Well
I’ve tramped a lot over the years but somehow I always seem to find someone to
go with me. Here I am enjoying beautiful NZ and I find myself wanting to go on
another tramp. No one free well time to step up Lisa and figure out how to do
it on my own. Tara
had already given me advice on a great
overnight tramp that stops by a cute hut with awesome natural hotsprings. That
in itself sounds like a lovely idea, with rain predicted and river crossings it
was time to chat to the good folks at DOCs for further info. Well I was pleased to find out apart from the
first river crossing and the loads of streams all the old usual spots that
would be unpassable with high flow from this recent rainfall have now been
bridged. Yes the trip was on. I booked my night in the hut and planned to leave
super early the next day.
Up at 5am sneaked out of the hostel bed in
Wanaka and made breakfast. Got away just before 6am still dark and the moon was
shinning over the lakes creating a mesmorizing reflection. This area was really pretty I wondered what
it would look like as the sun came up. Drive on I did. The rain was only light today but the winds
were fierce. I continued over my first
pass without incident however when I drove up the 2nd pass, as I was
slowing for a sharp corner, I suddently had to break really hard. There was a huge boulder in the middle of the
other lane and shards and chunks of rock on my side. A landslide had happened recently and it appeared
I was the first person to come across it. I was able to just weave the car
around the debrie though had to go over parts of it, fingers crossed I didn’t
blow a tire, don’t think I remember how
to change them, I know I know I should be able to……
Thoughts in my head of who I could contact
to let know as felt people coming the other way would be in more trouble as the
boulder in there lane was far too big to go around. A big deep breath of relief and keen to get off
this pass, I continued on. The tasman
sea came into view and out of the corner of my eye I could see just how rough
the weather was as the waves crashed hard into the beach. What a lovely day to
start a solo tramp.
NZ sure loves their one way bridges, but
getting going early proved a good idea as there really wasn’t much in the way
of traffic. I had a 3.5 hour drive from
Wanaka to the trail head so made it at 9:30 and you guessed it, it was raining.
I could see the first and major river
crossing so ran down and scoped it out.
Though flowing fast there still looked like places I could cross, yay!
I put on my waterproof goretex and kept
just my keens on no point wetting the boots this early on and I made my way. I
had to negotiate 4 brided sections only
one was slightly challenging, more the current then even the height. I had a
friendly stick someone had left in the carpark and that helped steady me
against the current. I even felt brave enough to video a portion of it….
The
next 5 hours consisted of a lot of Lisa’s head time, as one finds when tramping
on their own and no one else to talk to you get to think a lot about life and
well so much can pop up in onese head!!!
The rain didn’t stop but I was mostly in rainforest area though not much
of a canopy to keep me dry. The path was
a mixture of mud, many flowing streams, some sections of track work, a few
bridges, rock hopping along the river foreshore and 2 fantastic swinging
bridges. The Steele swing bridge was
amazing and scary all in one. They have had 7 bridges over its time here and
all have been washed away in avlanaches so they built this one really high and
it was long. Here I was trying
my best not to have a freak out at the
height and power of the stream below on this very narrow dodgy looking bridge
swinging in the high winds. Thinking
come on Lisa plenty of people would pay good money for an adrenalin rush like
this hehe
With a
short lunch break at the small 2 person hut on route I continued on. A
welcome sign to the welcome flat hut was great. The hut warden was super lovely
and I got out of my wet clothes briefly unpacked and went straight to the hot
pools. They were so lovely, its hard to describe but about 4 different natural
hot pools all different temperatures fed from this natural spring overlooking
the Sierra mountain range. I got different trickles of views as the cloud was
low and the rain kept falling but that was great as it kept the sandflies away.
Ahhh the love of being in the moment.
I enjoyed this moment of silence and place
to myself for an hour before I was joined by 13 uni students! A mixed group from the UK, USA, new calidonia
and Canada who had tramped in the sunshine the day before. They were a lot of
fun and it was nice to have someone to talk to and share the experience of the
amazing place with. We all chatted and
enjoyed the hotsprings way after the sun went down until my tummy told me it
was dinner time so I headed in. A warm
fire going and some hot chocolate to finish the night, smiling inwardly. I had
successfully tramped 18km through loads of mud, crossed streams and rivers
traversed avlanche prone areas in the rain all on my own and was feeling quite
a confident independent solo traveller again.
Day 2
It poured with heavy rain all night, some
wakeful moments wondering about the height of the water crossings, the warnings
not to cross the avlanche zones after heavy rainfall but the next few days were forecast to be just as
bad so I had to get out.
Time to leave, the natural light of sunrise
wakes me up in huts, so I figured Id just get up and go when I felt ready. Today was forecast to be heavy showers and
high winds 95km up in the alpine.
Thankfully I wasn’t in the alpine today but the weather also held
out. Two of the people from the other
group happened to be setting off at the same time as me, so we agreed as long
as our paces matched we’d tramp back together.
The rain held off, it was a little windy
but we did get sunshine! The walk out felt so much quicker I’m not sure whether
it was because I was chatting and making new friends or I’m getting fitter, or
the magic natural properties of the hot pools mud had done there trick but what
ever the reason I was enjoying it!
I thought the crossings were tricky the day
before, but the heavy rainfall over night had caused them to grow higher again
and it didn’t take long for me to have wet feet so then it was like what the
hell just walk through the water and mud. Its often easier anyway as you don’t
waste time and energy skooting around everything. One of the girls knees was playing up so I did
a quick physio assessment of it, it seemed quite muscular but I couldn’t do
much for her except offer her my trusty stick for a makeshift crutch and she seemed grateful for
that.
Back to the carpark in 5 hours, the rain
had still held off though low cloud continued.
The last and heighest river crossing was higher than the previous day,
but as we were already wet the only concern was the current. I would have
assessed it differently but watching the guy cross so easily I just took to
it. The differences so evident from my
care and thinking the previous day when I was solo to now having a group
decision and someone to follow. A quick change of clothes and already getting
eaten by sandflies, a nice goodbye to some new friends and time to move on.
I made my way to Fox Glacier though didn’t
really feel like another hike today, I find myself sitting in front of a lovely
fireplace in this cute hostel having just completed my postcards ready to be
sent and planning what next adventures are install. Rain and heavy wind at that
is predicted for the rest of the week, so not sure what I’ll do but regardless
I’ve had such a great time tilll now and I’m excited to spend more time with
Tara and Paul this weekend. Another NZ adventure complete…..
