Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #21: TraversTrav-Sabine Circuit Day4

Travers-Sabine Circuit Day4 (freedom camp near West Sabine hut to freedom camp between Sabine and Speargrass hut)

Type: A part of loop of 80 km (49 miles)

Time Spent: 8 hours

Day2 Distance: 19.2 km (12 miles)

Elevation change: + 143 m (approximately + 468 feet) 

After possum night, we started tamping. 

What a color

First wow moment of the day was chasm's blue. What a color!

Then we kept walking along the river. Some point there was no marks for the track. We had heard that some sections of tracks were washed out due to heavy rain, so it was necessary to do bush walk. Luckily walking in the deep bush was not long. Soon we came to an open area. We took a lunch break after a bush walk. 

We rest well and thinking about packing up and start walking again, a New Zealand solo female backpacker came to us and asked what route we took for the wash out portion. Actually she had passed us before bush walk section. She looked a typical New Zealander, because she had shorts with gators, and had an old model of backpack. 

We answered that we went through bush. She said she went down to the creek and came to the open area. Considering her speed and skill, probably the route she took was tough.
She said, "Oh I should have gone to the bush. The route I took was a little doggy. "
Mr.N said, "Well anyway you are here!"
We laughed and she went ahead. 

Then we reached at Lake Rotoroa. Mr.N, as usual, jumped into the lake. My plan was to sit down at the lake and relax. However, I immediately got surrounded by 300 sandflies, and got 3 bites in a second. I ran inside the hut. 300 is not an exaggeration. It was insane. 3 bites were so itchy. Even right now I am writing this made my arm itch. I just scratched. 

Lake Rotoroa

After Lake Rotoroa was uphill. According to the map, there would be some flat space on the way, so we headed for there to have a freedom camp. On the way of uphill, the solo female New Zealand tramper passed us again. She was fast on the uphill. I love those brave New Zealand trampers. I wondered how long she had intended to go. 

It was hard to find a great spot to have freedom camp, but finally we found a nice spot and had a blast with dinner and snack. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #20: TraversTrav-Sabine Circuit Day3

Travers-Sabine Circuit Day3 (freedom camp near John Tait hut to freedom camp near West Sabine hut )

Type: A part of loop of 80 km (49 miles)

Time Spent: 8 hours

Day2 Distance: 14.5 km (9 miles)

Elevation change: +914 m, -1097 m (approximately +3000 feet -3600 feet) 

Travers Falls

5 minutes after we started hiking in the morning we passed John Tait hut. It was in the forest and there was not much view, so we were glad we did freedom camp. After 45 minute-isa walk, there was a small side trail to the Travers Falls. The falls were massive and powerful. Also the color of pool was mysteriously pretty. Not only falls, but also the surrounding trees covered with lichens were beautiful. All together makes the scenery perfect. 

Basin before Travers Saddle

After a little more climb, Upper Travers hut appeared on the basin. It is a nice area. We found a flat spot and sat down and enjoyed the view with snack.
From here the uphill will start to the Travers Saddle. Near the hut, there is a funny sign saying, "are you ready?" This is a warning sign for trampers to be prepared. However I was thinking, if trampers come here they are ready. Indeed somebody curved on the sign "yes" after the question...That was funny. 

Travers Saddle

Travers Saddle

Then we started climbing the saddle. Despite of the warning, it was not so hard. Maybe I got used to the steepness of New Zealand track. The view was again amazing. In the right picture is the saddle where we hiked up. If you have good eyes you see red pole, which is a mark of track. Also this day nobody was on the travers saddle. We spent at the top of saddle for an hour, but a single hiker came. It was peaceful. Luckily it was not windy and sunlight came on the top. I took off shoes and even took off socks and relaxed. So good. 

Other side of the view is also good (left picture). It was hard to leave the summit, but we had to. We headed for the next hut area.
Near 5 pm, we approached to the West Sabine hut. In the evening it started drizzling. Due to that we were debating if we should stay at a hut or freedom camping. If the rain would be harder, the hut would be a better choice. We went to the hut and checked the weather forecast written on a whiteboard by a warden. The rain should be soon stopped. Also we found the hut crowded and stinky. All the half-wet boots/gears it really stinky. Besides some people were not friendly, so we decided to do freedom camp. We found a spacious established site not far from the hut, but the hut was not visible from the spot (if a hut is visible, it is considered camping at hut and need to pay 1 ticket). 

