Fjordlands

It's a cloudy, soon rainy day in New Zealand.  My plans for the next few days only involved hiking in the mountains, so plans foiled.  Instead I am internet binging at a holiday park in New Zealand.  I am craving BBQ flavored potato chips.  Will soon walk to the grocery to procure some.  Ok back to the post...

After doing the Gillespies Pass Ciruit, I had a giant blister on my right big toe.  This meant taking a few days off from tramping.  This was ok because I was heading into Fjordlands National Park so it was a chance to do some water activities.  One day I did a cruise of Milford Sound.  Milford Sound is actually a Fjord, which means it was carved out by a glacier.  It is supposed to one of the most beautiful in the Fjordlands, but it is also the only Fjord that is accessible by road.  I took a bus ride in along the gorgeous highway, then took a two hour cruise to the end of the sound.  Once on the boat the scenery was really amazing.  I found it hard to really capture with a camera because there was nothing to show scale of how tall the mountains really were.  But I tried my best.

On the Milford Road

Homer Tunnel

Other side of the tunnel

Cruise vessel, no we never actually sailed

 I also did a two day kayaking trip in Doubtful Sound.  I wanted to do a longer trip but I would've had to wait around for a couple of days and in the two day trip we visited the prettiest part of the sound anyways.  It was nice to be out on the water and the sound was beautiful.  We saw dolphins a couple of times, although they were far away so it wasn't too exciting.  We also saw one of the yellow eyed penguins, which are one of the rarest in the world.

Sunrise on Lake Manapouri, on the way to Doubtful Sound

View of where we were going to kayak

Per usual, looking my best

On the water at last

Riverside campsite

The Copeland Track and Gillespies Pass Circuit

A couple of weeks ago I did two different backpacking trips with one day in between.  The first one was a portion of the Copeland Track, which is the track that connects the West Coast with Mt Cook.  The portion I did was the first 18k to some natural hot springs.  The hot springs were so amazing after a long day of hiking.  The crystal clear river and steep rock walls made the hiking pretty enjoyable as well.

On the hike in

At the campsite

One of the hot pools

View from the hot pools

Hike out

I just loved the color of the river!!

Next I tackled the Gillespies Pass Circuit, which is a 58k trail that can take three or four days.  I chose to do it in four.  It starts with a river crossing, then you hike 22.5k along a river valley to the first hut.  The second day you hike up and over a pass gaining and losing 1000 meters in one day and in only 12k.  The next day some people get helicoptored, flown, or jet boated out the 26.5k.  I consider that cheating.  I chose to just break it up into two relaxing days to hike out along another river valley.  I camped outside of backcountry huts the first two nights and met some fun people.  Even played some Euchre.  This trail was actually probably one of the hardest trails I had ever done.  The trail was just in really poor condition, so it was  a lot of walking up huge rocks and roots.  To get over the pass was extremely steep, it was a 10 hour day for me.  I got a ride back to my car and left my trekking poles in the car.  It was a beautiful hike but I wish I still had my trekking poles.

From the hike to the first hut

View from the first hut - I was hoping to go for a swim but the sun was already setting

On the way up

Still going up, took a lot of breaks, you know for photos

Found some cool plants

Summit pic

On the way down

View from the next hut

Waterfall near the hut

The hike out

West Coast and the Glaciers

I have been a major slacker lately, where my blog is concerned. Mainly because I haven't had a lot of time, but also, on the south island, internet access is a lot harder to find for free.  I am going to try to do some catching up. After the Luminate Festival and working at Waterfall Bay dinners I started traveling along the West Coast of the South Island. People say that going along the West Coast is one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand. I have to agree, because it was quite beautiful. It actually reminded me a lot of the west coast of Washington State. The rock formations, beaches, colors, and the way the water moved, all looked so familiar. What was pretty different here was the plant life, it had almost a tropical look to it because of the fern trees and flax plants. One of the highlights along the way down is pancake rocks, which are some unique rock formations. Here are some photos of that area:

A view off the west coast

Pancake rocks

More pancake rocks

Me looking casual at pancake rocks

Pretty tropical looking right?

Sunset on the west coast

After pancake rocks I took a day to make my own knife. That is right, I made a knife. It was really cool, you start with a piece of steel which you heat up in the fire and pound it into shape and also pound in carbon to make the steel stronger. Then we made a handle out of native wood, polished, and sharpened our blades.  Here is a before and after photo of my knife, along with the group of people who made one with me.

Before

After - pretty cool ay?

Fun group

Further down the west coast are the glaciers. There is the Franz-Joseph and the Fox glaciers. They are unique because they exist at such a low altitude and are also very close to the sea. The landscape around the glaciers is also pretty spectacular. You can pay hundreds of dollars to walk on them or fly over them but I chose the free option of just walking within a couple of hundred meters of them. I figured I have glaciers at home if I really want to walk on them.

Waterfalls on the way to Franz-Joseph Glacier

Approach to Franz-Joseph Glacier

Me with the Glacier

Fox Glacier

That night I stayed at a free campsite with a couple of German hitchhikers that I had picked up.  It was beautiful - that night we got to see a beautiful sunset with the mountains behind us.

