It has truly been a humbling experience. So, being my last entry
I want to wish Dennis and Alice the best of luck and blue skies on the remainder
of the hike.

Lane

P.S. These are a few pictures that have been the highlight of my trip.

Halfway!

We've made it halfway! We're in Wellington at the bottom of the North Island hanging out for a few days enjoying the sunshine before starting on the South Island. But, I get ahead of myself, there were five days of walking before we got here.

After Levin we headed back into the mountains to the Tararua Ranges. Our first peak was Mt Thompson which we almost didn't make it to due to a little discrepancy on our map. We were heading along a forest track and came to a fork in the stream. Both our paper map and the map on our GPS showed that the trail we wanted was directly opposite this river fork. So we crossed over and when we didn't see anything obvious we started hunting around. About an hour later, feeling scratched up from the bushwacking and very frustrated we decided to head back to the road and walk around. A little ways back down the trail we saw a separate fork that we had missed earlier which turned out to be our intersection. It wasn't the first time our maps have been less than accurate but it's still frustrating.

After a few days in canoes then another four walking along the beaches, it'd been a while since we'd had to walk up any hills. We sure made up for it with the walk up to Mt Thompson. It was endlessly steep, and one of the hottest days we've had yet. Sweaty back syndrome was at an all time high. But we were rewarded with amazing views back to the coast where we'd been walking a couple of days earlier.

After some more forest and farm sections we were on to the Southern Crossing of the Tararuas. This is one of the most popular routes through the Ranges. It was a fun few days with lots of elevation changes, stunning views (sometimes) and cool mossy trees that made me feel like I was in some kind of enchanted forest. We stayed the first night at Field Hut. I've really built up huge respect for all the pioneers of the tramping tracks around New Zealand. This hut was originally built in 1924, pit sawing the wood on site. It certainly makes our journey much easier with ready-made huts, light gear and an established track.

The next day we were heading over the 'tops', a razorback ridge above the treeline where the trail dropped sharply away on both sides. Over the previous few days the weather had been overcast in the morning, with the sun coming out and burning off the clouds by lunchtime. We were expecting some stunning views over to the coastline on both sides of the island so we had a late start to wait for the clouds to disappear. We reached the Kime Hut for lunch and decided to hang out for a bit because it wasn't clear yet.

After a long while and lots of snacking the clouds actually started rising back up again so we decided to go for it. We reached Mt Hector, the highest peak, and had a stunning view into nothingness. Just as we were heading off the summit the craziness started. The clouds started moving faster, the wind started whipping and it got a whole lot colder. Even though we didn't get a view, the winds actually made it really fun. I was keeping the boys amused with my drunken looking stumble along the ridge. The winds were so strong you had to lean right into them to stop yourself been blown off the ridge one way, but then you'd reach a calmer spot and almost topple over the other side without the constant resistance of the wind. It was great, although we could see how unprepared trampers could easily get caught out without the right gear. We did get the occasional glimpse out to the eastern coast, and yes, it did look gloriously sunny out there.

We came into Wellington along the Hutt River Walkway and even managed to come across the Lower Hutt Christmas Parade. I think that's about as Christmassy as we'll get this year. Who knows where we'll be for the actual day. Probably in the middle of nowhere, treating ourselves to an extra serving of dehydrated vegetables.

We're staying with some of my relatives in Lowry Bay. We had our first swim in the North Island at the beach by their house. So far whenever we've been by water the weather hasn't been warm enough to inspire us to jump in. Thank you to the Lynskys for having us to stay. It's always nice to have a place to relax on our days off, and one with such an amazing view of Wellington harbour is even better!

It'll be a while before you hear from us again. We have a nine day section between towns at the top of the South Island, our longest yet. Not looking forward to putting on our heaviest pack yet for that one. Lane's leaving us now to head back to the States. Lane, it's been fun. Good luck for the winter and get lots of powder days in for us.

Alice

Pictures:
Alice on the trail up to Mt Thompson and views back to the west coast
Dennis on the Southern Crossing trail
Kime Hut with the rising clouds
The track we followed along the ridges
Lane and Dennis, their first New Zealand swim

No more long walks on the beach

As Alice alluded to in her last post, it was a touch windy on the final two days of canoeing. Apparently two houses had their roofs blown off in Wanganui. I'm not a wind guy by trade but that's windy.

Can't say that I'm joyed to leave the sand. This section was quite nice. It started off in a pumpkin. Literally. There is this park in Wanganui called Kowhai Park which is full of giant concrete fairytale structures. We actually had an interview with the Wanganui Chronicle inside it.

We left Wanganui for the beach. The beach walking differed from our really, really long walk on 90 mile beach because it had a few more things along the way for visual stimulation. Yeah it had it's fair share of dunes and waves but also had many people along the way to stop and talk to. I learned about how fishermen use these things called Contiki's to fish for sharks from the beach. They're kind of like mini submarines that take your line out 1-2 kilometres into the sea so you don't have to cast from the shore. Also learned about whitebait and how the locals call it white gold because there's never enough caught to fill the demand.

We enjoyed a few really nice days strung together. Hardly any clouds, just sun. Not even any wind which was nice.

There was only one difficult part, the river crossings. When Alice and I planned the route we had to go on information that wasn't so up to date. The rivers regularly flood which means they change from season to season. There were three large uncrossable rivers, so big that we would need a boat to get across, or did we?

