last week in NZ!!

well, i had about a week left.and too much i still want to do.
so i decided to do things fast...
on the 14th i drove from picton to makarora, stopping only to rest and eat.though i already went through all this road, it was really a beautiful way.and since it snowed in the south, part of the way looked really different.
i got to makarora quite late, and being too lazy, i decided to sleep in the car.but at ~3am i had enough, got my mattress and slept just next to the car.at ~5am i had enough of that and went back into the car ;)at ~7am i just got up and started my day...
i went to the visitor center to check about the wilkin-young circuit. I was told that the rivers are high and i should get a water taxi.but they opened at 9, so i waited.when they opened, they told me they have a boat going out there in about 20 minutes.i booked it, and booked a boat back for the next day at 15:30."that's a quick pass through the gilespi. you're aware that you're doing 3-days-walk in 2 days?"i felt no point telling him that the water taxi back, cutting the tramp by ~20 km makes it a 2 days tramp. i just said yes...
they had some delays, and eventually i only started hiking on 10:20.it was my hardest day in NZ.32 km, over the gilespi pass.i got to the hut at around 20:10. almost 10 hours of walking, with very little rest (mainly to take photos).and the climb itself was quite steep.and i didn't have breakfast (i thought i had 20 minutes to get all organized), and didn't have time for a real lunch)but it was beautiful. so beautiful!!snow-capped mountains...and a lot of snow! i even had to cross some snow patches...
getting to the hut i was told that there was a big cancellation, and i can forget about the jet-boat i booked...so the next day, instead of having a nice hike to a nearby lake, i walked out.almost 30 km.including crossing 3 rivers.one of them waist deep.by the way, you only have to cross one river, and even quite a shallow one.but i listened to the advice from the guy at the hut, and so...
but it was a nice day as well, and certainly didn't spoil the first day:)
coming out i drove to queenstown, and camped close by.there was a "severe weather warning" for the next day, so i wasn't sure about my plans.but waking up for a nice day, i spent some time in queenstown and started going up the rees at around 12:20.my plan was to go all the way up the rees, to the "dart hut"i remembered that i checked it out and saw that even if i start at 12, it's gonna be ok.i always walk faster than the doc times...but after about an hour i found out that the doc time was 10 hours.
so i should hurry...
and so i did.
it took me 7 hours and 20 minutes.and the walk was really very beautiful.it reminded me of the greenstone - wide, nice valley - but more dramatic. and the surrounding mountains had snow on them!i had very nice views from the rees saddle as well, mainly down the snowy Ck.
about an hour before the hut i saw 2 mountain deers! first time i saw wild deers in NZ! they are called Shami (that's phonetic... the real spelling is in French, so i don't even try)
i got to the hut a bit tired, but very happy.
the next day started cloudy and rainy, so after breakfast i saw everyone out, and went back to bed with a book.i slept a little, and waking up i saw that the weather is fine.
so i went to the cascade saddle.a-m-a-z-i-n-g !!!it's situated so beautifully! between to snowy peaks, on one hand there's the dart glacier and the dart river and on the other it drops about 1000 m (sheer cliff) to a nice glacier valley.beautiful!!!one of the best lookouts i had in NZ.and of course - it had snow on it...i spent there about half an hour in an ecstasy, and when i was to cold i went back to the hut.on the way back it started raining a bit, but it was still ok when i got to the hut.a couple that came later had snow with harsh winds when they crossed the rees saddle...
the following day i went out through the rees again, this time with a swiss gut named rene, who i took with me to glenorchy.it was nice, hiking with somebody again.and the rees was still just as beautiful.this time i climbed a little further from the rees saddle, and had some nice views up the snowy ck.
next day i drove to the banks peninsula.on the way i had a flat tire, and some nice views of mt cook.the banks peninsula was nice, but i was busy "summarizing" NZ...
i spent the night at some beach there, and hoped for a nice sunrise. but the morning was really foggy, so i left early, and went to amberley.i met with carolyn, and we had a nice evening.
on the 22nd i packed my stuff we said our goodbyes, i brought the car back to the rental company, and flew to hong kong.bye NZ.
I hope to come again.I plan to come again.
such a great country.so much fun!

