Blogs from Arthur's Pass National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

15th April ’12 FJ to Christchurch Not a lot of sleep last night due to incredibly hot throbbing sand fly bites, they itch worse than mossie bites, my fingers now resemble a pound of extra thick pork sausages and I can’t get my ring on! Thankfully I still have some anti- histamines knocking around in the medicine kit and my Boots anti-histamine bite cream. So today’s hitch hikers were a couple of lovely young Danish lads called Soren and Mik, only 21 years old bless ‘em and 3 months into their 6 months of travelling. We picked them up as they had the nouse to make a sign saying split fuel cost. Poor guys were squashed in the back seat with their packs as the boot was full of ours and our grub! Still they didn’t ... read more

So here’s the story of how things went down in New Zealand. On the second Friday and Saturday of February every year the world’s elite Multisport Racers and the weekend warriors gather in Kumara (a small village) on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand to attempt to cross the country as individuals or paired teams. Everyone gathers at the town hall for a pre race banquet and race briefing on the Thursday evening and this is preceded with registration at the local racecourse where 95% of competitors camp out awaiting their event. The 2 day individuals and teams start their event on the Friday morning at 6am when the support crews leave the competitors and head to the first transition area at a place called Aiken’s corner and the competitors cycle 5km ... read more

I wish the car is red, I wish the car is red, I wish the car is red…. And… It turns out to be blue. Well, as long as the rental car can run smoothly, I can live with that ha ha. I told M I’m sorry I forgot my driver’s license, which means he has to drive until end of our South Island circle. “You don’t look genuinely sorry”, he said. I just grin. I sincerely forgot to bring it, but I seriously don’t think he’ll ever let me get behind the wheel anyway. There are basically 2 paths that you can take to reach Queenstown from Christchurch: via Arthur’s Pass, or via Mount Cook. I chose the combination of both. We will go via Arthur’s Pass first, and after reaching Queenstown we will enroute ... read more

Great hike today, weather perfect. Went through the Mountains of Arthur's Pass National Park - 9 to 10 miles. Quite technical up and down, beautiful scenary. Got to see Magic Mushrooms, will try to download the picture here - they are the hallucingentic type of mushrooms. The story of Santa Claus comes from these mushrooms and the administering of them in the Norwegian area of the world. They create visions of red and white (Santa Claus colors) and think you have super human strength (able to have reindeer fly). They have what they call a braid river, the path changes on a plateau in the valley and looks like a braid. Try to upload some of that also. Trivia - outhouses are called LONG DROP. :). Getting ready to have a recovery a beer before dinner... ... read more

March 4, 2011 - Carrington Hut After the last tramp, I needed some rest. And I got it. Several very nice rest days. Before too long though, you start to feel the itch to get back out. We had made our way to Christchurch to resupply at Jim and Helen's. We headed out and drove to Lake Clearwater to camp for the night. It was very windy, but we managed to find a place to camp in some trees, which provided shelter from the gales. In the morning we drove by Mount Sunday. The small green bump lies in the midst of a gigantic green valley. What makes it cool is that it is where Edoras, the capital of Rohan was built and filmed for the Lord of the Rings. Starring at the hill, I allowed ... read more