We knew they were coming up so along the way we would ask the fishermen on the beach if they had any local knowledge. Wow, did we get some differing answers. Take the Whangaehu, where it meets the sea its 90m wide at high tide. One guy said "Yeah, the Whangaehu, I know it. I drove my 4WD over it no problem." Another said "Oh no way, it'll be over your head. You'll be swept to sea. One of the strongest currents in the world, it'll take you to Brazil." How do you decide with those two answers? You don't, ask more. We were trying to get a consensus either way, not possible. I don't think there were two answers that were the same, or even similar. To make a long story short, we took a look, decided it was too wide, deep and fast moving to cross. We ended up detouring around, was an extra 25km and an extra day but worth it. We were told the next day that the river was extremely acidic due to the lahar runoff from Mt Ruapehu, "It sustains no life". Maybe that explains all the dead cows we came across on it's banks. Huh.

Unfortunately there was no easy way round that one. The next two large rivers were much easier thanks to the help of two boats. Walked up to the Rangitikei river bank, saw a boat, waved frantically, and got a ride from the 'Brown's Bunch'. At the edge of the Manawatu we waved at a few boats and jet skis over the course of an hour or so with no luck. Finally got the attention of a passing boat and jet ski. The guys from the Manawatu Coast Guard came over and gave us a lift across. Thanks so much to both boats for the lift, you have no idea how much it helped us out.

Fitting end to the beach: a bonfire, nice sunset and now we're off to the Tararua Range. See you in Wellington.

Dennis

Pictures:
Dennis by Whangaehu Highway Bridge crossing
Brown's Bunch
Ultra light plane over the beach near the Rangitikei River
Manawatu Coast Guard
Bonfire on beach at sunset

On the river

We thought we'd go for a change of pace for this section. We were coming up to the Wanganui River and our options were walking down the road next to the river for three days, or canoeing the river for three days. The second option sounded much more exciting, and we decided it wasn't cheating because we were still using our own power.

We rented canoes from Yeti Tours in Ohakune and along the way picked up a fourth person for the journey. Kelly is a guide for Yeti Tours and hadn't done the lower section of the river yet. It was refreshing to have someone else along, conversation can get a little stale when we're all together 24/7.

The first day was great. We'd been warned that the section from Pipiriki to Wanganui was boring and had no rapids. Well, there weren't any rapids but there was decent current, good weather and the scenery was way better than expected - lots of big cliffs, steep hills and small canyons along the way. We cruised 40km and stayed in Downes Hut, a really cool and rarely used hut along the way, made even better by the fact it was painted magenta.

That night it rained, and rained, and rained. The next day, the 14th, was my birthday. I had visions of spending the day floating down the river, beer in hand, the sun on my face. It was not to be. We waited out the rain in the hut and left late morning when it finally stopped. The good news was that it didn't rain again. The bad news was that the wind started. Now, this wasn't your typical headwind. This was by the far the strongest wind I have ever experienced on a river. At one point Dennis and I were in the middle of the river, the wind blowing spray into the air, and we were trying to paddle to the side. It wasn't happening. We tried to go one way but the wind was too strong, we tried to go the other way and the wind was even stronger. Eventually we battled our way to the relative shelter of the side. This was way too much like hard work and we were threatened with capsize a few times.

It was a good birthday though. We weren't walking on the roads, Dennis had bought me some surprise presents in the morning including some very classy umbrella straws to put in our Tui cans, and we had an amazing dinner of burritos and chocolate brownies at camp that night - oh the joy of not having to carry it on your back.

We got started early on the last morning to avoid the wind. It worked well at first, we even had a tailwind for a while! We made the most of it, doing some of the cruising we were hoping for the day before and we came across the coolest swing ever. It was a 15m pole at a 30 degree angle out from the hill for maximum swing over the river edge. You could get some serious height. We started off swinging from the base, but kept uping the stakes, swinging from higher and higher points, eventually jumping from the top of a massive fallen tree - well I didn't go that far but Dennis and Lane did. It was perfectly placed for our mid morning snack. And a welcome break because our last 10km into Wanganui was similar to the day before - fighting the wind, using all our energy just to stop the canoe floating back upstream. But its all fun, and we made it, even if we are a little pink from the windburn.

Thanks Kelly for coming along, and thank you also to Gill and Jeff Brock, our hosts here in Wanganui. We'll happily help you move your El Pacas around anytime.

Time for bed, till next time,
Alice

Pictures:
Three of us in the canoes
Getting fancy with umbrella straws on Alice's birthday
Three of us and Kelly with our canoes
Dennis on the swing
Lane enjoying the swing

A day in the life, part 1

So we thought we'd start a new series for all our dedicated fans out there which gives a bit of a glimpse into our life on the trail.

The first of the series is camping, what we do when we get home from the 'office'.

Once we've decided we're done for the day and we've found a spot that looks reasonable flat the first item on the agenda is usually setting up the tents. Then we cook up something fabulous from our choice of three meals that we rotate (more on the cooking front on future posts - we've got to give you something to come back for after all).
Once thats disappeared, which doesn't take very long, and the dishes are cleaned we're faced with some exciting choices. Should the three of us cram into Alice and Dennis' tent to play cards? Should we get into our cosy sleeping bags and write in our journals? Maybe start a fire to sit around? And thats about it. At least now its light later so we can hang out outside the tents for longer without freezing to death.

Pictures:
Dennis is darning his socks wearing his stunning 'round camp' attire of long johns and boxers, and crocs and socks.
Lane is cooking up a delicious meal.
Alice is packing her pack while trying to not let her sleeping bag touch the sheep poo on the ground.
We're enjoying dinner with Ruapehu in the background.