lesson- there's something more painful for the knees than a steep climbing down. a steep climbing down through snow...

relevant albums...
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b47f10576
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b478b050c

routeburn, greenstone and the way north

on the 6th we started the routeburn. another "great walk". lots of people, almost paved path, very accessible. this time we cut it short in advance, and booked it as a 2 days walk (instead of 3).and we combined it with the greenstone to an almost circular 4 days tramp (we cut the greenstone in a day as well).
we didn't expect too much, though people said it's really good. but people said it about the heaphy as well...
the day started cloudy but nice. later it became really rainy. pouring rain.
and it was so amazing! walking in the rain was sometimes really very annoying, and we were soaking wet, but it was a bit of adventure as well. and the views... everywhere you looked you could see a waterfall.every mountain slope held 4-10 gushing waterfalls.it was just so beautiful!
we walked as if in a dream. so maybe we're still hungry for views after all (as opposed to what we felt on the dusky).
the rain didn't really stop these whole 2 days, and we were completely soaked, but really happy. we even had to go through a waterfall in some point. we went through a saddle, and saw a few lakes, and it was just so beautiful. but the waterfalls were the really amazing part...
the greenstone was really nice as well, though much more relaxed. walking in a wide, beautiful valley. nothing dramatic, but much better than i expected. and it was sunny and warm and beautiful.
the first night on the greenstone we met an israeli girl, who came through the greenstone, and she had the most frightening experience. due to the rain, she had to cross waist-deep streams, and she was alone, and inexperienced. she was about to give up and go back, but some american guy took her through it...she was really shocked. we did it a day after, and the water barely got into our shoes...
Maayan and I decided that the routeburn-greenstone was really one of our best hikes in NZ. in the same level with the taranaki and the traverse-sabine. so much fun!!!:)
anyway, having such a great hike, and the last hut being really very very nice and friendly, and not having much time left, Maayan and Yuval decided they don't want to do anymore hikes. so we decided to work our way northward, so that they can cross to the north island on the 14th (we finished the greenstone on the 9th).
and so we did. on the 10th we drove north, stopping on a few lookouts, doing some short walks near haast pass- we went to the "blue pools" - freezing water but a lot of fun!- we climbed up to a lookout above haast pass itself- a few lookouts on waterfalls on the way.
we finished the day at lake matheson .it's a lake near fox glacier, where in good weather you can see mt cook and mt tasman reflecting in its water.we had good weather.and we were there for sunset. amazing!!!so amazingly beautiful!
the next day we were having breakfast in franz-joseph glacier village, when a chopper went above us. yuval and maayan looked at one another, and after a while went to check the prices...they went on a heli-ride.and they were even upgraded...they had the most incredible time ever, flying above both glaciers and seeing mt cook from the air!
the following day we drove northward, yuval took a water taxi along the abel-tasman park, and we went to the farewell spit area. we had a few nice hours, but nothing too exciting. nice beaches, the northern-most tip of the south island.we didn't see baby-seals playing in tide-pools like yuval saw when he was there...Yuval, on the other hand had really great time. the views from the water taxi were good, and he saw a pod of orcas!!
next day we had a nice breakfast in Nelson, and drove to picton. coming back to the juggler's rest for the 3rd time, it felt like coming back home. and niki, the girl remembered us, and treated us as special guests (giving us the special jam for ourselves and stuff) .and in the evening she put up a really nice fire show. it was really a nice day, with a good bye dinner and all.
the next morning i left them and hit the road back south...

this time - 2 lessons- it seems that some places look much better when it's raining...- even a "great walk" can be really great!

relevant albums...

