Weather Forecast: Fine

Homestyle Tramping Hiatus Recipe

Take 1 90km/5 day tramp (preferably one of lesser intensity that one is used to)
One female backpacker
One male backpacker
Trail made 80% of clay/limestone - most of which is exposed and slick
Lots of rain
Injuries - day in and day out
And a lack of national parks that are safe to tramp through during this weather

And you have the perfect ingredients for a tramping hiatus.


It's Sunday, September 7th. We resume overnight tramping on October 1st.

Good times.

Aside from the fact that it's been the worst winter almost ever down here in New Zealand - everywhere we go, the locals are quick to point out the records that each day of rain brings for their region - we've decided that it's time to pack up our bags, lighten our load (day hikes from here on) and wait out the better weather.

Part our personal decision, and partly due to injuries that need to heal.

So, a week ago we decided to head south. My oasis in New Zealand - the south island. I've dreamed of these days for years. The moments where I would first lay eyes on the Southern Alps. The day I first enter the parks to climb the mountains. The beautiful snowcapped beauties. I have a feeling they might stay that way for the duration of our trip. We heard from another tramper that they predict Mt. Ruapehu (in the N. Island) will be open for skiing at Christmas - a completely abnormal situation. A mountain that we planned on visiting in the late summer/early fall when it was safer to tramp around (didn't want to deal with all that snow melt in the spring). And now, we might never see that mountain without snow. If it's skiable at Christmas, it might not lose its snow cap until next year. Oh my.

Heading south. Migrating.

Let's just say, it was starting to get really nice in New Plymouth when we left - and the moment we started hitting the cities/towns further south in the north island, you quickly realized how much colder it was going to get. The people on the streets are back in winter/fall jackets, scarves and mitts, tuques. I'm back hibernating in layers of thermal clothing. I have been tramping in them for too long, and now am frigid without them. I never aclimatized to their winter. It's damp. All the time. This rain does not end! After over a month of tramping in it, I'm ready for it to dry out. As is Brent.

We spent our last day in NP buying more food/gear for future tramps. Gotta stock up when the sales are good. We also visited our favorite NP outdoor store, Kiwi Outdoors, to check on our stove. The jet might have been dirty/gritty - so we cleaned it out (which really just means poking a hole in the jet to clear any debris). Hopefully that will fix things.

From NP, we took the "Surf Hwy" 45 down to Whanganui. Neither of us were really impressed by the hwy. Thought it would be more picturesque, but it wasn't along the coast. You had turn offs/side roads with signs saying 'surf beach 3km' all along. It's almost like the country changed at that point. Rolling hills ceased and it was just flat. All around us. Driving around the peninsula, flat farm land, the hwy wasn't as windy as most others, and you could see Mt. Taranaki everywhere you went. It was a clear day.

Of course it was, we weren't on the trails. It's always beautiful when we're off the trails - no joke.

We just kept thinking "where did New Zealand go?". It's just not what you think of when you think about NZ. It was strange.

Whanganui. Saw it in a day. We're not here for the cities, and you can tell. This city is reknown for the Whanganui river, and despite being right on the ocean, the city people pay no attention to it. It's unfortunate that we saw the city in the winter, the trees are partially bare, so it wasn't as 'picturesque' as the locals would want it to be showcased in. We went to the art gallery (free - heh heh), walked to their underground pedestrian walkway to this rickity elevator that brings you to the watch tower in the city, explored the watch tower, walked along their beloved river. And done. City in a day. There's really not much to say about this place. We could have based ourselves here for the Whanganui National Park, but we're waiting for the DOC to fix the tracks that have slipped before walking those trails. In the late summer/fall - we'll return. Had a nice room at the hostel, overlooking the river. In the morning we bought (FINALLY) road map books - cause we've been working off a huge map I had purchased before the trip (a guide only) and mini maps - none of which have all the roads on them. We haven't gotten lost yet, but it can be hairy when you don't know where you're going sometimes. Bought some fruits at yet another fruit stand (1.80 - gotta love discounts - fruit & veggies here are ridiculously expensive, so fruit stands are a real treat to find).

