Guestbook www.ellgurd.be The Journey
Southern island
Abel Tasman The Croesus Track Further South The Keppler track
The Routeburn Track Ellgurds Mountain Kiss
Abel Tasman (Pics)
We leave Wellington by boat.
About two hours later we are cruising between small isle, creeks and beautiful cliffscenaries.
We arrive in Picton by nightfall, and the intercitybus is waiting for us.
We get off t Havelock where we plan to walk the Nydia track.
It seemed another Belgian guy just arrived before us.
Wow, The first Belg we meet in 7 months!
And more : he is flemish, called Steffen and we spent the rest of the evening listening to news from
lone gone Belgium.
Our soccer team seemed to be screwing up(what a surprise), we hear about politics
and television,...
We chat and chat till it's late and we pop in.
The next morning Steffen is still around, he'll be going for the Abel Tasman walk,
a very famous walk wich we planned to do later on.
After a talk with our host it seemed we will be walking about 60 km after finishing the Nydia track.
MMmh. Bumper. We take a quick decision to do the Abel Tasman and the guy makes a call and gets us onto the bus,
our Belgian compadre is waiting for outside.
We decide to go with the three of us.
We stop in Nelson do some shopping
(we give Steffen the advice better not to carry tomuch cans of tuna with him,
because of the weight, and advise him to take some noodles and stuff.)
We take some extra so we are sure the three of us will survive the 5 day hike.
We arrive in the afternoon and go for a pleasant 4 hour walk next beaches and bays.
We clearly understand why so many people walk this track.
Arrived at the hut, Steffen gets himself a bunk, while Elly and Sigurd put down their tent.
we build a fire and enjoy our saucices.
Next morning we leave just in time to still make it before the tide returns and so
we take the low tide tour throug a huge bay where, in a few hours, two meters of water will be.
Afterwards we go up, and just for fun and practice, Sigurd charges uphill.
Elly gets up quiet quickly, gets cold and moves on.
Sigurds waits for Steffen. It is his first hike , and we still have to polish off the rest so it seems.
We get to a nice campground, put up the tent while Steffen pitches camp in the open fieldkitchen.
Ai, he seemed to have lost his infleating matras.
We fix him up on the bags and it looks more comfortable then our own thermarests.
Elly goes for an early sleep, Sigurd keeps reading with the flashlight in the Da Vinci Code, Steffen brought.
He is quiet amazed if he hears the most odd noise.
Several times during the night.
Deciding that if something is up, Steffen will call for help, S goes to sleep.
The next morning, we hear the scary night Steffen just been through: he was attacked by possums.
They went for his food and gotten the bread.
He could scare them off with his flashlight, a model that you have to
squeeze to get light, explaining the weird sound.
Well , bush camping , ain't it adventurous!
We leave and cross another very big bay.
We push it a bit so we are able to cross the next one too.
We do and it seems we started already the fourth official day.
Great.
A refreshing walk over mountainsides and seasides and we make it to the last hut on the trail.
The last night means : eatingparty!
All that is last can be eating, and you don't have to say that twice.
After delicious feastmeal, we sent the rest of the evening telling stories.
The morning arrives with rainy weather.
We get over another bay and arrive at the road.
mmmh.
Getting a ride for three wet trampers does not seem to be easy!
So we walk a few hours until this nice guy with a truck stops.
We get into the back with the dog and get back to civilization.
Steffen decides to stay there, so Ellgurd continues hitchhiking.
We make it to Nelson where we get a beautiful bedroom with livingroom and kitchen,
and as it is tuesday(discountmovieday!) we go watch 'the dukes of Hazard'.
Hilarious and with a packed theatre, we enjoy the evening.
Sigurd finds an interesting book in the backpacker that he takes along for the coming hike.
Croessus track (Pics)
Leaving Nelson, we drive along the Westcoast, stop at a nice place,
with ein sehenswurtigkeit: pankake rocks.
We take a walk for 20 min. and return to our bus, to be dropped 30 min later in Barrytown.