Freeze Dry food

This day was Christmas (25th), so we had a nice dinner. Freeze dry backcountry food! Roast Lamb and Vegetables. In New Zealand every grocery store has a section of freeze dry back county cuisine area. It indicates how New Zealanders are into tramping. We celebrated Christmas with lamb in the tent. Fun!

We had a cup of tea and went to sleep in quietly.....then became nightmare.
In the middle of night around 11 p.m., we saw some noise and "GAYYYOOOO" What's that noise?!
There is no predators in New Zealand. Mr.N found it a possum! Two possums were fighting over garbage we put in the vestibule of tent.
OK. Now they know we have food. If we put food in the tent they might rip the tent off. Because it was only 0.2 mile to the hut, we put food in the hut. Possums are threats for native New Zealand animals. We tried to scare them, by making noise and throwing rocks, but they didn't seem scared. They just climbed the tree. With head lamps their eyes were shining and just looking at us in some distance on the tree. After we threw some rocks to them, although they were too high to hit, we went back to sleep. Once around 4 a.m. a possum jumped on the tent! So naughty. They must know they can steal food from human. What the heck. We couldn't sleep well this night due to possums!

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #19: Travers-Sabine Circuit Day2

Travers-Sabine Circuit Day2 (Angelus lake to Angelus peak out and back + Angelus lake to a little before John Tait hut)

Type: A part of loop of 80 km (49 miles)

Time Spent: 8 hours

Day2 Distance: 14.5 km (9 miles)

Elevation change: +610 m, -1342 m (approximately +2000 feet -4400 feet) 

After hiking down from Angelus Peak, we started heading for John Tait hut area. We were planning to do freedom camp in the evening. 

falls, falls, falls

Immediately leaving the Angelus lake area, it was a very steep descend. Grr. New Zealand's standard. Because it was steep, I saw many falls. Big and small, all in the one area. It was very pretty.  

Bridge

Then we arrived at the junction. I was walking ahead of Mr.N.
Mr.N looked at the map and said we had to cross the swinging bridge. There are many swing bridges in New Zealand. This is one of those. The one like this in the left picture, usually there is a sign saying 1 person at a time. As you can see in the picture this bridge was kind of tilted.  Besides, when I was crossing the bridge, the strong winds from left came and it got really swinging! Mr.N was taking picture of me. I was scared.....and then finally reached the other side. Then I noticed that Mr.N was shouting at me. 

Mr.N, "It is not that way. You need to come back!"

Me: What's the hell!? Do I have to cross the bridge again? 

Mr.N tricked me. I made him promise treat meal after done with backpacking.

Pretty river

Anyway we wasted some time doing this then started tamping again. After all the way down from the Angelus hut, now trail came to the river. The river was nice blue. 

On the way we saw a friendly solo female tramper, probably from Eastern Europe according to her accent. She informed us there would be many meadows on the way to John Tait hut where freedom camps can be done. I was impressed how she remembered well. She even told us there was really nice specific area for camping. I have done some section twice in Sierra, but I always have some new discovery for the second time. She headed for Coldwater hut. 

Hopeless Track

The hut names are sometimes funny. There was a junction to the hut: Hopeless hut. The side track to the  Hopless hut is Hopeless Track. Hope hikers to go there are hopeful. 

We soon found a nice meadow a little before John Tait hut and did a freedom camp. OK. One thing I was frustrated during New Zealand trip is sandflies. There were so many sandflies in the meadow. I continuously put DEET 100% on my skin and wore mosquito net all the time at the camping spots. 