Well hello there

Oh hey stranger!!  I am writing this post because it feels like it has been awhile since I have done a real one.  Since Christmas time I have been sort of floating around a bit, staying with a couple of friends, and wwoofing at a farm I didn't really like.  One of the friends I visited was a french wwoofer friend of mine, who's boyfriend is an Outward Bound instructor here in New Zealand.  The school is located in a really beautiful spot out in the Marlborough Sounds and had kayaks and bikes that we could use.   I spent a couple of days kayaking, bike riding, and making feta cheese from fresh goat milk.  It was really fun.  The school was also at the end of the Queen Charlotte Track, a popular tramping trail, so I took three days to do that trail.  After that, I arrived at the farm I am currently at.  It is an orchard that produces blueberries, plums, table grapes, and kiwis.  They are completely organic and have been for over 20 years.  It has been good to see how people can make a living with only 6 acres of land.  I just spent the last two days working the farmer's market with them and it was just lovely to see how the community supports them.  They are a super fun couple who at one point took a sailing trip from the west coast of the states to New Zealand.  I will be really sad to leave in a couple of days.  I just have some pictures from my hiking trip on the Queen Charlotte Track.

View from the first climb

Kiwi!!  Just kidding - this bird is called a Weka but when you first see it you think KIWI.  Then you realize kiwi's are super shy and only come out at night, doy.

Sunny day

Not so sunny day - my pictures from the second day look almost black and white

Stick bug

Started with 71 km - this is the last one.

Plane Tickets and Hippy Fesitvals

I just bought my plane ticket home.  I am flying in on April 9th.  I am really excited to see everyone - so let's plan parties/potlucks/game nights/climbing trips/bike rides/crafternoons/long walks on the beach!!  Oh my.
Right now I am on a farm that, to be honest, I don't really enjoy.  They are really nice people but don't really have a drive to live an organic lifestyle, so right now I don't really feel like I am learning anything.  I am leaving in a couple of days to visit a friend and to walk the Queen Charlotte Track (a popular trail in the Marlborough Sounds).  I am really excited about this festival I am going to called Luminate.  It is an eight day festival where there is live music all day and night, but what I am really excited about is there are workshops each day about permaculture, natural healing, yoga, qi gong, and more.  Then for the month of February I am planning on setting wwoofing aside for awhile and just traveling around the south island.  Short post - mainly wanted to update you on my coming home plans.  Cheers!!

Kiwi Christmas

I left the farm I had been at for a month and a half to travel to the North Island for Christmas.  While I was at Wilderland, my friend Jess invited me to spend Christmas with her family, so I took her up on her offer.  Her Dad is Kiwi and her Mom is an American from Iowa.  Their whole family had traveled to America and Canada several times.  They own and operate a farm that has deer (about 1000), cattle (around 200), and sheep (around 600).  So it's a pretty big farm.  Before I came to New Zealand I had no idea that deer was or could be farmed.  Turns out they have been farming deer in New Zealand for around 40 years.  You have to have quite tall fences.  My first day there, I watched while they divided a mob of deer in two in order to separate out males that needed to be de-velveted (so the males don't kill each other, you have to remove their antlers or velvet).  To separate animals and to move them, using farm dogs is basically a necessity.  They have four farm dogs that are used to move the different herds of animals.  I found it amazing to watch.  They have to act a little bit differently depending on which animal they are herding.  Like with deer the dogs hang way back not to scare them too much, but with bulls they run right at their heels and if they don't move fast enough they nip at their heels.  I got to watch a home kill of the lamb we ate for Christmas Eve dinner.  I think I could do the butchering and skinning but I am not sure if I could do the actual cutting of the throat.  It was delicious, if you were curious.
As for Christmas traditions being different from the United States.  It was quite similar - food, family, games, and a little bit of day drinking.  What is different about it was that December is summer in New Zealand, so  Christmas day was warm and beautiful.  We were eating outside and had to move the tables out of the sun because it was too hot.
Over the Christmas holiday I also learned how to felt.  If you don't know what it is, you lay out wool then saturate it in warm soapy water and agitate it and the wool fibers shrink together to make a fabric.  I made a hot water bottle cover, a sunglasses, case, and a case for my ipod.

Here are the felted items that I made

Close up of my ipod case

 Now I am sitting in a McDonald's using their free wifi internet, willing myself not to buy a soft serve ice cream cone.  If it wasn't so cold in here I would probably have one already.  For some stupid reason I booked my ferry back to the south island at 2:30 in the morning.  I am guess it was like $5 cheaper.  Right now I have no idea what my next farm will be.  I was going to write people from the farm I was staying at over Christmas but when I got there, they only had dial-up internet.  It wouldn't even load the wwoofer website.  So I wrote a few people and hopefully will have a farm to go to soon.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Cheers to 2013.
 Here are some pics from the farm I left before Christmas and travels around that area.

Feeding the calf

The three calves together

Picking strawberries

Largest freshwater spring in New Zealand - extremely clear water

This beach reminded me a lot of the Oregon sand dunes

Some sea creatures