And that's it for Whanganui.

From here, we drove straight to Wellington. A drive similar to the surf hwy for the most of it, flat farm lands. Felt like we were back home for a bit driving through the prairies maybe? When the highway finally became a two-lane hwy, you started to see the coast. And then you started to see the houses popping up along the rocky hillside. It was beautiful. The views these houses had were beautiful. I knew Wellington looked like this, we were getting close.

Wellington. We spent two nights. Opted to just get a hotel room, as the hostels in the city are almost as expensive, with no parking, and grimmy looking (they are much larger in size - unlike the smaller more intimate places we've been enjoying thus far), so we spoke to the isite here and found ourselves a deal. Two nights in a hotel, breakfast included. Oh my, we were so excited. We dreamt about the eggs and bacon and what kind of food they would serve. We looked at their menu and noted what we might see in the buffet the next day.

So disappointed. I gotta tell you, breakfast just doesn't mean the same thing over here. When you tell me that breakfast is included, unless you say it's continental, I am thinking like going out for brunch in Toronto breakfast. Finding a good breakfast place in NZ, is nearly impossible. We have come to realize that people just don't do big brunches here. I think I miss that a lot about back home. I love going out for brunch. Delicious. The big buffet we came down to the next day was three types of cereal, milk (for the cereal), canned fruit put in a bowl, jam and toast. Nothing hot from their lovely menu we had been dreaming of. It's great to have free breakfast, and we were appreciative, but we carry cereal and toast with us in our chiller bag - so we weren't expecting that. So we decided to eat a lot. :)

We spent our time in Wellington booking our ferry over to Picton, taking in the Te Papa museum (over two days - it's 6 floors), the art gallery, going up the cable car to visit the museum up there and just to do the 'touristy' ride (which bumped us into a Canadian family who had just moved to Wellington from Calgary - they asked us if we were Canadian - seeing the MEC logo on Brent's daypack). We simply walked everywhere and enjoyed what the city had to offer. Drove out to Mt. Victoria before catching the ferry to take in some great city views.

Saddest thing, we were going to go to the Weta Cave (they did the special effects/cgi for LOTR, narnia, etc) - but we didn't know how much it would cost, so we decided not to go, only to find out once we were in Picton that the admission is FREE!!! SO we'll have to check it out on our return to the North Island.

The ferry ride. First time on a car ferry. Fun times. There was a transport truck on our ferry carrying hundreds of sheep. On the back deck you could look down at them and the top section of the truck (there were 4 levels of sheep) was open and the sheep would just look up at us. Amusing.

The haunting snow capped mountains of the south island. As we set out from the Wellington harbour and entered the cook straight, you could see them in the distance. At first Brent didn't believe me that they were not clouds. He finally saw them. They were so beautiful. So distant, but majestic. That's what I was here for. The weather was beautiful. The ocean was calm. Clear skies. It was freezing cold, but that could have something to do with being in the middle of the ocean. We spent our three hours going inside and out continuously. They were screening two horribly boring movies inside the ferry, which we would watch parts of when we were inside warming up. The rest of the time we spent on the front deck just taking in the scenery. At first we couldn't find the forward observation deck, and there were so many people on the back deck we almost believed the front one didn't exist. Once we approached the Marlborough Sounds, we camped out on the front deck to take it all in. The giant hillsides, rocky shores rolling past. We even saw a dolphin swimming by our ferry. I missed any photo opportunity with that one. :( We froze on that deck, spending almost the entire last hour out there, but it was worth it.

Picton. Spent one night at this hostel called Tombstone Backpackers - a newer hostel. It was nice, even had a hot tub. Busy that night from people coming off the ferry. We went out for fish and chips that night at a local takeaway shop. After walking by the ferry's cafe so many times and smelling the grease from their fries, we just couldn't help but buy some ourselves.

