Advertisement
Published: March 7th 2007
Ian...(long one!) We left Riverton and the 90%!o(MISSING)f the tapas meal that we hadn’t managed to eat behind us and set off for Te Anau via the Southern Scenic Route. The view from the van just kept getting more and more impressive the closer we got to our destination. We arrived at our first 5 star campsite and, to be honest, I would have been happy to have eaten my dinner in the toilet block it was so clean! We quickly plugged in the van and went for an explore and to see about picking up our tickets for the walk that we had planned for the day after next and to start the process of buying all the stuff that we would need for the walk. We discovered that Te Anau consists of virtually nothing but bars, restaurants, tour shops, camping shops and a couple of supermarkets - which was fine by us as this is exactly what we needed. The supermarkets stocked a fine range of freeze dried food specifically catering to the backpacker community. It was amazing how many different varieties of meal could be purchased. I decided that I would buy one to try, and
based on our opinion of that meal, we would then either buy loads of these extremely light weight meals or buy normal, heavy fresh food. I selected roast lamb and vegetables and that evening, with a glass of red wine, I had it. It was delicious, so good in fact, that I would happily have eaten another one there and then! Based on this, we went back to the shops the next day and bought the following: A 2 serving pack of cooked breakfast, another roast lamb dinner, a beef hotpot, an apple pie, a strawberry ice cream, a beef burrito, 3 supreme porridge meals for breakfast, a honey and soy chicken, a vegetarian pasta dish, a fish pie, a thai chicken curry and an extra serving of mash and an extra serving of mixed veg! Along with this, we bought 3 packs of cheese, 2 packs of muesli bars, 2 beef sticks and a pack of Jacobs-type crackers. As you can see, we were packing in case world war 3 broke out while we were walking! Next, we went along to a camping shop to hire some 70 litre rucksacks, sleeping bags and cooking implements and to buy some
extra bits and pieces of technical equipment such as whistles and water bladders. Fully equipped, we returned to the van to pack the rucksacks. We just about managed to get everything into them and then had a go at putting them on our backs. Hmmm… We immediately unpacked the bags and discarded half the stuff we had packed on the first try (amazingly, the pack was still full to bursting afterwards!) and gave it another go. I think my pack weighed somewhere between 15 and 17kg, and Rach’s was 12 to 15kg. Just about bearable, but I was not looking forward to having to lug them for 34 miles! The rucksacks were fairly basic ones, and not very adjustable, so it was difficult (impossible really) to get the weight transferred from the shoulders to the hips, so we just had to make do. That evening, we ate at a place called ‘The Red Cliff’. Lovely beers, lovely meal, so I highly recommended it if you are ever in town.
Up early the next morning to find the sun beating down on Te Anau which boded well for the walk! I dropped the van off at the Safer Parking facility
and then made my way back into town to pick up Rachael from the coffee shop that I’d deposited her at, and then we both walked down to the DOC centre to wait for the bus to Te Anau Downs (the start of the trip). It was while waiting that we met a few of our to-be fellow walkers and we all got to know each other a little. One of the guys, Eric, had managed to get all his stuff into a 50 litre rucksack, so a few of us were experiencing serious pack-envy, however, I am glad to say that I lifted his pack a little later in the walk and it was just as heavy as the rest of ours! Our boat also had a lot of the guided walkers on it - I couldn’t help comparing their rucksack sizes with ours - I guess that’s why the guided walk is so expensive - everything is carried for you! The boat trip was relatively uneventful, and we started the walk in high spirits. No sooner had we started it than we were already at the guided walkers’ rest-stop for the night - literally half a mile from
A clever looking Kea
They are apparently one of the most intelligent birds in the world. Don't know if that invloves a written test or something...the drop off point! We could see the refrigerated racks of wine in their dining room as we walked passed and contemplated the tea, coffee or water that awaited us at our hut. I learnt, subsequently, that they had to pay for their drinks and that their bar didn’t open until 5pm, so that made me feel a little better! We arrived at Clinton Hut almost as soon as we started walking too as it was only 3 miles from the drop off point, so we were left to while away the rest of the afternoon and evening getting acquainted with the other 38 walkers and the sandflies. Sandflies are the bane of the walk, I have just taken a quick inventory of myself, and I can count 32 bite marks that I received during the course of the 4 day walk. I think I must have got the first 15 or so on the first day. We had 20% deet with us, but it seemed to do no good at all - the only thing that worked was to cover up completely and stay indoors, and I was hardly going to do that with such scenery to be viewed!
