There are not enough words to describe my adventures, but I tried to use as many as possible

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And here is a VERY LONG account of my further travels on the South Island and the time up till now back on the North Island (my advice to everyone except my parents: just look at the pics).

I already mentioned before that I stayed in Arthur’s Pass for two days. I did two day tracks there. One was Avalanche Peak, an 1100 m height difference to cover. It was a steep and rocky climb, but I managed it in about 2,5 hours. They had warned me for black ice (ice on the rocks you don’t notice, until you’re slipping down I guess), but all was fine. Up there I had a nice view of the surrounding Alps. The next day I did an easier track to Bealey Spur Hut, together with a cool Kiwi guy I convinced to go with me. The view was beautiful. You could see along this wide glacial valley with a braiding river running through it. On the other side of the valley were snow covered peaks with clouds tumbling over them.

Next I went to Christchurch for two days, where I met up with Jim, the American from the Milford track. I‘ve written before that I liked Dunedin, but now I have a new fav Kiwi city: Christchurch.
I mainly went to Kaikoura next to do some whale watching, but in the end did dolphin swimming as well. The boat trip out to the whales was on a rough sea and they gave the official sea sickness warning. Still, half the boat lay vomiting on the floor of the boat while the other half was standing up on deck watching for whales. But while everyone was hanging over one side of the boat looking at the whales, I was at the other side watching the albatrosses. There were sooo many of them! And the rough sea was perfect, because I could study their dynamic soaring technique (for those who don’t know this, my thesis is on dynamic soaring). It was truly amazing to watch. Oh, and the sperm whales were pretty cool too, of course I saw those as well. In the afternoon after the boat trip I finally met up again with Nadja, a crazy German girl I had met before in Queenstown. She had been biking ahead of me around the South Island and now, finally, I caught up with her.
The next day I went swimming with the dolphins, one of those traditional NZ tourist traps. But, man, was it worth the money! You’re being dropped off in the middle of a group of wild dolphins with snorkel gear (me, not the dolphins). When I saw my first dolphin swim past me, my first reaction was: SHARK!! That dorsal fin is misleading, you know, and the day before on the whale trip they did warn us about sharks. Anyway, when you hit the water your mission is to enjoy these magnificent creatures (dolphins, not sharks) so that they stick with you. After a while I had an audience of about 6 dolphins watching me and swimming in circles underneath me, while I was doing duck dives. I have no words for it, seeing these huge animals watching you and connecting with you… AMAZING!

After Kaikoura I went to Nelson from where I was going to organize my tracks in the Kahurangi and Abel Tasman National Parks. The Heaphy track in the Kahurangi NP was beautiful. It was just amazing that every time you cannot imagine how you’re surroundings could change, they do, abruptly. For me this track was all about colors and water. Colors going from golden beaches, to lush green forests, to red tanninen-rich creeks, to multi-colored moss covering virtually everything, to grey-black threatening skies. And, water in moist rain forests, misty highlands, streams everywhere, peat soils and finally in the rain pouring down on me. I walked the track in opposite direction than most others do. Consequence was that I was walking alone from hut to hut. It was nice for a change, just being absorbed completely in your surroundings and your thoughts. Every night I would meet a new group of people in the hut and the next day walk off by myself again in opposite direction.
The first day was a five hour walk along the beach. I had to be driven to the start/end of the track, which took six hours. So I had only four hours of daylight left to cover the distance to the hut. But as soon as I saw those beaches I totally forgot that I had to hurry. When the sun was setting it finally dawned on me that I had to get to the hut. The last bit through the bush I had to use my head torch to see where I was going. Just at the point that I was starting to get really angry with myself for forgetting the time, the bush opened up in front of me and there was the hut. Inside I found surprised faces; nobody understood where I had come from at that late hour. Yes, when staying in these huts, where you only have candle light, you get a whole new sense of day and night. You eat at 5 or 6, when you still have some daylight, and at about 9 you feel like it’s 11 o’clock and you hit the sack!
The next day I had to cover 32.5 km (that’s a lot with backpack). It was supposed to take 9 hours but I expected to cover the distance in seven. So, at 8.30 I was about to leave, when the hut warden asked me where I was going. I replied Saxton Hut and he screamed: ‘WHAT, you should have left already! It’s a long way and on top of that we’re expecting tornadoes in the afternoon!’ Nice… During this whole day I met people at huts who were soaking wet (they all came from the other way, remember) but I did not get any rain that day, let alone tornadoes. The third day though, it was pouring down. But this sort of fitted the surrounding downs (highland flat areas). It all looked so mysterious in the fog. It made me think of that Sherlock Holmes story 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', without the scary, big dog that is.
The fourth and last day, I climbed to the top of Mount Perry. At first there was a white-out when I got to the top, but this soon cleared and the view was beautiful. Unfortunately I had miscalculated the amount of time I had left to get down to the end of the track. So, I literally ran down the mountain to find my pick-up guy telling me he was just about to leave me behind!
That night I slept in a hostel and the next morning that same guy brought me to the most northern end of the Abel Tasman track. Abel Tasman is a beach national park. The northern part of the park cannot be reached by water taxi, so I walked the first beaches all by myself. Can you imagine: blue sky, golden beaches and turquoise water. And everything all to yourself! After crossing a tidal flat I arrived at the hut where I spent my first night below zero degrees. BRRR!
The next morning I had to walk along the fringes of the tidal flat, which was now completely covered by sea water. After taking off my shoes twice to cross water up to my knees I was fed up and just left them on (Gore-Tex does not like salt water though). So with the water still flowing out of my shoes I arrived at the next beach where I was picked up to go sea kayaking. This was awesome. I had never done it, but we had a calm sea and the exercise was great. We visited a seal colony on an island and visited beaches which could only be reached by water. Beeeautiful!