Our night at the hostel also came with 'free breakfast' and again we fine dinned on corn flakes and toast. :)


THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE TRACK

The reason we camped out in Picton for the night was to store our stuff the following day before setting out on the QCT for five days, four nights. So many people talk about this track and say how wonderful it is. But I have to be super honest with people, neither Brent nor myself enjoyed this track very much at all.

Yes - beautiful views. On a clear day. But honestly, I would almost suggest this as a day hike sort of track, not a multi day tramp. Most people take a boat out to Ship Cove (cost between 55-75/person) and walk back to the start of the track, with pack drops in between locations - which means that ferry company that took you to ship cove will take your pack for you and ferry it to your evening's destination, so you don't have to carry it on the track. And maybe that's how you can enjoy the track more. We did not do either. We walked from the start down the track "against traffic" and walked back to our car at the end.

I'm not going to break down this track on a day to day. It really was a lot of the same thing every single day. So I'll have to recap it differently.

First off - we camped the track. Yay tenting it. We were so happy to finally use the tent. Aside from needing it as an emergency shelter on that first hike, we've been on hut tramps so far (and good - cause it's been wet), so our tent hasn't seen outside its bag so much. The thing with this track is that it is so commercialized that there are lodges and backpackers at every road crossing this track makes. You could do this tramp in style. There are lodges that have private trails that deviate from the main trail as well. Your choice.

On our first day, we left Picton with 3 Peanut Butter & Jam sandwiches each. One for lunch, and two for dinner that night. Drove out to Anakiwa, parked Huntington and set out for our first night of camping.


Who we saw on the trail.

It was a busier track for us. We never run into people, and this time, we actually did. Day 1: we crossed paths with two individual day hikers and two wild goats. Day 2: 1 hiker (oh, and we're noticing how even if the hikers have packs on, they are much smaller and lighter then ours - we don't get it!!!). Day 3: 8 hikers - 4 groups of 2 hikers each. All within 45mins from each other near the Torea Saddle. Day 4: NOBODY. It was our first day returning to the car, so we figure we were walking in the direction most people walk it - which might explain the lack of humans. Day 5: 1 jogger (twice) - at the end of the trail, she did a circuit to the first campsite and back so looped us. 1 woman walking her dog.

Oh, and then there were the 3 days (day 3, 4 & 5) where we encountered cheeky Wekas. A bird that almost resembles a chicken in its movement and their feet - which have bigger talons. These cheeky little birds are curious as heck.

"This shelter belongs to the Weka. Beware."

A warning written into one of the visitor logs at one of the shelters near a campsite. We stopped at this shelter for lunch on day 3 and Brent walked down the trail for a moment, so I was alone and playing with my camera to do a photograph on a timer. And while I was playing with the camera and sitting on the shelter's staircase, I could see this thing lurking in my peripheral. The weka. There birds, they want your food. These birds are not afraid to come right up to you and take what they want. Curious little buggers.

On our 3rd night, we arrived at the campsite really late and had to filter our water right away as night was falling. And there too was a Weka. And he just circled us the whole time. But you really don't know what they are going to do, and they are wild, so you can't trust them. They just go in and out of the bush. When they approach you they start pecking at the ground as though that's what they came to do. Poke for worms. But you know the truth behind their approach. They are not shy. We don't think they can fly, because if you run at it to get it back into the bush, it just runs away. Never saw one take flight.

If Kias are as cheeky as these Wekas, we're going to have problems in the alps. The kias are a big more destructive and damaging to equipment and vehicles.


Dinners.

We fine dinned on our first night, with our faboo PB&J. On our second night, Spaghetti Bolognaise is on the menu. But sad little stove is once again having performance anxiety. Oh my. So, stove is still not working, it's night 2. We're on to dry noodles for the rest of our hike, and this also means that we will not be hiking out to Ship Cove (the end of the trail), as we will not have enough dinners to get us there and back. Which, really was fine by us. We spent parts of each day almost wanting to turn around. Seriously, we were bored on this trail. Maybe it's because it was an easier pathway then we were used to. We're used to climbing up and down hills on our hands and knees at times. I mean there was a lot of up and down on this track, but the path was wide and maintained. Meh. Yes, the views were lovely (again, when it was clear) but it was all the same thing and truly was something we would have loved on a day hike. Just not our cup of tea I guess.

