copland valley track

i walked 5.5 hours each way. i had to ford five big creeks and walk over a very scary one-man-only swing bridge. made of lawn fence. it was a bush walk. i didn't see much of the river. i lost one of my crocs the first day [a guy i met on the routeburn found it and left it on the trailhead for me]. i got lost once, two meters off the trail. i panicked at some other point, but calmed down quickly. i was scared of getting my shoes wet [blisters, blisters]. i then reached the hut. the toilet did not have running water. i went to the thermal pools during the day time and was eaten alive by the sand flies.

but then! everything changed! two germans and a brit showed up at the -nearly-empty-so-far hut. one of them had his birthday. they were going to walk to the thermal pools at night. i joined them. there were no sandflies about. the water was hot. there was much mud about, but after we turned off our torches we could not see how gross it was. we did get to see Mt Cook, ca 20-30km away, covered with snow. we got to see the entire mountain ridge. the moon rising. the milky way. we did satellite spotting. we sat in the warm muddy waters until it was too hot and moved to the body-temperature pool. after about two hours i went to bed, muddy and gross but happy.

the next day i had a 5 hour bush walk. i had to ford five big creeks and walk over a very scary one-man-only swing bridge. made of lawn fence. it was a bush walk. i didn't see much of the river. i smelled bad - a mixture of DEET, sweat and sulfur from the pools. at the end of the track i found my missing croc. i caught an atomic shuttle which ripped me off to Franz Josef.
but the fords were much easier on the way back. i knew the way. i saw where i got lost. i knew i did not have much more to go and civilization was around the corner. and more important - even though the track was not as scenic as i had expected, i got to soak in thermal pools in the middle of the night and see mt cook.

franz josef

it took six hours for the bus to reach frank josef.
i was tired.

after checking into the hostel, i went into town. on the way, some weird lady with ever weirder teeth started talking to me about glacier tours. i told her i was doing one tomorrow. she said they had a 2 for 1 special tonight. it was about 5.30pm and i had no idea what she was talking about. after much questioning and misunderstandings we finally understood each other - there was a 2 for 1 special for the indoor ice wall climbing center.

after much debate with my wallet ["quick? where do i sign up"] i paid half price for a ice wall climbing session. [the normal price is a serious rip off at $90 dollars for 90 minutes, almost 270 NIS]. i put on my fleece and came back 45 minutes later. i got a harness, plastic shoes and a helmet. i did not get a full face helmet, or a ice hockey helmet. just some construction worker's helmet. looking back, it was not much of a help.

we learned the basics of ice wall climbing ["you hit the wall with your axe as high as you can and kick with your shoes like *this*"] i was hooked to the belay and made my way up the easy ice wall. no probies at all. after the practice at Wanaka i was not even afraid of the height [mere ten meters in comparison to Wanaka's 15]. i belayed the only other guy in my session [they had to clip me to the floor with an ice screw because he was too heavy :")]. we moved to a corner climb - again, no probies. [did i mention they put on some cool music? well, they did] the next climb was called "stairway to heaven". it was a serious of steps in a corner and overhangs on the sides. what fun. when it was my turn, i climbed up about five meters. then, as i tried to get stick my axe into the ice hitting it rapidly an ice chunk the size of my fist hit me in the face. i started bleeding from my lip and was in a bit of a shock. i was brought down, got some tissue paper and waited for the bleeding to stop. bloody ice walls are out of style. it was my turn on the last climb - three overhangs. you have to climb diagonally between them. i fell off the wall after 1.5 meters. i tried again and managed to get onto the second overhang. as i was climbing onto the third, i could not get my axe into the ice. was too tired. exhausted. another 2-3 hits with my axe. no grip. i asked them to get me down and the ice climbing session was over. it had the best fun / time ratio i did in so far. i had some war wounds. i had a lot of bruises on my knees. happily i dragged myself back to the hostel and went to bed.

woke up early the next day, to go on a glacier tour. i haven't got much to tell about my glacier tour - the photos do a better job. the first two hours we climbed through dirty and rocky ice. we slid through one Ice-Age-like crevasse. i jumped over three scary ice cracks. we climbed over ridges. we walked on walls with a few meter drop between our feet. it was scary but fun. we walked through another crevasse, but not as pretty or as "ice age" as the first one.

i did expect more crevasses for my money [why would i walk on a glacier, if not for the crevasses? they have them in Ice Age and Ice Age 2. i want more crevasses], but it was awesome.