Here the Croesustrack starts of going over the mountains to end at the other side near blackball.
Like any good track , we start going up.
What a nice tropical forest and several hours later : a beautiful hut with big windows
and an amazing view.
Sigurd goes at work with the axe to get us a good fire and meet a kiwi.
Totally not shy he keeps hanging around.
We enjoy the view and in the morning we can see the sunrise from our bed.
We hang out, read a bit, plan our next trips and decide to spent another night at his very lovely place.
In he evening we get company from an English lass, who works in Barrytown.
She has some wine with her and it's another cosy evening.
We wake early and get going.
After an easy 3 hours descent, it seems we are rather far away from civilization,
so we walk and walk and finaly reach Blackball.
We visit their 'worldfamous' salami shop and after a taste we go for half a kilo.
Rain gets down and it takes some time before we get a ride.
Eventually an elder couple(60-70) stops and takes us along.
Apparently the guy is an heavy Rammstein fan.
So he is pleased to hear we are a neighbouring country of his
favorite bands, land. His wife saurly remarks she is still in the proces of getting to like it.
We try not to laugh to much.
Another ride and we get to Greymouth where we hop on the bus to Fox glacier.
It' s pouring outside.
The Westcoast enjoys an annual rainfall of 5m (7M at Milford sound)>
Up
Further South
We arrive in Fox Glacier on Friday.
The guy of the backpackers seem to have a special kind of humor, we don't really get.
He gets us a good room, though and we sniff around in his video library.
Elly goes for 'Bedknobs and broomsticks' , an old Walt Disney movie with a mix of
original footage and drawn cartoons.
Afterwards we watch 'the Endless Summer II' , the sequel on the mayor surfmovieclassic of all times.
We follow these two guys all around the world on their endless surfing summer.
We recognize south-France, Bali and the Westcoast of Australia.
It sharpens our round-the-world-instincts and we fall asleep, happily.
Next morning we catch a bus down south, to walk the welcome flats walk.
we have some luck by being dropped at the right place, but it is pouring cats and dogs.
The sign of the walk says it is a 7 hours walk instead of 5-6hrs, as written in our book.
The bus had some delay, because they just changed the summer into winter schedule,
and not everybody(= two Japanese tourist)knew about it.
It is about 11 o'clock when we arrive . 11+7=18, mmmh. It does get dark then.
The sign tells us more : if by heavy rain, one needs to makes detours from 30 min to 1hr
cause of the flooding rivers.
We doubt and decide, not to walk.
Drowning while attempting to cross a river , is the number one cause of death for trampers in NZ, so
we back of and return to the road.
After a small while a friendly young couple picks us up.
They are celebrating the guys birthday , by touring at the Westcoast.
And so we are welcome to stay with them for the rest of the day while they work their way down south.
Splendid!
One of the stops they make get Sigurd wet feet because he was sure the wave wouldn’t catch up on him.
Thank god for spare shoes.
Later Glen shows us how to catch fish.
Al lready !
As we had a fishingline in Australia, but didn't know how to use it,
we are eager to pay attention.
After a third try Sigurd gets the shiny fake-fish-bait to the other side of the river.
Then as you pull in, it seems like the small plastic fish swims to the other shore, attracting
the other , bigger, fish to go out and get him.
Waw! A whole skill!
we visit a place where they grow salmon, the blue pools and a few other places.
When we arrive in Wanaka we decide to stay their for the night and smell the last
bits of the skiing season. We say goodbye to our friends, find a backbacker, chill and sleep.
The day after we take another bus to Queenstown.
The rides are nice as we drive through a huge variety of mountains and rivers.
The bungee backpacker will be our home for the next coming two nights.
We meet some nice people during a womderful evening, Sigurd meets a Dutch guy
(god it has been ages we needed to talk Dutch, that not only we understand) and an American
that 'll be doing the Routeburn track.
And while soaking in the spa, the issues of the world are being discussed by an other Yankee.
We decide the evening with Harry Potter 3 , the movie.