So from night 2-4, we were destined for dry noodles. On night 3, Brent had accidentally ripped the noodle package, and when I went to throw it in our rubbish bag, I ended up spilling the leftover noodles everywhere outside my door of the tent. Ah! I do not want rats snacking on these noodles by my head at night. Brent and I swapped tent sides that night.

Sure enough, in the morning, the noodles were gone. But I never heard rats coming by. And they make sure you hear them I would say.

As the sun slowly rose (albeit behind the clouds), the mystery revealed itself. A weka. Poking its head underneath our fly. Right up to the mesh of our tent. Eating up all the noodles. Quiet as anything.


Tenting it.

I love camping. Our tent, which truly only fits two people, happily houses us two people and all of our gear. Especially on this trail. Everywhere we set up our tents was muddy or soaking wet. Not exactly where you want to store your bags overnight. We have two doors to this tent, and the fly offers two vestibules, for you to store gear in. It stored our poles, fuel bottles, muddy boots and gaiters every night, but everything else is shoved at one end of the tent. An elevated foot rest you could say. Our bags aren't waterproof. And it shows when you take out your sleeping bag's dry compression sack and it's soaked. Our sleeping bags sit at the bottom of our packs, so they'll be the first thing to soak up water that might run off our rain cover. Our sleeping bags are dry, but the dry sack is not. Everything in our bags is either in a dry sack or a dry liner. Pay less money for a non waterproof bag - but do invest the money in dry compartments for your stuff.

You'll be sorry otherwise.

Our tent is in three parts. Our footprint (the tarp which our tent sits on - specially made for our tent), our 90% mesh tent with poles, and the fly. The fly sits up at least 4-6 inches - and with the tent being mesh - this allows for a flowy and very airy tent. So far, I haven't been cold because of it, but you can get a strong breeze through it at times.

The thing about having a tent which is almost all mesh, is that setting it up in the rain can SUCK. Actually, let's recap our QCT walk. Day 1: no rain. Immediately after setting up the fly on tent, rain moves in. Day 2: Tearing down of tent in rain. We luckily had a cooking shelter at this location, and carried the tent over before packing it - to eliminate any unecesary water in the tent. The weather is wet all day, clears enough so that we can set up at night with it spitting, and have a dryish tent. Day 3: clearing in the morning that allows us to quickly strike the tent. Clear day. Dry set up at night. :) Starts to rain after we finish filtering water. Rains all night - once again (oh yeah, and it really was raining every single night, the tent was never dry when packed away!!) Day 4: Rain all day. Tear down in light drizzle, quickly. Rain, rain, rain. Special night (will explain), but the rain never let up. Day 5: Rain on/off all day.


Night 4.

It rained all day. ALL DAY. Almost like when we were on the AMC in Egmont NP and had to cross the flooded rivers. Just consistent rain. By the time we made Torea Saddle for the night, we had decided to spend a night in a backpackers depending on how much they cost. These aren't BBH/YHA hostels or anything - these 'backpackers' cater to a different crowd. We have the option on this track to forego the camping, so we figured if we set up in this rain, we weren't going to have a dry night, and we were already drenched and so was our gear. We're not here to be miserable, and if we were hiking to a hut, this would be a different story. Or if it wasn't such a wet winter. :)

So we have our options open. There are two backpackers at this saddle, so we trudge up their steep roadways to inquire about a night's accomodation.

First place. We knock. Again. Ring the bell. Nobody is home.

Second place. We walk up to the first house and a sign invites you to walk up concrete driveway or the walkway to the house to reserve accomodations. Done and done. Walk up the driveway. We knock. We knock louder. And louder. Nobody is home. See, at a hostel, you know someone will answer the door. It was deserted here. Strange.

So I decide that it would be nice to take the walkway back down to the road. The driveway was so steep, so the stairs along the house just seemed like a better option. I start to make my way down the stairs. Carefully, cause I had done something to my left ankle the day before and I was a little stiff/soar. So I take my poles in my left hand, hold the railing with my right hand, and walk down one step at a time.

