Our Big Hiking Trip and Thanksgiving

So a lot has happened since my last post. The term is officially over here at Otago and most of my friends and people I know have left. My two flatmates and good friends Xander and Rob are here still, as well as a few other people who we see on and off. The Sunday before last (Nov. 11) we said goodbye to most of our friends that were leaving to come back to the states. Then Rob, Xander, Julie, and I started our epic tramping trip through fjordland on the 12th (my birthday!). We drove to Te Anu on Monday morning, which is about a 4 hour drive from Dunedin. We had lunch and then drove to the wharf where we took a boat across Lake Te Anu to the start of the Milford Track. At the wharf we met up with Ross and Neil, two other Americans we knew from Otago and had done at least one other hike with earlier in the term.

The Milford Track was really pretty- especially the alpine views on the third day and all the valleys we walked through. It rained a lot the first day, but other than that we had really great weather. Even with the rain, we could see lots of neat waterfalls, and speaking of which- we took a side trip to see the highest waterfall in New Zealand. That was really cool and the highest waterfall I’ve ever seen (not that there are too many of those in Illinois). Apparently on the last night we were being too loud in our room and some German dude yelled at us and told us we were acting like “school children.” Since we actually weren’t being that loud and the whole old German guy possie had woken us up loudly in the morning on the second day, and they annoyed everyone with their constant smoking at every hut, we didn’t really feel too bad. Also, the third day was Julie’s birthday so that was fun especially since Rob carried in a 12 pack of beer (on top of the 6 pack of bottles he carried in for my birthday- also we both got cakes). Anyway, we finished the Milford Track and got a boat across Milford Sound to the little town there. The view of the sound was blocked by clouds so I didn’t get too great a view, but it was nonetheless very pretty. I’m looking forward to going back there on the sound cruise with the family, which is only in like 4 weeks. Wacky. But yeah, so we said goodbye to Neil and Ross and from the drop off point we took a bus to back to Te Anu Downs where we had the car parked.

Then we drove to The Divide (the ending point of the Routeburn and the start and finish of the Greenstone/Caples track loop). We got back on the trail and walked a few hours to McKeller Hut at the end of the Greenstone track. The next day we met Julie’s friend Claudia where the Greenstone splits off onto the Caples track and then we climbed McKeller pass and finished out the Caples track, which constituted 2 of our hiking days. The night at Mid-Caples Hut we shared the space with an evangelical youth group type thing. They were cool until they pulled out the fire and brimstone talk on Rob and Xander, luckily I was in bed by that time. We took their pamphlet and had a good laugh reading it the next day.

Anyway, we hiked out of the Caples track and got a bus to take us a little way down the road to a wharf where they took us on a boat across Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy (about an hours drive westish from Queenstown). We had lunch and took a nap in the sun (it was a beautiful and warm day). After our nap we got on our bus to the start of the Routeburn. We hiked about 3 hours up to Routeburn Falls Hut- great view of the valley we walked through to get there. The next morning we said our goodbyes to Julie and Claudia since they had booked another night at the next hut. Rob, Xander, and I skipped it since we didn’t want to spend the money to book the hut. It was a sad parting, but we burned trail the rest of the day until we got to the car. All in all, it was in the upper 70s for miles walked, including 3 alpine crossings in our 7-day adventure. It was a glorious time and a good way to cap off the term.

So since we’ve been back we’ve been dude-bro-chilling, renting movies, golfing, eating, and things of that nature. Yesterday was Thanksgiving here so we cooked up a glorious meal- Turkey is expensive so we had chilli instead as our main course. Our menu consisted of the following: chilli/chilli dogs, green jello salad, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, bread, and green bean casserole. Also later on we had an Apple pie. Our neighbor Alexis joined us for the meal and the following movie we watched. It was good to celebrate Thanksgiving and have at least some semblance of the traditional foods.

I’m definitely glad I chose to stay longer here- really looking forward to doing a bit more hiking, etc. and it’ll be great that the fam can come in December to see some of this sweet country. If I had to pick one day though Thanksgiving would be the one that I wish I was back for. I think that’s about it for now. This Sunday, Xander and I are driving to Christchurch to see a Muse concert and then do a little hiking around Canterbury. This trip will also include a visit to the LOTR filming site of Edoras. Good stuff.