 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #18: Angelus Peak-Travers-Sabine Circuit Day2 no.1

Angelus Peak from Angelus Lake

Type: Out and back

Distance: off trail (it varies) 6.4 km (4 miles) 

Elevation change: 397 meters (approximately 1300 feet) 

Nest day we got up at 3:30 am to hike up to the Angelus peak. The Angelus peak is located behind the Angelus hut. There is not an official track to the summit, but there are cairns (a pile of rocks) to the top. Previous day we asked the warden about the route and she showed us the drawing of brief route, which is a drawing somebody wrote on the first page of intention book at the hut. We heard that many people hike up to the Angelus peak and it is great, by Julie whom we met at the Mid Caples hut during greenstone backpacking (Wrote about Julie at post #9 link is here )

We started tramping around 4:30 am. Since sunrise was 5:20 am, soon the orange sunlight was appearing. Sun was about to come over the carpet of clouds in the valley was surreal. It was super pretty. Green meadow and lakes were gradually getting orange reflections. How wonderful it was to be in that magical place!

Sunrise

Although the route was rough, it was rewarding, because one step go higher the view got more impressive. After some climb we came to a little flat spot. I thought, "Oh this in the top?"

No. It is a false summit. False summit always happens when you climb a tough mountain. Every time you think arrived the summit then another hill shows up. Angelus peak was not an option. The last section was scree. Scree.....my scree memory is Mt.Shasta. Scree is hard, because if I hike up 3 steps, then 2 steps slide back. It looked so steep and I thought I might stop before the final scree. However, I remembered a sentence on the intention book drawing. "The last scree is steep but not as bad as it looks". OK. I started hiking up. Actually it was not as slippery as it looked and much less slippery than Mt.Shasta. 

After 30 minutes of scree, we finally made it to the top!
The view was AMAZING. 

Angelus Peak!

Handsome mountains are coming out from the ocean of clouds. What a view. It was like as if I was in a different world. Nobody was on the way or top. All the view was ours! Soooooooo priceless. We took pictures, looked around, enjoyed the 360 view. We sat down and had snack. No Keas in this area, so no worries for being stolen. This is definitely one of the best scenery I have ever seen. 

After an hour or so, we started descending, although it was very hard to leave the summit. When we got close to the hut, we saw the warden. She had said that she would climb up to the Angelus peak after she got off duty in the morning. We chatted with her for a little. We thanked her for the cozy camp/hut. She said, "No worries." I love the New Zealand iconic answer to the thank you.
Then we packed up and headed for this day's destination. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #17: Angelus Lake-Travers-Sabine Circuit Day1

Lake Angelus via Robert's Ridge Route

Type: Out and back, Part of 5 day backpacking of Traverse-Sabine Circuit

Spent: 9 hours

Distance: 22.4 km (14 miles)

Elevation change: 1288 meters (approximately 4225 feet)

Wow. This is another epic day! This day we started 4 night/5 day backpacking. The first day is going to Lake Angelus camping site via Robert's Ridge Route. 

At the parking lot when we were about to hike, the guy with barefeet talked to us. 

The guy said, "Hi guys where are you heading?"

Mr.N answered, "We are going to Angelus hut."
The guy said, "Oh very nice. Via Ridge trail?"
Mr.N said, "Yes."
The guy said in an exciting mode, "Oh very nice!"
Mr.N said, "Have you been there?"
The guy said, "Yes, I live in Nelson, but I haven't been there for a while. It used to have a crowded issue"
Mr.N answered, "We have a reservation."
The guy said, "Oh it takes reservation now? Good."
Then he said, "Okay have fun guys!"
This is a typical scene in New Zealand. New Zealanders are friendly, nice, and love chatting. Also they are very hard core trampers! On the trail, New Zealanders are wearing distinctive outfits. Shorts and gators. They are not camping gear junkies like many Americans. They don't have newest model of backpacking or tents: rather old style. One reason is probably gears are much more expensive in New Zealand. I saw some backpackers magazine in New Zealand and found stuff is twice or third time more expensive than prices in the U.S. For example, JetBoil is 2.5X more expensive in NZ, compared to the U.S. I like the new gear, but I also admire New Zealand trampers using good old style gears for a long time. 

Lake Rotoiti

Lunch Spot

The hike started with steep climbing (well always in NZ). Immediately wonderful lake view appeared. It is Lake Rotoiti. It is a very big lake of beautiful greenish blue. There was a motorboat going on the lake. Some hikers take boat shuttle to go to further in the wilderness.