I think it took me two steps, maybe three before I lost my footing.

Whoosh

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, crunch.

Oh my goodness, kill me now.

I was in so much pain.

The walkway that you are invited to take is a death trap.

It was slick and dangerous as heck.

I fell down about 8-10 steps, with my 35lbs backpack on. My feet came right out in front of me. I'm lucky my bag didn't fling me forward.

My back hit each step on the way down. My left wrist cracked something fierce. The pain was sharp.

Barely able to make a sentence, I yell up to Brent not to take the stairs.

He hurries down the driveway worried about me, hearing the fall, but not able to see me clearly through the trees.

I get up as best as I can and grabbing on harder to the rail, try to make my way off this death trap. I wasn't going back up those stairs, but had to get down the walkway. I think I got down another two steps before hitting the next slick patch and falling down another 4 steps. Again on my left wrist and my back.

The pain was excrutiating. I just sat there. I didn't know what to do with myself.

Brent appears at the bottom of the walkway.

"Get off the wood Brent, it's not safe."

He turns around and heads off the walkway. I thought he was on the first step of the walkway, but he had another 4 steps to go. All I heard when he disappeared around the corner was a loud thud and him yelling.

He started down the steps and his feet slipped right out beneath him. Luckily, his head broke his fall when it met the tree.

I climbed onto the grassyish area and avoided the walkway as much as I could to finally make it off the trap. Made sure Brent was okay. He hit the tree hard but could walk. I could barely walk. I couldn't stand straight anymore because the pack would sit on my lower back where I hit the stairs. I couldn't use my left hand. We had no idea what happened to us.

And nobody was around. That was the worst part.

We didn't know what to do at this point in time. I didn't know if I could help set up the tent, nor sleep in it at night anymore. I needed to sleep flat or something, and in the tent, you share all your footspace with all the gear.

We walked to this portage resort hotel just down the road. I wanted to inquire as to who owned that backpackers we just destroyed our bodies at. I asked the first person we met, a driver for the hotel. "Her name is Alison". That'll be easy to remember.

I gotta tell you, something strange about the people in NZ so far that I've noticed. Here you have two people who just fell down stairs and are pretty injured. I'm limping. Brent's head is red. And if you even explain why you're limping, "we just fell down a flight of stairs", their reaction is "oh, that sucks".

Not "are you okay", "do you need to sit down"...."that sucks". That's not true, the receptionist at the hotel first asked if it was their stairs, then pretty much said 'oh that sucks'. Not their property, not their problem.

This was a resort. We weren't there to find out about staying there so much as finding out information about the backpackers that we just fell at. But since we were inside, we might as well as about their prices.

"All our backpackers rooms are full", was the first thing anyone said to us when asked about their rates. We didn't even know this resort had a backpackers option. It was a pretty fancy looking place.

At no point did anyone ever really answer our question about room rates. Instead, we scored a deal. The driver gentleman was chatting with the receptionist and wanted to see what she could do for us.

"I could charge you our backpackers rate and get you a hotel room". I'm not going to argue that in the least. We didn't ask for it, but I wasn't going to turn it down. At that point, we deserved a real bed and comfort, heat, maybe even a shower.

Score. A nice room overlooking the marlborough sounds. A room probably worth too much on a normal day, but at a cheap rate for us.

Our injuries. Brent had a slight headache. We had to watch him, because head injuries can be tricky. My wrist was feeling funny, but it wasn't broken. My back, well, I couldn't see anything wrong with it at first which almost bothered me. How could I be in this much pain if there was nothing there.

That didn't take long to change.

My back is now decorated with two large bruises. Both of which darken more with each passing day. Larger then the palm of my had. Just shy of my spinal cord. Exactly where my pack sits on my lower back.

Great. Tomorrow is going to suck. It's our last hiking day, and I'm possibly unable to carry my load any further. Our plan, if I run into any problems with carrying my bag, we return to the backpackers and wait until someone gets home - we will be getting a ride back to our car.

