Gone Missing

Besides the obvious fact that we are having too much fun over here, a prominent reason we seem to have gone missing for large periods of time is because well, we have been. We have been missing in a good way, missing from civilization, but certainly not missing out on the mountains and rivers. In the month of March, we were on the trails for twenty days. Rest days were few and far in between, usually with time spent eating, sleeping, showering, and drinking a few beverages.

After Nelson Lakes, we scrambled up to Avalanche peak with still sore legs, literally climbing up some parts of the "trail." At the top we looked out up hanging glaciers and jagged peaks and valleys stretching into the distance. From here we spent a day sightseeing the massive Fox and Franz Josef glaciers but knowing Queenstown was ahead, we saved our money and bypassed the guided hikes. Then it was time for a hike to Welcome Flat Hot Springs. What isn't relaxing about a hot spring, right? Thats what we thought too.

So there we were, staring across a muddy and flooded river 10 miles into the wilderness. Due to the six inches of rain that decided to grace our hike with its presence, I was so wet I couldve jumped right into the river and not have noticed the difference. The trail we had come in on had literally turned into a flooded stream bed. Twenty minutes from a hot spring after a ten mile hike in torrential rain and we were stumped. Earlier in the hike we had crossed countless other flooded streams, many of which were bridged. Here was the worst crossing of all and the Kiwis apparently decided no bridge was necessary. There was nothing to do but turn around in utter misery and tramp three or so miles back to the sign we had seen for Architect Hut. This is when the rain decided to turn off and show some blue skies purely to mock us. A little while later I trudged into the tiny hut behind Jonathan and Dan who quickly noticed the number of bunks/mattresses (two) and quickly I was without a bed. After a relatively nice evening, hot spring not included, we settled into bed and in my case, onto as many articles of clothing we could muster for padding. This was about the time when 50,000 mosquitoes and sandflies filtered into our hut through some sort of hole. So we spent a night slapping our faces and tensely waiting for another one to come slowly buzzing by our ears. The next morning we tramped out in foul moods.

From here we headed to the already described Queenstown which is surrounded by some of the best wilderness and mountains in the world.

The Rees- Dart

Day one had us hiking up the Rees valley through boggy river flats and through beech forest to our intended hut. Once we arrived though, we decided to continue on and make the two days of hiking into one. This turned out to be one of our best decisions on the trip. So with already tired legs we set out and climbed over Rees Saddle and made the long painful descent to Dart Hut.
Day two- A day hike through a wide, glaciated, and rocky river valley draped with glaciers with a steep climb up to Cascade Saddle. This saddle has some of the most beautiful views in New Zealand which is saying something. We had beautiful blue skies and overlooked the gigantic Dart Glacier the churned down the mountainsides into the the river flats. Rumblings of rock and snow slides echoed from the mountainsides regularly. On the other side of the saddle we looked out to Mt. Aspiring, a gorgeous pyramid shaped peak covered in snow and windswept clouds. We sat on the sheer cliff edge and ate our well-deserved pita sandwiches in the most beautiful spot I have ever been to. If we had taken the usual two days to get to Dart Hut, we would not have seen any of this because the weather moved in the next day.
Another rain-soaked day and we hiked out. Jonathan caught the bus out and came rumbling down the road in our 4wd van, splashing through the ten or so stream crossings. On the way out we engaged in an easter egg hunt for Big Jolly's hubcaps which apparently decided to fall off one by one on the rocky and wet road. So we drove the 10 miles searching the landscape until somebody yelled "theres one!" and jumped out to retrieve it. We are now down to two which we have strategically placed on the left side so when we pass backpacker vans with girls in them, we can still look slightly classy.

We concluded our backpacking with the Routeburn Track combined with the Greenstone Track. The Routeburn is a Great Walk so we stayed in gigantic huts that resembled hotels with all of the people milling around. A day above bushline, some swimming in the frigid Mackenzie lake, and we entered the Greenstone valley, which is famous for its trout fishing. With Dan drooling at the fishing possibilities, we spent two days backpacking with rod in hand stopping to fish the green pools and riffles. The fish were big and stubborn. I got a big rainbow on land only to see it snap my line and wriggle back into the water as I sprinted after it. Dan, who had been stumped the day before, finally got some luck and pulled four sizeable fish out of the water before we headed out.

This completed our backpacking section of the trip. With some beautiful mountains, glaciated valleys, long calf-burning climbs, frigid rivers, and friendly hutmates seared into our memories, we set out to be van gypsies once again.