On the way apparently NZ trampers (I was sure because he had gators and 

short with old style backpack) passed us. They are so hardcore.

Then we passed apparently a tourist couple. They only carried tiny backpacks. According to Mr.N, the girl had a very surprised facial expression by seeing me carrying a huge backpack. Mr.N was laughing later.
After some climb, we reached the ridge. From there it was less steep and the view was non-stopping gorgeous. We had lunch with the view.

Ridge track

The ridge walk continued. All the way to the Angelus Lake was gorgeous. We only saw a hiker after lunch spot. The hiker was far ahead on the ridge trail. Some portion are along all green mountains, some are interesting color of dirt as you can see in the left picture. In the picture you can see the track on the ridge. 

In the evening the Angelus lake and Angelus hut appeared down the ridge track. Wow. The lake is very beautiful. The hut is in the perfect location. We had a camping reservation at the Angelus lake. It is associated with Angelus hut. The campers can also use hut facility: kitchen area, tables, etc. There were two tents already set up. So we took a spot far from those two tents. Gorgeous place to spend a night!!!

Angelus hut, Angelus Lake, and tents

The warden was Veronica, probably a transgendered person. She is really nice, funny, and friendly. It was good to see those open things in New Zealand. The picture above contains Angelus Lake, Angelus hut, and our neighbors tent. We camped a little left of the blue tent in the picture (the picture was taken before we went down to the lake). 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #16: Avalanche Peak in Arthur's Pass National Park

Avalanche Peak via Scott's Track

Type: Out and Back

Time Spent: 6 hours

Distance: 6.4 km (4 miles)

Elevation change: 1023 meters (approximately  3356 feet) 

Avalanche Peak. This is an epic hike! Spectacular view. 

To hike up to the top of Avalanche peak, there are two ways. Both are short. Scott's track is a slightly less steep (but still steep). If you imagine ascending 3356 feet in 2 miles, you can see how steep it is.
Great thing about this Scott's track is there is a continuous view all the way up to the top. Literally all the way. So even if it is steep, there is always fun, and there is always an excuse to stop to rest (to see a view). Because we started early, there were only a couple of hikes all the way to the top. Besides, "normal" people don't hike here due to its steepness.
After a couple of hours of climb, we were standing at the top. Gorgeous view at 360. Any directions have wonderful view. I also enjoyed glaciers. 

Avalanche Peak

2 pictures (above and below) were both taken from the top. You can imagine how beautiful any directions are. It was hard to decide which direction to see to have  lunch at the top. 

We sat down towards the glacier and started eating snack. Then problem occurred.
Keas tried to take our snacks. Keas in Arthur's National park are not scared of humans at all. Because we had to keep an eye on every thing, it was hard to sit down and eat. I decided to eat later somewhere down to avoid Kea's attack.
Mr.N said, "It should be okay."
He started snacking.
Then Kea came and stole a bag of apples. Mr.N cursed and but the Kea was flew away with the bag. However, due to the weight of apples in vinyl bag, the Kea dropped the bag. So we rescued apples.
Naughtiest bird ever!!!

Kea at the top

OK. We decided to eat food somewhere Keas were not around. 

Keas seemed like always there are at the Avalanche Peak and trying to steal human's food. Humm. Not good!

Anyway this is one of my favorite hikes in my life, and I am so happy we did that. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #15: Caroll Hut Track in Arthur's Pass National Park

Caroll Hut + Kelly Range Track

Type: Out and Back

Time Spent: 8 hours

Distance: 8 km (5 miles)

Elevation change: 1058  meters (approximately  3471 feet) 

As a first hike in Arthur's National Park, we did Caroll Hut and Kelly Range. From the pave road to the trailhead there is a small section of gravel road. Since we had a hard time to go through gravel road at the first portion of trip (we got a flat), this time we had asked a park ranger if non-4WD is doable on the gravel road. The ranger said it is fine. The road was even and the gravel portion was just 5 minutes, so it was no problem. 

