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Published: March 1st 2006
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Golden Bay and the amazing beach
This beach is just amazing, combined with forest hills, it is a rare sight Hello all,
Been not so long since the last update but I managed to do so many things:
I went to golden bay which was completely amazing, you see a wonderfull beach surrounded by a forest and rocks in all kind of shapes and all that in a 30 minutes walk.
Ofcourse we went further and did a few hours, but it was really great. Golden bay is also an area of very relaxed hippi people so you have a very relaxed and cool atmoshpere.
We stayed at a house of a very weird german couple who had a sheep as a pet, it was pretty nice.
From there we went to the nelson lakes area and did a track there, we had a forecast of bad weather so we took a route that is more suited for bad weather, and indeed the 2 first days we had bad weather, first time i walked in NZ completely in the rain, inside mud. But it was a nice a exeperience and there were TONS of waterfalls, after 2 days we got to the angelus hut which is a hut at 1600 meter, surrounded by lakes and mountains, but we could hardly see
The windy beach
It was so windy you felt like the wind is going to take you away any second anything because of the bad weather.
The next days was even worse weather and we were running out of food, we were about to go down back through another way which is suited for awful weather, but a few people we met on the hut that night in the track offered to share some food with us so we could stay another day in the hut, these guys were local newzealanders and we had a great time with them. Since we were stuck in the hut(it's like a cabin with shelter and a place to sleep in tracks) we played a lot of card games and big group games, It was actually a lot of fun.
The next morning we woke up at 6 am and went to climb mount angelus, which is an unmarked route from the hut, we climbed the mountain and the view was really spectecular, i was surrounded by snowy mountains and ridges, and couldn't see anything civilized for a few kilometers, this was without doubt the best site I saw in NZ till then.
We then climbed down back to the hut, jumped to bath in the lake near it, which is pretty freezing!!.
After
that we all went down back to our cars, and we took the route that goes through a Ridge of mountains, also an amazing route.
It was a great day, amazing views and very tiering, I came back with a very bad knee.
In the hut we met an israeli girl and took her with us for a few days, from there we continued to the west coast of the south island
At the west coast we slept in an amazing place with views to the sea, the amazing thing is that in this territory which is like 5 times bigger then israel there are only 30000 people, you really feel like very remote villages there, there biggest "city" there has 13,000 people.
We slept at an israeli backpacker, was very nice to have some israeli feeling and we met a few nice people there, 2 israeli girls who joined us from there to the glaciers.
Yes you heard me right, glaciers, in the west coast of NZ right near the sea there are 2 big glaciers, called Frank joseph and Fox, they are huge and all ICE.
We did a full day tour and walked on ice for 6
Some cows and sheeps
Well this is what you usually see in new zealand, more sheeps and cows then people hours on the frank jospeh glacier, it is pretty amazing, you walk on blue ice walk through ice caves and holes, something you don't really do ever, but actually after a while i got bored 😉, still a very nice day, and it's funny how your guide has to build ice stairs for you.
From the glaciers we went to a track called the copeland, the track is pretty boring nothing special, it's only one night, but at the end of the first day, near where you sleep, there is natural HOT pools, like a spa. And you can see from there the view of mount cook and all the New zealand southern alps. it's great after a 6 hours walk to just sit in hot water and relax, it was great.
After the track we drove to wanaka, this is already the main part of the south island, and probably the main part of my trip to NZ, this is the heart of new zealand, from here all the most beautifull walking tracks go out and all the main attractions for tourist are.
Wanaka is a beautifull small town right on an amazing lake, the views there are incredible,
So much wind
Yea if there was no fence,I would fall we did a day walk of 3 hours called the rob roy which leads you to a mountain with a glacier and snow, and also went to cinema paradiso a very nice cinema in wanaka which is famous all over, it has couches instead of seats and even a car you can sit in, it has a very old style feeling to it, and in the half time they make amazing choc chip cookies. I ate 2 of them, and an ice cream, was really good.
In wanaka i met with ron again, and we left on a track together with amir who did the queen charlotte wit us and 2 more girls, and a lifter we took. we were 7 all togehter.
We also met another 6 israelis who were gonna do the track, so we went out as 13 israelis!!!
This track is called the gillespi pass and it is considered to be very beautifull, the problem is that it's a bit hard and we went out very late, already on the first night one of the girls got injured in the middle of the way, now we didn't know that and when we reached the hut(me daniel
Relaxing and having some hot choclate
Me and daniel taking some time off the walking and our lifter) we saw that no one else is coming and it was already getting dark, ron managed to get there before dark but all the other 9 israelis slept outside in the bush!!.
We went back the next day down a bit and saw them, we had to carry the girl that got injured and her pack to the hut which was empty since it's very small, we then walked to the next hut and told the guardian of it that the girl is injured, he walked back to that hut and got a helicopter for her, it was very exciting and we were even in the newspaper, well she was but we were the friends who went to call for help 😉.
All in all the track was amazing, we saw a lake that is half frozen, walked in a valley surrounded by mountains, but i guess views are not intresting to hear about anymore, I enjoyed it, but it was a tough experience, also on the last day we had terrible weather again, and got completely soaked, at least we took a jetboat out of the track, which was very fun.
And that's it, now i
Nelson Lakes
Without doubt,one of the most beautifull places in the world, the best track i did till now am going to queenstown, which is the biggest tourist city in NZ, and I might jump bungi who knows, we'll see if i have the balls for it.
Hope you are all going great, my trip in nz is already 2 months, and I am feeling used to travelling now, but sometimes I really miss home and everything around it.
So write me some mails, and tell me what you think of the photos, I update my blog with photos sometimes without updating the text, so check it from time to time to see new pictures
also daniel put a lot of picutres on the net on
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=elvw8kx.gvd6ks5&x=0&y=1h7bik
There are a lot of my pictures there so go check it out.
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Guy
non-member comment
Man.
Really glad to see you're visiting all the great tracks I've heard about, NZ really does have some amazing scenery. Kinda reminds me of Switzerland, a lot of great tracks and views there too. Also good to hear nothing bad happened to you for 2 whole months of trekking, no injuries or thieves and what not, just keep at it ;) Think I'll get a camera and take some pictures of everybody next time we meet, so you could see what's going on with us too (Nir is in a yeshiva! Bet you didn't see that coming!) Keep having fun, wish I could be there with you, I miss you and your stupid, stupid yetziot :) Take care!