In the morning we start off with a descent match of soccer between just the both of us.
It has been a while.
Elly uses some difficult charges and gets an advance of 6 - 3.
Finally we get even again , 7-7. When the ball gets under a car, Sigurd shouts for help.
Elly runs around the car to catch the thing before it supposedly rolls onto the street.
She is to far behind when she realized the ball never left Sigurds hand...
Good trick or ordinary cheatery?
7-8 !
We shop, save our pictures on a disk, chill, spa, eat, relax, sleep.
The Keppler track (Pics)
Early morning we catch the bus to Te Anau.
We are not the only ones, our dear Belgian friend, Steffen, catches the same bus.
He will continue his journey all the way to Milford sound,
while we get off at Te Anau and start walking in the rain.
After 6km we arrive at the track, and gradually the weather gets better.
We have an asome luch with pasta and Tuna!
The afternoon is climbing.
Like usually Elly has the time of her life(and suffering)
We seem to be getting better at this as we finish day one 2 hrs faster then the track was marked for.
After some time we are joined by an elder fellow, who is heading the same way.
He has his own sow with him and fanatically start sowing wood for a nice fire.
We take the opportunity to stretch and train a bit.
Elly finishes the book we pickedup in Nelson :'the way of the peacefull warrior'
After a good chat with our friend we go to sleep to find out in the morning that it has
been heavily snowing. And still is.
The other guy calls it a day and turns back to bed with a thick book.
We get dressed and snowproofed and start off.
White in front, white underneath and behind, white left and right.
Despite the heavy wind and snowfall, we both really like this walk.
The track is ok , and though we sometimes have a slippy step(that ends into half a meter snow)
we make good progress.
Just before our first stop after 2 hrs, we meet three chaps coming from the other site.
And we thought we were the only crazy people around!
We share some warnings and continue our way.
An hour later the weather is getting better and the clouds open up.
Just in time as we cross the ridge in a fluffy sun with great views on both sites.
Mmmh.
Ain't life beautiful.
Heavy wind though, so we walk another hour and reach another shelter,
where we grap a bite.
From here on we only have another third to go , downhills.
We take it easy and reach the Iris Burn hut after a bit more than 6 ours.
Right on time.
We are back from 1500 meters to 400 and it is nice and warmer down here.
At around 20:00 we are surprised by the man that shared the Luxmore hut.
He changed his mind and came after us, just making it before dark.
Next day should be an easy 6hrs walk through the forest.
After two hours we made it halfways, and so we slow down afterwards,
taking plenty of time to admire the woods, beaches and creeks, surrounding us.
When we reach the hut after 5 hrs, it get's crowded by a family with kids.
We decide to go on to small hut 30min further down the bay.
It is just a 6 bunk hut with an open fireplace and we enjoy our solitude.
Early morning the lake is just so very marvelous and we take our time to
enjoy it.
A few hours later we get out of the track and onto a road to civilization.
We easily catch a ride and let our muscles rest for the rest of the day.
We prep us some excellent food, watch two movies, charish the hot shower
and get ready for the routeburn , the next day.
The routeburn track (Pics)
Saturday morning.
We get up, have a descent breakfast with eggs and head for the center of town,
where we catch the Newmans coach to Milford sound.
It's raining and though our driver stops several times to let us out and take a picture if we want to,
he firmly states that he isn't leaving the warmth of the coach.
Dry New Zealandic humour.
Later on he let's the passengers know, he will be making a stop at the divide to let go of two trampers,
who will try to cross the mountains on the Routeburn track.
That's us!
He doesn't call us fouls, but the expression on his face said it all,
when he wishes us good luck.
Oh, well. Nevermind.
There we go.
It isn't even raining when we start off, though thanks to a cheerful sun,
the snow on top of the trees melts and falls off onto everyone passing underneath them.
Sometimes it seems someone is really throwing snowballs to us!
Not nice.
The weather get worse. Melting snow and ice causes the numerous rivers to swell,
and our shoes proof themselves better swimmers then walkers.