On the way to the hut

The hike started with crossing a river. It was a knee high. Grr. My feet got wet. Then track went into the forest. It was very New Zealand-ish track: STEEP climb. Steepness continued for an hour and half, then the view got great. Now it was gradual ascend on the ridge. The undulating mountain range appeared with tall falls. It was very beautiful. As I enjoyed the view, the Caroll hut appeared. Caroll hut is a standard hut, meaning 1 ticket is required to stay. 1 ticket is $5. (New Zealand $5=US $3.2). It is quite cheap. Standard huts don't have wardens. So there is a honesty box on the wall inside the hut and you insert a ticket into a box. There are different levels of huts in New Zealand. Some huts are service with a warden and those need 3 tickets to stay. 

Caroll hut has only 10 bunk beds and a table. It is very cozy. We didn't know if we would stay or not, but we anyway secured the 2 spots of bunkbeds. There were 2 French females still there who stayed at the previous night. We saw many Frenchs tramping in New Zealand. The ladies said the last night was only 2 people stayed there, probably because the weather was not nice and cold. 

Going up

We left our big backpacks at the hut and carried only a small sack and climbed to the top of Kelly range, which is another hill climb from the hut.
You can see the Caroll hut down in the left picture. As we climbed, the view got even more amazing.
After the hut there is no official track, but maybe there was before, because wooden poles are there to the top every 20-30 meters. The track was no longer maintained at all, but still there was unofficial track. Probably people go up to the top. We enjoyed the Kelly range a lot and then came down to the hut at 4 p.m. 

Oh my. 16 people were in the hut. for. 10 bunk beds. We had wished having quiet relaxed night, but it was so crowded and noisy. Humm.
We debated if we would go down. We were leaning to go down as we thought twice. Another factor we thought hiking out was that we only had one more day in Arthur's Pass National Park and we had one more day hike we wanted to try. So we hiked down.
On the way down there was a family. They were just 30 minute away to the hut, but two kids were sitting on the trail. The kids looked tired. The father is Caucasian. From his accent he is from either Australia or New Zealand. His wife is Asian. They asked if there was availability at the hut. We warned that there is NO space and already extra people. They didn't bring a tent. Uh oh. Despite of the fact, there were not upset. After we said good by to them, I overheard their conversation.
The wife said, "どうする？帰る？"
She is Japanese!!! She said, "Oh what should we do? Going down?"
It seemed that she is raising kids by talking to them in Japanese. It is typical style of international marriage. Although it was not an easy situation, from her tone she was not upset but still very cheerful. Great! I respect those people. Being always cheerful and positive is not easy, but for sure it turned out to be good for those people. 

Camped here

Going down was less than 2 hours and we camped at another very pretty DOC campsite. Nobody was in the visible area which was a vast meadow. We were glad we camped peacefully. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #14: Heading for Arthur's Pass National Park

Next 2 days we had a reservation for the Welcome Flat Track. However, due to the heavy rain the track had been closed for a week. We went to DOC visitor centre a few days before and checked with rangers. They said it might be open on the day of our reservation. The field ranger go check out daily when the track is closed and let the visitor centre know by 9 a.m. 

In the morning of our reserved day, we went to the visitor centre and found out they decided to keep closed. We were a little disappointed, but at least they refunded the fee for our reservation, and luckily there are many many great hikes we could do instead. 

Probably we just got another reason out of many, to go back to New Zealand again. Someday I want to go tramping on the Welcome Flat hut track. 

Welcome Flat hut is an extremely popular hut to stay, so it is now reservation only. The attractive point is not only the scenery but also the hot spring. There is natural hot pools at the hut. That is the reason it is so popular.
At previous night at the hostel, we saw a German guy who were staying in New Zealand for 5 weeks. I was jealous. Europeans have a lot of vacation. 5 weeks in New Zealand. Well, we were also there for almost a month, though. The German guy was also staying a hut  only last night instead of camping, due to heavy rain. He had visited New Zealand 2 years before, too. He said that he loved Welcome Flat track. He stayed at Welcome Flat hut for 2 nights and enjoyed the hot spring for whole day! 