But then, at last, I had to leave the South Island. I left Nelson early in the morning, feeling very tired and a bit sick (walking 100 km in five days took its toll). Upon arrival in Pickton I got the message that the ferry to Wellington was going to leave four hours later because the sea was too rough. Great, I thought, then I can still do a little walk to have a look at the Marlborough Sounds. I climbed a hill and bumped into people I had met in the first hut on the Heaphy track. As with many encounters here in NZ, where you least expect it, you meet people you’ve met before. After a chat I returned to catch my ferry, still oblivious to the fact that a rough sea is not a thing to look forward to.
But when the ferry left the Marlborough Sounds and got out onto the open water this fact hit me, and hit me hard. A week before in Kaikoura I had been so happy to see that I was not getting sick on the boat, when others were fading in and out of consciousness. But this day I was not feeling well to start with and it got worse, much worse on the boat. After three people had asked me if I was ok since I looked ‘not so ok’, I realized I was not doing well. An employee on the ship got me ice cubes and shoved me out onto the top deck to get some fresh air. I sat there for a while too sick to move, but in the end got too cold and went inside. There I fell asleep until the boat arrived in Wellington. When I was waiting in the train station for my bus to Palmy, I got into a conversation with a South-African guy, who could tell me I was completely out of it on that boat. He had been sitting next to me on the deck but I had not noticed him at all. He had been sick as well and said almost everyone on the boat had been in a bad state, so we had some good laughs about it, but we both said in chorus: ‘next time I fly!’

After a week back at work in Palmy I went off to the Tararua mountains for an overnight hike with two English guys turned Kiwi I met on the Routeburn track. It was just the two guys, a dog and me. It was a rainy, stormy trip but it was great. The track was steep and we had to clamber from one rock to the next for a bit. With a backpack on your back it’s already quite an accomplishment to climb. But I can tell you, with the additional handicap of a dog standing in your way or jumping just in front of your feet (and they've got this down to an art) tramping is a whole new experience!
That night in the hut we were freezing our asses off. Although we burned lots of coal the hut did not get warm. The next morning we radioed for a weather forecast and heard the weather was not too bad to go over the ridge. But by the time we got to the highest point on the ridge there was a complete white-out though! It was pouring cats and dogs and the wind was fierce. The only one who did not seem to feel any of this was the dog! Nevertheless, it’s just always so impressive in the mountains, to see how small we are and how strong (and scary) the elements of nature can be… Oh, and I got to see a giant endemic worm and the bulky wood pigeon (finally).

Last weekend I forced Felix to drive us to the Wanganui river for the weekend. We had beautiful weather and the views were great. Being in a nice warm car definitely beats canoeing down that river considering the autumn temperatures now. On the way back we drove along mount Ruapehu (remember, from my first multi-day hike) which is now covered with snow, and the Rangitikei river. Sooo beautiful!

And now I am going absolutely mad at work, finishing my report while at the same time there is construction right outside my office. Days in a row they have been at it with chainsaws to cut down concrete walls! Thank god for headphones...

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