Wanaka

I arrived in Wanaka early in the morning, after quite an amusing ride on a Newman's coach. the driver told us about Shrek, the amazing sheep, and did not mind sharing with us his political views. the hostel had an amazing view out of the late. i did not want to waste time. i put on my [still stinky from the routeburn] tramping clothes and set out to try and hitch hike to Diamond lake and rocky mountains track. after one and a half hours i was only 6kms closer to the track, which was 20km out of town. i hitch hiked back into town [now, THAT took about 5 minutes] and started my rest day. first, i walked to puzzling world, which was 2km out of town. the place has some famous optical illusions rooms, some of which i even saw in the past on TV. i was expecting more optical illusions, but for $7 i got my money worth.

my rest day continued by walking another 2km or so to a rock climbing center,
just out of town.
on the other side of town.
i got there and watched the local kids climb on the 15 meter wall + 3-4 meter overhang like.. monkeys? cats? pretty easily. i went into the beginners corner and proceeded to exhaust my hand muscles for a hour. after a hour i was feeling comfortable enough with the height, but my hands gave up on trying to hold me up. went back to the hostel and met two israelis who described to me at lengths how they murdered their travel partner.

the next day i caught a ride with them to the heart of Mt Aspiring National Park - Matutuki [or something similar] valley. two hours each way - and on the end you get to see Rob Roy glacier [after climbing on big rocks for ten minutes]. it's "pretty" big, there are some huge waterfalls coming out of it and it was just under the sun so the photos turned out bad. i think this was the best hike in terms of scenery / money ratio and scenery / time ratio i did in new zealand. drove out with a poor german guy. i "gave him some fuel money" - bought him a beer. it was quite a ride - over 30kms of unsealed road and many creeks to ford with a 20 year old car.

that evening i got an email from a couple i met on the Kepler reminding me to eat the Famous cookies of the Paradiso cinema in Wanaka. off i set on my task, to eat a cookie. the cookie was bigger than my hand. it was crunchy on the outside. it was warm and soft on the inside. it was a Famous cookie for a reason.

some crazy people suggested that i should do the Roy's peak track - a 2 hour climb to the top of the mountain [after the routeburn, the "rest day" and then the rob roy track]. i chose to catch the bus to franz josef glacier.

routeburn

day i

i woke up sick. i made wrong tactical desicion #1 that day - i got out of bed. i dressed up. i took my backpack and went to the kitchen where i nearly threw up to the smell of frying ham & eggs. telling myself that i would get a refund or get on the bus i dragged my whiny ass to the Track & Info center, where they rip off tourists who want to get to track heads in really old uncomfortable buses.

for some reason i told myself i was feeling better and if i felt bad i will drive back with bus, and got on. took a photo in the Million dollar view spot. manage to get some breakfast down halfway to the track. taped my feet, DEETed myself and dragged myself onto the track, passing two hard working DOC officers.

after a hour of walking it was apparent i was feeling really bad. i went on. i got to the first hut - routeburn flat. i sat down, scared two israelis who were there and rested before dragging myself uphill for two hours to the hut where i was supposed to overnight. it was the worst climb ever - it took me 2.5 hours to climb a DOC 2 hour climb [which usually means about 1.5 hours]/ i had to stop every few minutes to rest and then drag my sorry and whiny ass up the hill. after 2.5 hours i got to the hut, went to bed, and kept myself hydrated.