In the morning at the visitor centre we saw him again and he said he was going to small glacier walks at Fox and Franz Joseph and next day he planned to go to Alex Knob.
We looked up hikes at the DOC visitor centre and decided to go to Aurthr's Pass National Park, but found out the road got closed around 8 a.m. However, the German guy told us it was open again at 10 a.m. Wow. He checked road status a lot. I found another German meticulous. 

So this day we started driving toward Arthur's Pass national park. We arrived at Arthur's Pass visitor center in the evening. There were some tents right next to the visitor center between the camper vans, but it didn't look nice (in the cars....). We asked if there are campsites in the park. The ranger said Keas rip apart the tents near visitor centre. He recommended a nearby campsite, which is 10 min drive from the visitor centre. We went there and it was really pretty. Thank you ranger! 

Pretty!

Tent

The camp area is just a vast meadow and anywhere you can pitch a tent. There is a river nearby. We sat down there and enjoyed the evening scent and view.
Flowers along the river were very pretty. Clouds were passing through fast and sometimes it was drizzling. Due to that we saw a nice rainbow. 

Rainbow

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #13: Fox Glacier and Lake Matheson

Fox Glacier South Track

Type: Out and Back

Time Spent: 2-3 hours

Distance: 6.8  km (4.2 miles)

Elevation change: 178  meters (approximately 583  feet) 

Again we got up at 5 a.m. Yes, the entire trip we EVERYDAY woke up at 5 a.m. It was early, but not hard. Besides so many birds start singing at 4:30 a.m., so it was nice. 

On this day we checked out another big glacier in the West. Due to the heavy rain and land slides from early December, the foot track was closed, but driving road was open for walking. Driving on the road was prohibited. When we were heading out, one guy was working on the road to clear up the land slide on the road. Some portions of the road was full of dirts and rocks from land slides. So only walkers could pass. The guy warned us better to hurry, because the heavy rain was going to come in the afternoon.

Fox Glacier

Because a big rain was going to come, the clouds covered the higher portion of glacier. However, still the glacier was big. I felt that the cloud capped glacier was even emphasized its independency and strength. Somewhat it was like showing off their power to small human beings. 

Moraine Walk

On the way back we took some small detour of moraine walk. On this track we enjoyed rain forest where it used to be all glacier. There was no single person except for guys (now some joined the morning guy) working on track near the glacier. It was very nice.  

As you can see in the left picture I learned how quickly glacier has been disappearing. There are two signs: glacier terminal 1750 AD and 1600 AD. Actually those signs are not far!!! The current glacier is far way back from those signs. Scary.

Then we came back to the entrance of road. Now the sign was put at the track entrance. "Track is closed" Wow. Lucky. We got up at 5, so something good came. 

Bird!

Next we drove a little and decided to do a little hike before the rain would come. We headed for Lake Gault. This is 8 km out and back, 3-5 hours. However, it took more time than we expected (and this is the New Zealand thing: always more time than estimate). So we decided to turn around at the half way. Since the heavy rain warning was on, we thought it was better safe than sorry. Instead we did a little nice walk around Lake Matheson. Near the Matheson, we saw a beautiful bird (picture above). It had greenish blue wings with red beak, and white belly. I wonder what the bird is called. Please let me know if you know the bird's name.

Soon after we finished hiking in mid-afternoon, the rain started. This day we decided to stay at a hostel. Only one day at hostel during the 1-month trip of camping. 1 bed X 2 persons is nearly equal of private room with 2 beds. So we got a private room. It was not  so expensive, because still shower, toilets, and kitchen are shared. We also took an opportunity to have laundry. It was a half way of the trip, so it was nice to wash clothes. Yahhh. they were stinky. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #12: Alex Knob Track

Alex Knob Track

Type: Out and Back

Time Spent: 8 hours

Distance: 15.2  km (9.5 miles)

Elevation change:  1081 meters (approximately 3546 feet) 

This is a gorgeous day hike to see massive Franz Joseph glacier. It was lucky for us to have a sunny day on the West coast, where it has a lot of rain. We started around at 8:30 a.m. Alex Knob Track is a continuous climb all the way to the top, but it is very gradual, so not so difficult. First part is a rain forest. On the half way to the top, there is a glacier viewpoint, Christmas Lookout. This point has a fantastic view. We looked at the glacier during Christmas season from Christmas Lookout. This is very good, so if 15.2 km is too much for you, it is a good plan to come just for Christmas Lookout. Indeed we saw a couple who came to this point and went back. 

