Routeburn Track

After not blogging for more than a week, really got inertia to start again. Haha anyways my internet was down for the past week cos of the lousy internet plans in NZ. Basically we get broadband speed for $60 a month. Sounds pretty good? Well not really cos this is limited to up to 20gb of data. Meaning to say after downloading or uploading 20gb of data, your broadband internet is up, and you are now back to dial up connection speed.

I mean seriously 20gb shared between 4 ppl is only 5 gb each!!! This is nonsense la! So for this month onwards, we are going to up it to 30gb and pay $20 more. Hopefully it will be enough, but I seriously doubt it. Oh well we shall see how it goes.

Anyways, after the Mount Luxmore walk, I spent the night packing for my Routeburn track. This is considered to be a Great Walk here in NZ, and I was expecting really spectacular views. The transportation is a really big hassle though, cos the route starts near Queenstown and ends near Te Anau. So, I had to take a bus to Queenstown, change to another bus to take me to the starting point, finish the walk at the Divide, and take another bus back to Te Anau.

In the mean time, all my belongings will be left in a car. Being a cautious person, i parked it at a safe parking space with security cameras etc to safeguard my stuff. Well as many of you probably already know since news spread really quickly, it did not turn out to be that safe after all.

Anyways, I took the early morning bus to Queenstown, where there was a short break. In the mean time I went to this place called Fergs Burger which seemed to be really famous. And no doubt about that cos of the humongous size of the burgers there! Of course, it was pretty tasty as well.

My burger, calamari and a bottle of ginger beer

After that, I went on to take the bus to the head of the trail. On the bus in, there was only the driver, a DOC ranger and myself taking the entire bus. Apparently most of the other people took the earlier bus in. The DOC ranger picked up my pack and told me that it was very very heavy and I might face some problems on the track. Wah really scared me cos this is my first multi day track in NZ. Bleh scare me only cos it turned out to be rather easy actually.

Anyways, just side track a bit talk about the trails in NZ. Well basically they were all very well marked and there were sign posts all over the place. So didnt really have much trouble finding my way. In terms of fauna, I wasnt really that impressed by it. It was definitely different from the tropical rainforest I was used to in Malaysia, but it was pretty similar to what we encountered in Rinjani nearer to the top. Haha or maybe, its just me cos I am really not very into plants. Personally, I prefer to look out for wildlife when trekking.

Overall, the walk was rather easy and gentle. I didn't really have much trouble at all. I mean there were a few steep parts but its generally pretty short for most of them and always have plenty of rest points. The weather was beautiful for the first day, but unfortunately there were not that many good views except for a couple of alright views nearer to the hut.

Such bridges are very common on tracks in NZ. Its really amazing how they build all these sturdy bridges

The hut where we spent the night

View from the hut

Anyways, the hut was very well made and had nice beds without any sheets. So we just placed our sleeping bags on it and slept on it. However, that night, it started raining, and raining, and raining. Well not surprising since the Fiordlands have on average 180 days of rainfall a year. What I did not expect was that the rain did not stop at all. It rained the entire day, the day I was going to do an alpine crossing! Wah super pissed off cos that is the highlight of the trip and I wont be able to see anything at all! The rain was crazy here, it varies in intensity all they time. So whenever you thought it was going to let up, it started pouring again.

The trail was pretty simple, but I was basically cold the entire way through. My upper body was well waterproofed and dry, but my pants and boots were thoroughly soaked! I checked the temperature on my watch, and I was basically trekking in between 8-12 degrees with only 2 layers on me. It was alright when I walked, but whenever I stopped for a break, I got cold again. I could only stop for 2-3 min each time before I had to move on again.

What made it worse was that I was not sleeping in the hut for the second night, but camping out instead. So, when I reached the campsite, I had to pitch my tent in the cold rain. Thankfully there was a shelter for us to cook our food. My tent was pretty good and really 100% waterproof. Only problem is, there was some condensation inside the tent, and whenever the rain got particularly heavy, some of the condensation in the tent will drop on me. Haha so it was like a drizzle at times inside. What this also mean is that the surface of my sleeping bag was slightly damp in the morning, and I was constantly woken up by the 'drizzle' on my face while I slept. Basically it was a really miserable and cold night.

That night, I just had a really early dinner and huddled in my tent to get out of the rain and keep warm. I think I actually slept at about 8pm. Well anyways, the rain finally stopped at about 5 or 6am. I woke up early had some breakfast and set off. The 3rd day was superb again with totally clear skies. Super dui, 1st and 3rd day good views but 2nd day, which was the highlight it rained so badly. Blah really bad luck man. But overall, the trek was pretty good despite the cold rain.

Anyways here are some pictures from the second and third night.

The trail with its well placed markers

Lake Mackenzie, and also the second day's hut which I did not stay in

Tramps around Te Anau!

For the first night in Te Anau, I met this father and son. The father was a kiwi and moved to London when he was around 20 and he has a really cool job! Basically he works as a landscape designer, and though he doesn't really say it, I could infer that he owns quite a few acres of land growing a variety of plants to use in his job. That sounds like a very rich man to me man!

We chatted from about 6 or 7pm till about midnight about a whole range of things. It was really cool talking to him and hearing his perspective about New Zealand, since he was born a kiwi, but lived overseas long enough to not have any kiwi bias. One other topic which struck me as particularly interesting was that he commented that he has no friends at all very matter of factly.