We pass a few dangerous passes with possible avalanches, and we move quickly and quietly.
We even have to keep moving, while passing the 80meters Earland falls.
We didn't feel like any rocks keeping the water company while it fell down towards us.
Legmuscles are growing more painfully, not fully recovered from the Keppler and
tortured by the cold ice water, that seems to be everywhere and that makes it rather
hard to walk without sliding.
Well, do I need to mention it wasn't really our day.
Later then we expected, but glad to have made it, we finally reach the hut.
Another one of those incredible Biiig huts.
Lighting the fire never really gets the place warm due to its size.
We decide to get dry and get warm in our sleeping bags, first enjoying
some of the fine salami we bought in Blackball and then snoozing off.
We wake up and while Elly makes diner, Sigurd starts the fire anyways.
Meanwhile we have a chat with the Israelian couple and the two kiwis, who
will be spending the night here, too.
Darkness grows and our Israelian friends decide to go to sleep, while we have several nice conversations
with Paul and Marc.
They seem to have been traveling quiet a lot and so we share travelers stories.
Afterwards we discuss(again) the fact that the sun stands in the North here at noon, and like usual
No one seem to be sure of it. We get to know a few interesting fact about kiwcountry and the Maori,
and it is rather late when we get to bed.
When we get ready to go, the next day, everybody has left already, so we start our climb towards the aim of today :
The Harris Saddle that 'll bring us to the other side.
The sun shines brightly and we enjoy the day, despite our still soaking shoes, sox and , Oh yeah, feet.
Well nothing to do about but, keep on going.
Halfway we pass an English couple, so we can just follow the track in their footprints.
(the snow sometimes makes it difficult to see where to step.)
We reach the saddle and once over it we are stunned by the lake on the other side of it.
Mmmh.
This is why you are doing it for!
We can barely keep our eyes off, while slowly descending towards the next hut.
On our way down the track seemed to have changed into a pedestrians highway.
People going up to admire the lake on this sunny day.
A sudden moment the kiwis seemed to have made an economical decision: why making
and maintaining a path if you can just walk down into the river.
Well, soaked as we are, we don't mind at all and try to get as deep as possible, without tripping over.
Once in the hut, we try to make some pancakes(not really succeeding at it) and pop in early, so we can get
up just a bit after sunrise and make the final descent.
This is our seventh day in a row we are walking, we are enormously glad,
when after leaving the track we gotten a ride only 6 km further on the road in stead
of 26 km further at Glenorchy.
Our benefitters are an elder couple, ratling on without stopping about the birds, rivers,
weird bubbles in the landscape, her languagestudents, his guiding experiences, and so on, and so on,...
Well we have energy for 10 when we leave them in Glenorchy, and once taken by two Israelian blokes
on our next lift we let it all out, talking inhesitatly till we reach Queenstown.
One of the guys actually thanks us when we leave(because of us leaving of
for the enormous info the just gotten?)
We have been here before and so we immediately head for the bungee Backpackers.
Makes some fast noodles, take a shower and throw ourselves into the spa.
Aaah. Bubble, bubble , bubble at 38 degrees!
Mmmh.
Better, much better.
Shopping, cooking and eating.
Nice chatting to the Dutch guy and the Hawain fellow we met last time we where here.
We share walkingstories as they have been just doing the routeburn and afterwards the Keppler.
We all drop down into the sofa and eagerly watch Rainman and aferwards 21 grams (beuh, sad)
Getting up early going to Dunedin.
We founded a nice inexpensive backpackers here and decided to stay for three days,
giving our body time to recuperate some.
Afterwards we plan to visit one of the nearby bays to check out the seals, albatros and dolphins.
Within two days we'll try to reach Christchurch and on to Mt Summers where we attempt a 3 day tramp(with hot , natural spring on top).
The last remaining week will be a 5 or 7 day tramp over the MacArthur pass, depending how we feel.
And that 'll be it for our New Zealandic Quest.
Next is Fiji!
PS No we haven’t found the ring, yet!
Mountain kisses
Ellgurd