Franz Joseph glacier from Christmas Lookout

How wonderful it was! The picture above is the view from the lookout. Glacier is still huge and it is nice to see the heavy glacier was pushed down on the slope of mountains. Blue glacier is beautiful. It is very distinctive blue. This kind of blue can't be seen anywhere else except for glacier. Cool. 

Then more climb continues to the top. At the top the glacier was still seen, but the top portion was covered by clouds. One lady was already up there when we reached and she was telling to other people that she had been there for 2 hours with hoping the clouds go away. This is my hypothesis, but maybe top is above the clouds, so it was hard to see the top compared to the Christmas lookout where you can see the top from a little lower point.
Anyway some moment clouds were blown away and glacier was revealed. It was cool. We enjoyed being there for about 2 hours then went back. 

Tasman Sea

Another bonus if you continue climbing up from Christmas Lookout is Tasman Sea view. Vast green area and the blue ocean. AND blue sky. Gorgeous. The shadow of clouds were on the meadow and it was nice to stare at them moving. I wish I could live and stare at the view all day.On the way back I stepped on a slippery log and slipped. I hit my butt. It was so painful and couldn't get up for a couple of minutes. Grrr. This caused very big bruise on my butt which lasted for the next 3 weeks. Mr.N took the picture of bruise on my butt, but I limit myself from posting the picture here. 

Glacier Walk

Then we went for a short walk at the bottom of Franz Joseph glacier in the evening. Since it is light until 9 p.m., you can do a short hike after 6 p.m. It is great. In this walk, the whole glacier can't be seen, but huge moraine can be seen. It is vast and amazing.  

This night we camped at DOC camping site. Due to road closure in the West, nobody was camping there. The whole campground was ours. It was peaceful and nice. The beautiful lake was along the campground and we ate dinner by the lake. It was a private lake! Lucky us. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #11: Chasm Walk and Milford Sound

The next day after finishing Greenstone and Caples track, our plan was going to the West Coast, but not quite sure if we should go. First, we stopped at the town of Wanaka and had lunch at a restaurant. I had fish and chips, which is one of the signature dishes in New Zealand. They were good. I like fish very much, because I am from an island.

The reason why we were concerned about going to the West coast was weather and road situation. New Zealand weather pattern is: rain comes from West and hit the mountains, then east of mountains are less rainy. There was a week of rain just before we landed on New Zealand on the west coast. It led to a lot of land slides on the west and there was only one road to go to the west from anywhere else in NZ at that time due to road closures. So if something happened there would be a possibility for us to be stuck on the west. 

When we asked a person at the tourist center in Wanaka, she said "Oh I wouldn't go to west" Then she said, "There is Department of Conservation down the street. They might have more information."

We went to the DOC centre and got more information. 

We got information that the road closure was due to 200 mm of rain for 7 consecutive days. It is unlikely to happen very often. Even heavy rain warning we got during Greenstone backpacking was like 70 mm of rain. 

The road closure portion was going to be ended on Dec 25 according to Google map. DOC centre person informed Mr.N, "Don't trust Google map, dear." and told him about the NZ public road information site. According to that, the road was going to open much earlier. With those information, we made a decision to go to the west. 

BEAUTIFUL

Driving out of the Greenstone area there were many breathtaking views. I loved the area. A bunch of falls were coming out from glaciers on the huge rocks were so beautiful. That area is very pretty, but there is not much tracks at least officially: maybe there are. Local must know. 

Then we did a small hike of 20 min: The Chasm Walk

The Chasm Walk

Type: Lollipop

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Distance:  400 meters (0.25 mile)

Elevation change:  neglectable

Ha! I don't usually go walking this type of very short walk, but this was very interesting. You can see a real power of water here. 

patholes

After a lot of rain, the water go flow the river. Because there is so much water with strong current, water picks up pebbles and stones. Then those stones curve the rock. Rocks get a hole. Then more pebbles come to a hole and roll in the hole. The holes are potholes. Patholes are seen in the right picture. Some potholes have small pebbles in side (a picture below)

As you can see in the picture, the current is super strong. There are bridges above the chasm and you can see these from the top. It is very powerful. Also it is very strong sound from this fast current. Wow.