A nice long hot shower, an electric blanket heating my back, crackers and cheese for dinner along with granola bars (we sleep in luxury, but dine a la camping still). And then Brent discovers the hot water kettle.

Golden. That spaghetti dinner from night 2, that I opened before we confirmed that the stove worked, can now get its boiling water. Spaghetti in bed. That's what tramping is all about.


The next day's hike sucked. Brent's headache went away - so he was in the clear. My wrist was up and down all day. Actually, my entire left side was up and down all day from previous ankle injury, to my left knee acting up, and my left shoulder was terribly soar as I was walking off balance to try to keep my pack from rubbing against my lower back. When you walk awkwardly for 8 hours straight, it can't be good for your body.

But we made it. At the end, it was a bit hairy. Both of us were in a strange level of pain in the last hour of the walk, but we pushed through to the car. Five days in the can.

Drove back to Picton and picked up our gear at the hostel and jet into the town to enjoy our well deserved meal - burgers and fries. Delicious. We always try to eat a high calorie meal right off the track to boost up our energy level and make up for any lack of calorie intake on the track. Our last burger intake was at Burger Fuel in NP, and that is really going to be hard to beat. In Picton, my stomach was set on the pineapple & cheese burger, while Brent enjoyed a Bacon & cheese burger. We're trying to see, over the next year, who has the best burgers and fries.

Headed off to Havelock to spend two nights.

Not much to report from here. We spent the day yesterday on a day tramp in Mount Richmond Conservation Park. We wanted to explore some abandoned mines, but didn't get off to the trail early enough and had to turn around on the track before making the clearing or we would be hiking at night back to the car through a deer farmers field. No thank you. So we just kept it a nice hike up/down the hilly park.


Our bodies are definitely adapting well to tramping. We aren't soar (at least the same way) coming off the trails anymore (as we were in the beginning). Our bodies are able to carry the weight on our backs much more comfortably now, which is great. :)


Pros/Cons of the Queen Charlotte Track.

The one thing I would note about the track for sure is the ever changing floor. Most times it is a slick clay/limestone surface - which was never good for me. I slipped & fell on this crap a lot. In the rain or shine, I was on the ground. This caused me to twist my left ankle and cause irritation to my left heel and knee. You walk down a steep bank and without the weight to hold you down, you feet slip right out under you. Brent didn't have the same trouble as I did. Then there were parts of the trail where you walk through private property and the clay flooring was covered in pine needles. At times it felt more like I was walking on Ontario trails in the late fall then walking in New Zealand in early spring. Pine trees are non native trees, so you were probably walking through a logging/forestry company's property at that point. Then there were times where brown and yellow leaves would speckle the clay. Other times it was mossy. Rocks would break through the ground and you would have better footing on your walk. Ever changing. But that clay remained underneath.

Biggest con and what annoyed the crap out of us were the DOC signs and timings. This track is supposed to be timed for a "slow walker", which was great. Walking to the first campsite, we did it in 42 mins and it was supposed to take us an hour. So in the first hour of our five day tramp, we were very optomistic. But the timing is constantly fluctuating, one minute you're ahead, the next you're behind. Then you run into signs like 'camp bay'. Oh, camp bay. We remember that night very well. We didn't make that campsite until near dusk. Let's see - there was the 'camp bay 30mins -->' sign we saw. About 40mins later, we came to a junction. The junction clearly stated that the kenduru saddle we just walked from was 30mins behind us, but we found ourselves in front of a NEW sign for camp bay - this time telling us it was another 20mins away. Then you know what - the sign at the saddle should say "Camp Bay - 1 HOUR THIS WAY". The 30mins sign was wrong, the 20mins sign was also poorly timed, and in the end, you walk almost in an entire circle to get to the site, and there is a quicker way to the road that is not signposted. This was our 3rd night. We filtered water into night with the weka lurking around us. We dinned on dry noodles on the beach because even though it was dark on the beach, it offered more moonlight then the campsite which had a thick canopy overtop.