There was a beautiful but freezing river close to the hut, and I dipped my feet in for close to 10 seconds before I had to remove them due to the pain of the cold of this glacier-fed river. The 3 Israeli guys with us dived in and swam for about 10 minutes. Nutters the lot of them - every time we came across a body of water that would have had polar bears reaching for their thermal underwear, the Israelis and Eric (an American chap), and sometimes Rich (an Australian with no sense of personal danger), Charleen (his other half), and Peter and Annette (2 Canadians), dived in and splashed about - mind you, they all were screaming like castratos throughout! Dinner on the first night consisted of freeze dried cooked breakfast for me and soy-chicken and rice for Rach. It was about this time that we realised that we may have made a horrible mistake with the freeze dried option as the food was remarkably bad. Oh dear. Lights went out at 10 and we split into 2 bunkrooms of 20 people per room. I don’t think anyone slept well as there was too much getting up to
go to the loo and snoring and bed rustling and farting. It was pretty gruesome.
Everyone was up, bleary eyed and itching to get going at about 6.30 the next morning, so after an incredibly disgusting freeze dried porridge that made both of us want to throw up, we set off on the second leg of the journey - a ten mile hike over relatively flat ground to Mintaro Hut. It was a beautiful day and the path among the trees created pleasant dapples while the gentle breeze dried the sweat almost instantly. Absolutely idyllic one could say. We came across a group of 5 Keas when we reached our first clearing - we had been warned about them by the warden at the first hut. They are supremely intelligent and have been known to open backpacks and steal things from them after sending their young to distract the unwary traveller. Aviv had a funny tale to tell regarding one of his encounters with these alpine parrots on a different track that he’d done earlier in the year. He and a friend were on the first day of a 5 day hike when they stopped for refreshment. His friend
On the climb up from Mintaro hut to the pass
with Eric, Rich and the back of Charleen. We climbed up here at the end of day 2 as the weather was supposedly going to be cloudy the next day, so we wanted to have a look at the view from on high. This was after a 10 mile hike with a 17kg pack! got out his only pack of cigarettes and had a smoke. Quick as a flash, a Kea stole the rest of his pack while he wasn’t looking. Fortunately, the bird returned after a short while, still bearing the pack and they were able to make the Kea let go of the pack by offering it a date as a trade. They know how to leverage! Rach and I made it past them without incident and continued on past a hidden lake and more scenery than it is possible to take in. If I had one gripe (other than sandfiles) with the track, and it’s only a minor one, it’s that too much of the beautiful scenery is obscured by trees, and once you’ve been wowed by them (they’re pretty exotic), then you just lust after some views of mountains with sunshine on them. Once we got to Mintaro Hut, we decided that, as it was such a beautiful day, we would dump the packs and climb up the pass that we were going to ascend the next day to see the views as the weather forecast predicted clouds and drizzle for the following day. The climb was made hard by
the fact that we had just walked 10 miles with heavy packs, and as we went up, we were imagining having to do it with our packs the next day - not a fun thought! Once we got to the top, the view was breathtaking - you could see the entire length of both the Clinton and Arthur valleys - all the way from where we had walked and all the way we were going to walk. I have rarely seen such imposing grandeur before - you could really feel the presence and power of nature. After a short while at the top, we found that we were sharing the views with about 11 billion sandflies, so we made haste descending for a quick flannel bath and more vomit inducing freeze dried crap before retiring to an 8 birth dorm where I think I managed 4 hours sleep.