day ii

i actually woke up feeling much better. i woke up every two hours during the night to drink & pee, and i managed to re-hydrate myself. i guess that celebrating St Patrick's Day in Queenstown and then only drinking Coke Zero for two days flushed all of the water out of my system.

anyway, the weather re hydrated itself too and it was raining [although not too bad] and windy all day. had to walk over the ridge line and around cliffs with bursts of wind of maybe 50-60 kph. kinda scary next to a 200 meter almost vertical slope.

we didn't get a lot of views on the routeburn [like most of my hikes so far], but we did get to look into the last valley of the second day - the Mackenzie valley and lake [i think. it was about two weeks ago]. it was worth it.


day iii

i walked out that day and i was desperate to get to civilization and fast. i walked really fast for the first three hours until my foot had some other ideas - like growing corned skin just below the ankle. i could hardly walk for the last hour of the trek which began with 15 minutes of steep uphill.

i got to the Divide, the end of the track on the milford road [which by now i truly loathe. i do not know why, but i'm sick of it] in time for the early bus. me and about six-seven other people. only - we were all booked on the late bus. and when no one is booked on the early bus it does not come. hopeless i was not - me and a British guy tried to each a hike to civilization. i was hoping to get to Te Anua early enough to grab some food before getting on the bus to Queenstown.

trying to hitch hike on the milford road was almost as hopeless as trying to hitch to Mt Aspiring National Park [this sad but true story will appear later in my blog]. lotsa old rich tourists in rentals who did not want two stinky, young and poor trampers in their car. but behold! after 1.5 hours a local guy in a big shiny 4wd stopped. he was going all the way to Queenstown. he just got back from hunting deer in the bush. a couple of his hunter friends were driving in the other car with their dead deer. he bought me pie and entertained me with his stories about working on an oil rig in britain, surfing around Spain and east asia, as well as his businesses and family. i got to Queenstown at 4.30pm, when i was accepting to arrive at 8pm. felt like it was my lucky day. ate a Fergburger to celebrate the happy event.

in short, the routeburn track was over and so were my feet.

photos!

ca. 70 new photos in my flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/109822596/

[i'm finally in a backpackers with free internet]

trapped

i'm in queenstown.

i've finally figured out why bungy is so expensive - nobody is actually jumping. if you see enough ads for AH Jackett you could believe that there are long and crazy lines before each jump. well, being a wimp [and spending my money on a backpacking budget [way better value for money after the milford experience]] i caught a ride with two german girls to the Kawaruira bridge [or something] to see people jump. we were there for half an hour, saw three people jump and left as soon as we realized no one else is going to be jumping soon. so, they have about 20-30 people jump everyday, five people working every shift - no wonder it's so freaking expensive. i also happened to visit one of queenstown biggest rip offs - skyline gondola and luge. the view is amazing, but $20 is too much for a gondola ride. the luge was lame. i did way better luge ride is east germany last summer.

there are only three good value things here:
1. $10 fergburgers + $4 for 1/2 kg of some pretty awesome fries
2. Kathmandu Easter sale
3. $3 / hour internet

and there's only one more queenstown pro - the outdoor shops. i didn't expect to see so many, considering queenstown is a party town.
i did get a rain jacket. it has two major cons - (1) it's north face - which means i stick out as a israeli and (2) it's bright red - last jacket size Small. it has some pros as well - (1) it looks better than the Marmot jacket, (2) it has pit zips [i always wanted pit zips] (3) if i ever die or get lost they won't have hard time finding me.

i wanted some duct tape but it was $30 dollars and very heavy. i had to do with medical tape at $10 to fix up my legs. i'm going to lose the nail on my little toe and i'm too grossed out to actually cut it out myself.