Con: getting injured OFF the track. On the trails, every time I've had a thought about "oh, nothing has really happened on this tramp, that's different for us", we run into flooded rivers or incur injuries off the trail. So, we've come to expect that tramping is always going to offer us surprises.

Con: the route markers on the QCT. Oh my goodness. The trail crosses paths with private roads and privately owned trails. You would think that when the main trail junctions with one of these private ones there would be a route marker or something to let you know where to go. Both tracks looking equally used and treaded on. But no, not on this tramp. We didn't have a topo map for this track, and even if we did, the private tracks aren't indicated on them, so you might not know which route to take. And on a straight part of the path, suddenly you'll find three route markers one right after the other. For no reason. It's not like you're not going to follow the curve of the trail, since your alternate option would be to walk off the side of the mountain. Just dumb. There's no other explanation. Random route markers, dumb.

Pro: Night 3 - eating dinner on the beach in the dark (not the best thing) but the view...gorgeous. The sounds silhouetted by the moonlight. The water calm and still. Moments like this make you appreciate the track, even if you haven't enjoyed the days preceding this moment. A hard day's tramping is always paid off by the views you attain. Looking out here, we're imagining what it will be like in the Fiords.


So overall, we gave the QCT two thumbs down for a multi day hike. A day hike - please do it, it's gorgeous, but only in good weather. But the campsites are nice and small, and at this time of year, empty. So it's enjoyable.

We leave Havelock today. We have really enjoyed staying at the Blue Moon Backpackers here, as we have met nothing but trampers. That's who stays in Havelock, people making their way to the trails in the morning. The first night, a group of 11 people were here from a tramping club. Last night, three men setting out for Mt. Richmond Forest Park in the morning (we're hiking this when we return to the north part of the south island in the late summer). People like us. We don't run into a lot of trampers at hostels, but when we do, there is a lot of talking to be had between us. Sharing stories and track information. It's wonderful. This is my heaven on this trip. This is what this trip is all about.

We head to Christchurch today. We will spend the next few weeks enjoying the east coast of the south island before staring 1.5 months of tramping in the Fiordlands before tramping season starts on October 28th, and then head down to Stewart Island for a 10 day tramp. We are ready to spend some time working on a farm, and hear there may be a lot of opportunities near Christchurch. It's all word of mouth. We met a farmer yesterday who was fixing fences on his property and joked about needing help. It got us thinking. It's time to play with the sheep on the farms, be a dairy farmer. :) We'll see.

A hiatus from overnight hiking to get ready for the long month to follow. Also, I can't carry my load on my lower back until it heals. Perfect timing. Better now then the first day of our Fiordland hiking.

We'll still do day hikes on daily basis, but they'll be shorter and without our larger packs.

Today, we will see the southern alps. I can't wait.


Side notes about New Zealand.

Rounding. It's like a game now. If you're price tallys up to anything ending in 5 cents and under, you are rounded down to the lower 10 cent bracket. Anything from 6 cents up and you lose up to 4 pennies. Yes, we're talking about pennies (which don't exist here - smallest currency is 10c), but it's all a game for us. I pump gas to 46.22, I know it'll only cost us 46.20. Somewhere down the line, we'll lose 2c and it all evens out. If you pay EFTPOS (debit), they don't round your money. Which leads me to believe Canada can truly get rid of the penny - because if they don't even have nickels down here and are making it work, we surely could lose 1c.

Weather forecast. Before setting out on the QCT, the weather forecast for NZ was LITERALLY "FINE". That's what the meteorologist said. The picture of the country in the background speckeled with icons of clouds, maybe two cities showing simply sun (south island, east coast), but 90% of the cloud icons were showing rain. Yet, the forecast is FINE.

That's NOT a forecast. Aside from the fact that it's all a lie, how can you stand in front of 90% rain and not really address it????

These people need weather people who aren't afraid to tell the truth.

You can't trust the weather forecasts before stepping out onto the trails. Our QCT walk was supposed to see only 2 days of rain - Thursday/Friday. It rained every day/night, with two days showing clearing at points.

Fine.

Go figure.