Milford

Lastly, we stopped by Milford Sound on the way to the West coast. Milford is one or the most popular international tourists' destination. Milford has a "Great Walk", however, it is the most expensive Great Walk. First of all you need to take a boat to start Milford Track. Then the hut cost is $140/person/night (no food!). No camping is allowed. Only one direction is allowed to walk, which means that you need a shuttle afterwards. Super expensive. So we decided to do just checking out Lake Te Anau.
Milford sound consists of fiord. There are a number of valleys carved by glaciers. It is interesting to see glaciers and the ocean at the same time. It is indeed a unique view. It used to be all ice up high, so there was no mountains, now those glaciers were melted and valleys appeared. It is pretty and it would be nice to kayak or take a boat tour when I have an opportunity to come back someday. 

Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #10: Bridgestone and Greenstone Backpacking day4

Greenstone and Caples Tracks

Type: Loop

Time Spent: 3 nights 4 days backpacking

Distance:  60 km (37- miles)

Elevation change:  4225 meters (approximately 6800 feet) 

<Day4>

Near the junction of Caples track and Steel Creek track to the trailhead Divide

Plus side trip to Key Summit

14.1 km (8.8 miles),  427 meters (1400 feet) elevation gain

Saddle

This day we started with ascending toward Mckellar saddle. I was expecting much more strenuous climb, but it was easy. I like being in the quiet mountains in the morning. The air was crisp and always mountains are massive. At the saddle I was able to see mountains at 360. 

We ate some snack at the saddle. Those snacks were from New World Market in Queenstown where Izzy lives. Snacks reminded me of Izzy and made me smile more at the pretty place.
Then we descended and headed for Key summit. Key summit is a little side trip, but Julie at Mid Caples hut told us it is really nice and definitely should go. So we left our backpacks at the junction and climbed some for the summit. Without a big backpack was nice even on uphill. 

Key Summit was.....amazing!

Key Summit

360 of mountains. Clouds were rolling in and out continuously, so it was not the same view anytime. This is a good end of the backpacking. You can come to Key Summit as a day hike, too. 

Outdoor toilets

Then we approached to the trailhead. I knew that the trailhead is coming soon, because the stinky smell came.....from the toilets. The moment I smelled it I remembered the moment I started tramping Greenstone backpacking.
New Zealand toilets have system to be not stinky. Sometimes it works sometimes don't. The left picture is the toilets provided by DOC. I saw more than 100 of this type of toilets at campgrounds, trailheads, etc. As you can see there is transparent staff at the top of the chimney like structure. When there is winds, the transparent thing circles. It take the air from inside the toilet and exhale into the air outside. In that way inside the toilet is supposed to be not stinky, IF the lid of the toilet is closed. Some people don't close the lid, so it is very stinky inside. Sometimes 4 toilets are provided side by side and frequently used (meaning frequently lids are left open), even outside gets super stinky. The trailhead for Greenstone backpacking was the example. I always pinched my nose to go to the toilet. I have 10X more sensitive smelling than Mr.N, so it is always hard for the outside crappers. Mr.N had no problem using stinky toilets at all during NZ trip. 

In the evening we went to a free campground where we found on the Wikicamp App. The app indicate that site allows tents, but the park was full of camper vans and there was sign saying no tent. So we went to a nearby private campground. Because it was past 7 p.m. the office was closed, so we put money in the envelope and put in the post. $12/person/night. There is a kitchen area in side the small building with tables, electric stove for cooking, pots, dishes. I was able to charge my camera here. $12 included shower, but there was a code to enter the shower and couldn't get it that night.
In the drizzling morning, I saw the owner went to the office. Then she came to us and said, "Oh sorry your tent was rained. Usually it is not rainy like this." Then she gave us a code for shower. It was funny that she checked the money box first then came to us with being nice.
It was really nice to take a hot shower after backpacking!