My first reaction was just shock, but after a while when we talked more and you actually think about it, it kinda makes sense I guess. Right now we have many friends cos well, we are still schooling and meet each other everyday and have lots of time to mingle and chill with them. But after a while when we rarely meet up or when we all go in different directions, how often are we going to meet up? I mean how many of our primary or secondary school friends whom you were close to in the past do you still meet up with nowadays? Honestly, do you even still feel very close to them?

Even if you do, I'm sure the number is a lot lesser than the past. 10 or 20 years later, I think it will be even worse. No wonder the Chinese saying that to find one true friend in your life is an extremely fortunate thing.

Anyways, decided to go do a day walk the next day. Its the first day of the Kepler Track which I am not doing, but first day's hut on Mount Luxmore is supposed to have a superb view. Haha managed to convince them to walk it as well, though they went up ahead first as I was doing some other stuff in town.

The start of the walk was walking around the lake, meaning it was pretty flat and easy. Near the start of the walk, the trees all around the trail made the place look like some kind of haunted woods from a fairy tale man.

Not sure why it doesn't seem to rotate when I upload it. It doesn't really look like it here though

After about 2 hours, the climb started. And it was really a damn steep climb man!!! Definitely much steeper than datuk or kindabalu. Even with a day pack I had to rest for a few minutes after every 15-20 min! No wonder the board said it was a 4 hours climb to the top. But that was with a heavy pack of course. I took about 2 hours to reach to the top. Haha so its steep but relatively short walk I guess. Well after 2 hours, I came out of the bushline. It was really amazing, its like climbing, climbing, climbing and suddenly flat, sunshine, super strong winds, and.....

this.....

and this....

Honestly, I did not really find the view that superb as what I heard. I mean it was good, but not super wowing. Oh well....anyways it was another about half and hour walk along the ridge before coming to the hut. By then I was already shivering like mad man. Wah didn't expect the wind to be so strong. It was in fact about 13 degrees according to the thermometer on my watch. And I was basically in a T-shirt, berms, sandals and a shell. Well when I went into the hut and was rewarded with warmth from a fireplace. haha almost didn't want to leave. When I was there, I met this guy who started at the same place as me and ran all the way up. Bleh so what took me 4 hours took him an hour and 45 min. Disgusting man. He wasn't even panting when he reached la!!!

Well took a few more pictures at the hut and descended.

The descent was pretty boring cos its the same route and after the downslope, it was flat. Oh and thankfully I met the father and son along the way down. So we continued chatting all the way down. Haha if not for them I would have been bored stiff, though I could probably have walked faster. So in all, an 8 hour track took me about 7.5 hours. Not bad I guess, haha many more days of trekking to do!

Adventures in NZ (Part 3)

I stayed at this hostel in Invercargill which was runned by 2 amazing Americans. They actually sailed all the way from the states to NZ!! Total journey was 3 months, where the last month the guy sailed alone cos they got too bored while sailing and an accident happened and the woman had to be evacuated after they reached the polynesian islands. But its really damn amazing how they sailed all the way over. I really pity the guy tho cos in the last month not only was he alone on the sail boat, he also did not meet a single other vessel along the way.

Well since we are on hostels, I cannot remember which one I stayed at, but it was really cool with a nice basement which was like those kind of old dusty English basement style.

Can seriously be used for a horror movie man

I also met a bunch of Taiwanese and 1 Malaysian who were here on a work holiday visa. So most of them were working on a cherry farm where they will be picking and packing cherries. And apparently some of the cherries are as large as your fist!!!! Can you imagine that? You won't be able to find it easily in NZ as they export most of them to countries like Japan and the States. Why? Cos of profits! Apparently cherries are not sold by weight in Japan, but by the quantity of cherries. So while they do sell some of them locally, most of the best cherries are actually exported.

Anyways before this the Taiwanese were travelling in a large group of 11. OMG I wonder how they ever got things moving man. Haha 11 is really a large group. Haha can form a tour group already. Well we chatted till late into the night before we all turned in.

Free and lovely home-made bread for breakfast

In the end, I decided to give Stewart Island a miss as the ferry ticket was too expensive! Besides I was running out of time due to the detour to Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook and Stewart Island can be visited during winter as well. Oh well if I really was gian to go can always go down again during winter.

So the next morning I explored Invercargill a bit. Seriously this town has absolutely nothing to do at all. Haha its really pretty boring tho the stuff here are cheap mainly because this city has the lowest property prices compared to all other big cities in NZ.

Oh I also visited the Queen's Park where I saw a high tech toilet there. It's like those that you hear about in Japan where everything is automated. The weirdest feature is that the toilet door is auto locking and automatically opens after a certain time regardless of whether you are ready or not. Haha I'm sure it has been the cause of some embarrassment at some point or another.

Anyways I drove on down to Te Anau late morning. First thing I did was to go to the DOC office to confirm my trek on the Routeburn Track which I booked long ago. At the same time, I also checked if there were any last minute cancellation for the Milford Track. And for the first time on this trip, lady luck was smiling on me!! There was a cancellation for 1 person the following Thursday. Wah mai tu liao I straight away booked.

For those who are wondering what is the big hoo ha, well the Milford Track is like the Kindabalu track(or worse actually). Apparently when the booking season for summer opened in Jul, it is generally fully booked within a month or less. So to get a last minute cancellation is really darn lucky for me! Haha Te Anau is like a main trekking point with thousands of routes around here.

Anyways my plan will be to go for a day trip up Mount Luxmore the next day, do the 3 days 2 nights Routeburn trek after that, rest for a day and then do the 4 days 3 nights Milford track after that.

Before I end of, some pictures of Te Anau Lake.