yesterday i drove out with Richard, an american who writes for a travel guide, to Arrotown - more Disneyland than Disneyland itself. in Disneyland you know everything is fake, but in Arrotown they're trying to create the impression that everything is genuine. looks like the Disney World's Frontierland. although frontierland does not have ruins of the chinese settlement [they must have been really small people].
there was one awesome thing about Arrotown - a movie theatre straight out of gilmore girls. upholstered ceiling, sofas, posh armchairs and a bar. to bad there was nothing on at the time.

tomorrow i'm going on the routeburn. the guy in the camping shop said i should go in my trainers to avoid getting blisters. i don't want to go in my trainers - i want to roam in waterproof boots. but i do want to be blister free. i will switch to trainers on the queen charlotte / abel tasman tramps.
he did say that ankle support comes from the sole of the shoe. i'm not gonna get lotsa support from my brooks. we'll see how things turn out and if the tape is going to be any help.

new zealand is awesome. but my time here is running out.

milford - take two

the finest walk on earth.

day i
set out with a lighter pack - previous gear minus a few uncalled for items such as a towel. got some extra thermals, a cup, soup and some tea. the only thing i could leave at home next time is a book, but i might go crazy.

took a bus, then a cruise. met up with a group of three israelis who i had spent the previous day with. we walked for 1.5 hours, got to a hut. walked to catch the view but it started raining. later that day the hut warden gave us a wetland tour. we saw dead stoats. much fun was about.

day ii
woke up early. too early. got some breakfast and set off towards the next hut. between me and the hut were 16km of bush, snow and rain. i started walking in the bush, the future unknown. after 45 minutes you could see the mountains around clinton valley. they were covered with snow. it was totally awesome. as i continued walking some of the bush around me was covered in frost, which slowly turned into bush covered in snow. i reached the first avalanche zone. avalanche zone are under avalnche paths, where avalanches from the mountains around the valley reach terminal velocity and explode upon reaching the ground, causing much mess and resulting in tree free zones. my gear started failing - i was freezing inside my raincoat, my hand were very cold inside my damp gloves and i was two miles from the nearest shelter where i could put on my fleece. these were some very long two miles, which i spent mainly freezing my ass off. i reached a shelter, and after some struggle [try zipping up with frozed hands] i managed to get my fleece and coat back on.] tried eating but i was too0 cold to remain in the shelter. on i put my pack and off i went, munching on philadelphia tortillas.

the last two miles of the day were covered with snow. a lot of trees were blocking the path, laden with snow. i had to crawl through or jump over.

i caught up with the americans who set off before me and we reached the next hut together. it was empty and cold and i proceeded to change into my dry clothes and get warmed up. it did not really work. i crawled into my sleeping bag to get warm, slept a few hours, and ate some dinner.

day iii
walked up a mountain in up to a foot of snow. got lots of icy water inside my shoe. lost the sensation in both of my feet. i was sure i was going to lose them to forst bites, but after going over the pass we decended into amazingly beatiful and warm rainforest. there were two waterfalls with the bluest water surrounded by trees.

the track led to a 520-something meters high waterfall. quite a nice shower i got there, trying to go behind the waterfall. the wind and the chill of the water set me off my path and i returned to safe land, drenched but happy.

got to the last hut. saw a dead possum. was bored to death by the hut warden and off to bed i went.

i cannot really describe how fucking amazingly beautiful that day was.

day iv
set off late. had to walk fast for 6 miles. got to a stunningly beautiful waterfall. blue water, bush, pretty big leap. walked another 5 miles to sandfly point along the shore of a river. that last 5 miles were amazing - the river beside me, foggy mountains above, reflections in the water etc... etc... i was not very happy to finish the tramp. it was the best thing i have done in new zealand so far. but soon [although not too soon. i had to drag myself the last couple of miles. walked li ke a zombie] i got to sandfly point and had to wait for the boat which was almost an hour late.

today i went to queenstown. it was awesome to see so much people and civilazation after 12 days in te anua. my hostel stinks. i thought not doing any of the expensive stuff in queenstown is going to be hand, but i cannot see most of it so it's not a challenge.

i have to admit, i've finally got a pair of crocs today - i have blisters all over my feet from walking in wet boots for three days. my little toes are all swollen and pink. even my runners won't do. i suck :")

random thoughts - i am too young to go to new zealand. this place is breathtaking. where else can i go after new zealand? maybe canada.

