Fiordland: Falls Creek

For my last big Otago University Tramping Club trip, I joined forces with an incredible co-leader, Ella, to plan out a weekend we'd never forget.

Our original plan was to hike up Mistake Creek to U-pass on Saturday and then walk down to Hut creek on Sunday.  It would be challenging for us on a good day, but it'd only take a little rain to make the trip unsafe.  So, we scratched that plan and chose (what we thought would be) a more manageable trip up Falls Creek.

The tramping club drove up to Fiordland on Friday night.  I slept underneath the charter bus - a first for me!  On Saturday we started walking around 9am - a little bit later than ideal.  The track was steep, but manageable with a little upper body strength to hoist myself up and over fallen trees.

There was a beautiful water fall within the first hour or so of hiking:

It didn't take long for one of the fellas on our trip to start belting out 80s ballads like Foreigners "I want to KNOW what love ISSSSSSSS!!!!!" (my emphasis) and make Lord of the Rings references (that I did not get because I haven't watched any of the movies, tsk, tsk).

As soon as the track leveled out, we were in the moss covered everything patch of forest that is truly Fiordland-like and then made our way to a small clearing just above the river.  We had a few goes at walking up the river instead of the track because the bush kept getting denser and denser, but there were deep spots with swift water, which we weren't keen to attempt.

Around mid-day we were rewarded with mint weather and stunning views of Ngatimamoe Peak and Pyramid Peak.  I can't over emphasize how awesome the weather was - so unusual for Fiordland! 

I was feeling optimistic that we'd reach the head of the valley where a glacier fed tarn sits, but we encountered more dense bush once we reached the end of the track and made our way up the valley.  Incredible that it took us 8 hours of total walking time to find a suitable place to set up camp! We quickly put up a tent fly and small tent so that we could drop our gear and hustle to the tarn.

Randomly, a guy on the trip whipped out a recorder and started playing a tune from Lord of the Rings.  Hilarious and awesome. 

I made an uber dork decision to swap my tramping boots for Crocs to walk to the tarn (I just wanted my feet to feel dry for a little while!), but that was a dumb choice - we had a long field of boulders to scramble up and over before we could see the water, so I had to bail on the walk. Waaaaaaaaaah!

No biggie.  I had to start dinner anyway.  (As luck would have it for the group that carried on, several angry kea decided to make a fuss about having visitors.  Here's a video of different cheeky kea.)  We had a scrumptious chickpea, feta and raisin couscous dinner - the five guys on our trip raved about it! (Side note - Ella and I had no idea how much food to pack for seven people, and for some reason we expected them to have giant appetites, lordy we had sooooo much couscous!)

When the sun went down I started a little fire for us to snuggle around.  We shared stories of our worst dating experience, which didn't take very long because New Zealanders don't date much.  The culture is more "let's find each other in a pub and pash for a bit" (at least among the 20-something year old crowd, that is).  We had a bit of a yarn after that and passed around a bottle of cheap bubbly and Whittaker's chocolate.  Good times!

On Saturday, we made our way back to the car park where we got dropped off the day before.  Along the way we had a photo shoot.  The objective was to take a "derpy" picture of everyone holding fake roses.  The picture would be accompanied by a Tinder-style "dating profile" that would be published in the OUTC's annual Antics.  Here's my photo:

The boys' photos were far cuter and more creative. Ha!

We had plenty of downtime once we finished walking (a bus was due to pick us up at 4pm and we were out a bit after 2pm).  So, we used the time productively to craft our dating profiles.   We gave the German guy the nickname "Autobahn" because he's "smooth and fast".  I can't remember the other details for the rest of us, but they were pretty funny.

Now that the trip is over, I'll have my nose to the grindstone to finish up this PhD.  Just a few months and I'll be handing in. Yahooooooooo!

Fiordland: Kea Basin (Rees valley) and Routeburn track run

Last month marked three years living in New Zealand.  My, how time flies!

The last year and a half has been a blur.  I've spent long hours in the office planning, writing, coordinating intervention development, and conducting a pilot study to test that intervention.  I'm so proud of the work I've done and I'm looking forward to getting some publications out there to share the results.  Life hasn't been all work and no play, though.  Once in a while I take time to get outdoors for a breath of fresh air and a break from the thesis action.

In February, I lead five students from the University of Otago up the Rees valley in an attempt to hike up to Kea Basin.  The weather didn't cooperate though and the rain dampened everyone's enthusiasm to spend a day walking on a boggy track just to see views of fog and mist.

Lennox Falls (this what we should have seen)


One thing is for sure, a good ol' Tim Tam Slam can perk up the soggiest tramper!  At the base of Lennox Falls, I boiled water for coffee and tea and taught everyone the proper technique for turning a chocolate biscuit into a straw.

Rest stop in Rees valley

We skipped the hike up to Kea Basin and made our way back to the Sylvan campsite instead.  I served up awesome roasted red pepper and black bean tacos, cantaloupe slices, a vegan Mexican chocolate cake, and home brewed beer.  My group was pretty happy with that!

On Sunday, I joined a different group from the Otago University Tramping Club to run the entire Routeburn Track (32km/19.9 mi long).  I freaking LOVE this track!!

Routeburn Valley

I took seven hours to finish the run (the first guy to reach the car finished in just under four hours).  But, why on earth would I go any faster than I absolutely had to?  Look at the view!

Lake Harris

I walked all the uphill sections (and there was a lot of uphill sections) and then ran downhill in the safe sections of track.  For most of the run I was by myself, but I didn't mind - it felt so freeing to be out there!

Once I was past Lake Harris, it was pretty cruisy down to Mackenzie Hut.  The view from there looked familiar - this is the hut my group from last year had to stay in for safety reasons because our day walk over Emily Pass took so long.

Arriving at Lake Mckenzie hut (mid-right side)

I stopped to top up my water at the hut and then carried on to the Divide Shelter.  On my way I ran past Earland Falls.  Oh. my. god. The falls were STUNNING!  All the rain we had made for an impressive show.  Between the rain, and mist from the falls, it was a magical experience.  I actually would not have been surprised to find a unicorn standing there - it was that surreal. 

I was the last one to the car. Unfortunately, I would have been a little bit quicker if I hadn't tripped about 20 minutes away from the car park.  Just as I had passed the sign at Key Summit saying '45 minutes to car park' I thought, I can totally make it in 20 minutes! So, I picked up the pace and... tripped on a rock and went ribs first into a rock wall and then hip checked the damn thing.  Ooph! Knocked the wind right out of me!  At least I didn't nosedive onto the track... with the momentum I had I could have ended up rolling off the track and down a hill.  Perhaps I'll stay on cruise control next time. :)