The 3rd morning started at about 6.30 again for me in the pitch black of pre-dawn. The morning routine was accomplished by torch light and both Rach and I decided that we could not face another breakfast of freeze dried mulch, so we had a muesli bar each and a cup of
Rachy on the way down from the pass
We had already walked 10 miles before climbing this! tea. The climb back to the top of the Mackinnon pass was not as bad as we had feared as we were on fresh legs, but the view from the top must have been disappointing for those who had not had the energy to climb up the previous day. Clouds covered everything, but the occasional break revealed glimpses of the dauntingly high and steep peaks, giving the whole scene an ethereal and foreboding feel. The climb up was only about 550 metres, but the descent was 974 metres, so we had to take some care that our knees didn’t give way on the way down while carrying our heavy loads as that would have been game over and a helicopter ride to the infirmary had it happened. Once at the bottom of the descent, there was a chance to leave your pack at a day shelter and climb up to see Sutherland Falls - the 5th highest waterfall in the world. A chance we could not refuse! Off we trundled and met Aviv on his way back from them in his swimming trunks. He had managed to climb behind the falls and had been splashing about there for about half
The view of the valley on the next day
Glad we made the effort the day before. an hour - as I said - completely nuts. We stopped for a rest once we got to the falls and sat and contemplated them for quite some time. Eventually, others from our walking group started to arrive and then the other two Israelis turned up and one of them (Gabriel) immediately started making his way over to try to get behind the falls. He got really, really close and started making noises like a Yak giving birth and then had to retreat as he said that the wind that was being generated by the falls was too powerful to get right behind and that the water was freezing. One of the ladies on the hike, Lisa, saw him try and decided she would go for it too. Off she shot whooping like a lunatic while her husband, Rich, stood ready to take a photo. She stood very close to the back of the falls while he took her photo - “you’d better not have cocked up that photo or your going to be in a lot of trouble!” was heard to be said. Eric and another guy called Rich arrived and stripped down to their shorts and gave it
a go. I have a video of Eric trying to make it into the Darwin award shortlist by standing directly underneath the cascade of the 5th highest waterfall in the world with his arms outstretched screaming like a man who has had his privates trapped in his flies. It’s very, very funny. Gabriel, seeing Eric and Rich make it all the way into the falls, screamed “Wait for me!” and ran back under too - like I said, no sense of personal danger J
We made it to Dumpling hut without further recourse to water-fuelled fun and set about making dinner. I went for the freeze dried lamb which was, again, lovely. Just goes to show - only take with you what you’re sure you’re going to be able to eat. Next time, it’s fresh food all the way for us, and bugger the weight! That evening we were treated to a fantastic lecture by the Ranger - a real outdoorsman called Ross who could have doubled for the jolly green giant he was so tall. He had some fantastic quips like “Now, when you get to sandfly point, I want you all to remember that this is a national
park and that it’s the natural home of the sandfly, so I don’t want to see too much of this (slapping his arms) when you get there - just gently brush them off!” What a character. I made a quick side trip when it got dark to go and see some glow-worms. I wandered along in complete darkness to the location and stood there with no light until I got spooked and went back - I can be such a girlie sometimes! I counted five of the little buggers, so hardly worth the effort. I should have waited until much later when it was pitch black and then I would have seen thousands. Ah well, at least I can tick the glow worm box.
The 4th and final day started with a very light drizzle that dried up pretty much as soon as we started to walk. The views were, as usual, spectacular - especially MacKay falls - Southerland may have been the highest in NZ, but MacKay are the prettiest - like something out of a fairy tale. We made a break at Giant Gate falls where there was a rest stop with mercifully few sandflies. Annette and Peter
were the first ones in the water this time and my word it looked cold! They were shortly followed by Eric and Aviv who were competing to see who could get closest to the falls by swimming into the current - both screaming at the coldness of the water. It’s fun to watch other people torture themselves to entertain you - very considerate of them! A quick march on to Sandfly point and then a hop of 20 minutes on a boat to a waiting coach and then back to Te Anau. And thus ends the walk. Those of us who were in Te Anau that evening met up at a bar called the Ranch where much alcohol was consumed and promises of visits made. Altogether, the hike was very tiring and very enjoyable, made all the better for the people we shared it with.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0693s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Robin
non-member comment
Glow worms
Ian, I don't think "5 of the little buggers" counts, to tick the box, you have to see "thousands of the little buggers" as your sis and I did in Waitomo. But still, a brave effort to walk out in the dark alone! Lovely photies, even the one of Rach wincing at being bear hugged by David, glad you had a great bunch of fellow walkers to enjoy it with, 34 miles on your own, might have drawn more loving comments from you about your wife! Keep on posting. By the way - S60 is being dropped!