Kepler - "todot" post trek

After four long days my first tramp is over, and it was enjoyable enough because some people insisted i'd get some things i did not want.

shay dinur - the hydration bladder was a life saver. climbed 4 hours in rain and wind. would have dehydrated.
the scary girl in the doc office - thank you for scaring the shit out of me, thus causing me to hire rain gear.
nadav - thanks for insisting on getting high shoes for the trek. i would have broken a leg. or got some really wet feet.
that guy from the trekking shop - thanks for telling me to get a -7 sleeping bag. it did its job on the first night of the tramp.
that sales girl who gave me another thermal shirt - after tramping all day in the rain i was lucky to have a dry shirt to change into.

tramping is fun enough. you carry a 15kg backpack uphill for two days. then you carry it downhill for another two days. if you're lucky you get some views. if you're even luckier there's no wind when you walk for two hours on a ridge line, with 300-400 meter drop on each of your sides.

what amazed me most about the tramp is
a. the amount of food i ate
b. that i've found my chocolate threshold
c. i actually lost some weight after eating all of that crap

the food i ate over the four days included:
- 5 pitas [1200 cals]
- 2 apples [120]
- 2 tomatoes [50]
- 350g of breakfast museli [1000]
- 4 granola bars [400]
- 1 chocolate bar [300]
- 1 pack of oreos [160g] [700]
- 200g nutella [900]
- 1 backcountry meal [500]
- 1 instant pasta meal [400]
- 1.5 protein bars [600]
- 7 slices of cheese [700]

ca. 7000 calories and counting.

first day:
we climbed for four hours through rain and wind in the bush. sat down to eat lunch and froze off. we finally reached the hut, got inside but it was cold!

second day:
walked on the ridge line. saw lotsa fog. later that day we saw the views. walked through some very nice bush on the way down. after reaching a nice and warm hut we walked to the waterfall. i put on my swimsuit and went dipping with the other hikers. slept well. reached my chocolate threshold.

third day:
walked as fast as we could through bush near some rivers. 16 kms in four hours. stayed almost alone in the hut, just five people in a forty bunkroom.

fourth day:
walked for 50 minutes. reached a swingbridge. was sure i missed the sign for rainbow reach, but walked some more and got to the real swingbridge. was picked up by a shuttle at 10. supermarket, some stuff in the city and then walked to the backapckers.

summary: met some nice people, walked way too much, saw lotsa woods and bush, as well as three keas. i don't want to go on the milford trek in threee days but i do not have a choice :")

off the (beaten) track

so, after posting my most amusing post, i took off with two british guys - chris and chris. chris wanted to do a brewery tour [which i had already done] but had to drive later, so we went on the chocolate tour. much chocolate was then not eaten. the factory was not really working - it was the weekend. we got very little chocolate. but we did get to see one tonne of chocolate free falling through the roof. in the dark. on thin floor. was toally worth it. we then set off to the otagu peninsula, to see penguines, seals, albatros and the only castle in new zealand. well, the otagu pensisula is a total tourist trap rip off. seeing the penguines and the albastros was 30 dollars each. seals as well. castle was 20. we did visit the castle gardens, which was not as expensive. we then set off to the albatros colony [before knowing how much it costs] and on the way there we saw a neat little sign saying Seal Point Road. after a democratic vote we decided to go down there. we got to a car park, a headed down a trail. chris and i had mountain boots, the other chris had vans [this will be relevant later on]. we went down a sand trail and we reached some awesome sand dune. we jumped-run down it, about 50-70 meters of altitude over 300-400 meters. it was awesome fun. we got down, looked up and realized we'd have to climb it back up soon. damn!

the sign said 40 minutes hike to the penguine hide. we did not believe it, but we then walked for about 40 minutes on the most awesome bach i've been to. the sea was angry, lotsa waves and foam. the beach was full of seaweed which looked like dead squid. we then passed 5 meters from two seals. they were just huge lumps which blended in with the beach, lying in the sun. we got really up close before noticing these were animals. going past them was scary. it was pretty easy to imagine them waking up and kicking our asses. we did get to the hide, saw a penguine, saw another seal on the rocks and started the hike back. getting up the dune was a bitch [beach] [especially in those boots mentioned earlier. chris took his vans off and hopped his way up wasily], but totally worth it.

we then proceeded to the tourist attractions mentioned above and turned around when the prices were qouted. the penguine 'colony' only had about 5-6 penguines. paying $5 a penguine was too much after seeing them for free. we got some good views of the albatros outside the observatory.

today i set off to Baldwin street, the steepest street in the world. [official guiness record and stuff]. it did not look too far on the map and i figured i'd go to the museum on the way back. well, tourist maps are drawn out of proportion and with no scale. i walked for over an hour to get there. climbing the street was a piece of cake in comparison. as i got to the top, feeling triumphant and knowing that there's a citibus in a few, the british guys came driving up the street in their huge 4x4. i got a ride back to the city, [i had actually walked past "to highway / to city center" sign] went to see the antartica exhibition in the museum. there was an atratica expo on as well, and some dinosaurs. i went through the uni on the way the museum and i can totally imagine studying here. it rocks!

i got a cellphone and i am available at 00-64-21-266-1676. mind you, there's 11 hours difference.

i'm off to te anua tomorrow, to go tramping and probably do some biking or kayaking or something.

[looks like uploading photos is a real bitch. i cannot bother to do so]

recap

recap of the last three days:
- went to Akoara, a tourist french town on a peninsula outside christchurch. amazingly beautiful there, i should have stayed.
- went on a dolphin cruise. thought we would only do fin-spotting but we got to see the dolphins as well. and peguines. and some albastros and seals. the seals were much smaller than on TV, but cutes as well.
- i actually enjoyed tyhe cruise. i was very cynic to begin with, but it was a lot of fun and the dolphins were entertaining.
- drove from christchurch to dunedin on the coach [bus, really. a doube decker]. it's really a guided bus ride. got to hear some colorful stories about some guy doing polygemy in the late 18th century. this part of new zealand looks like the wild west, just right out of a movie.
- got to dunedin, met tones of the israelis at the hostel. went on a brewery tour and got to pour my own beer. tastes lots of beer, got back to the hostel and fell asleep on the couch.

some observations:
- israelis are the worst travellers. they travel like dogs. they eat the cheapest food in the supermarket while others are having barbecues, try to save the most on accomodations [sleeping in vans and cars] and are the most obssessed about money and costs. also, a lot of us really stick out here. while other people travel the world in normal city clothes, us israelis travel the world in Lametayel's latest fasion. the brits i met up to now all travel with huge backpacks with a selection of footware, day clothes, club clothes and some active clothes. we travel with The North Face and a sleeping bag. i had yet to use my sleeping bag. i actually gave up today and bought a sweater to blend in. nothing i can do about my trekking shoes - i cannot carry three pairs of shoes, but i wish i could have my adidas. my next backpacker trip i'm not even bringing a sleeping bag. or trekking shoes.

- the roads in new zealand really suck. it was a six hour bumpy ride. thank god i do not have to drive here alone. we were driving on highway 1. most of the highway has only one lane in each direction. not your ayalon freewa, really.

- the bacpackers i stayed in christchurch sucks ass. i'm in a charming backapckers in the middle of dunedin and it looks way better than my own appartment. excellent kitchen as well.