http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b47f9057e

http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b47f48443

the dusky and wanaka

coming back from the catlins, we got some topographic maps, a locator beacon, and were ready for the hard, suitable-only-for-the-most-crazy-experienced-hikers tramp in NZ - THE DUSKY.It's a 8-10 days tramp, but not having enough days we decided to venture just a little in - 2 days in, turning around, and getting out the same way...
We took a water taxi to the trail head and started the tramp.
Starting the trail, a tour bus stopped for a few seconds and carried on. We could almost hear the driver saying - while pointing at us - Pay attention, not everyday you can see something like that! These 2 trampers are going on the most dangerous tramp - THE DUSKY! they just don't know what's awaiting them.
Well, we walked a few hours in the muddy, over-grown tramp, and got to the hut.i fell once and got muddy, but nothing too exciting. much less fun the M-Day in the Taranaki.
The hut was very nice and cozy.And being swarmed with sand flies on the outside, so we just stayed in.
the following day we climbed to a beautiful saddle, with very good views.it was quite spectacular, but somewhat disappointing as well. we heard so much about the dusky, that we were waiting for something really extraordinary. and it wasn't. it wasn't better than the traverse-sabine in nelson lakes N.P. for example.
well, that's life.
anyway, at least we did enjoy the views...
standing there, on the saddle, we saw someone climbing up from the other side. so we waited for him before heading down. talking to him we understood that we won't have any nice views from there to the hut - only muddy path through the forest. so we did it again - we decided to cut the dusky one day shorter.
we left our stuff at the saddle and climbed to a nearby peak - Mt. Memphis. the views were really nice, but not as thrilling as we expected. we realised we're not as hungry for the views as we used to be...
what a lousy way to begin our last month in NZ... Maayan even started thinking seriously about bringing her flight a few days forward...
it was weird. sitting in such a beautiful sopt and feeling bitter disappointment. maybe we did have enough...
but it was still magnificent!
anyway, we went down, got our backpacks and started on the knees-breaking climbing down back to the hut. we were very glad to get to the hut eventually.
the next day we headed out, took a water taxi back to manapouri, and met Yuval in the evening. we had a relaxing evening.
so, though we had fun and good time doing the dusky, we were disappointed. it seems that the dusky is more about the challenge than about the scenery. but we're not there for the challenge... in NZ terms, we don't care about the "demanding" part - we're in for the "rewarding"...
the next day Yuval went on a tour to the dusky sound, while we had a rest day.
Maayan's mom fixed her with a flight on the 17th...
in the afternoon, when he got back, we drove to queenstown, dined out, and carried on to Wanaka, where we spent the night.
the next day we just relaxed in the city, and even went to see "charlotte's web" in "cinema paradiso". it's a really nice cinema, with old sofas for sits (and there's even a car), and at break time you can have freshed baked cookies...it was really nice. it's a good children movie, and the atmosphere was perfect :)
but after the movie i'd had enough of cities. so we did some "backcountry camping" about 20 minutes out of wanaka, towards Mt. Aspiring.
we had an incredible night!
it was so much fun!
Yuval and Maayan had some beers, and we just sat there, listening to pink floyd, watching the sunset and the moonrise. it was full moon, and he was huge and very bright, and it was amazing. and the weather was so nice that i slept outside the tent...:)
we spent the next day in wanaka, including a few nice hours in the puzzling world - a labyrinth and an exhibition of optical illusions. it was really good fun.
later we drove to glenorchy, from which we were to start the routeburn the following day. what a beautiful place! a small town, on a lake, among these magnificent mountains.
and the lesson - all the kiwis, when they are kids have a brainwash about 3 things:- you see a possum - you kill it.- milford is the most beautiful place on earth.- only the most crazy people go on the dusky and they are "putting their life in their hands".
relevant album...
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b47e30564

the catlins

On the 26th, after another night in Te-Anau, we decided to hit the road again, and go to the "catlins". And so we did.
We spent 2 days driving there, driving around there, and driving back.But during this two days we also had a few "points of interest".
First "the nugget point". Nice place, with really neat rocks in the ocean, just off the shore.We watched them all from the head of a nearby cliff. And of course, there were seals playing far below us...
After that we went to some beach where we saw some sea lions. huge, funny creatures. We saw a few adults and some playful calves, and we got quite close to them.
Next thing we tried to see some hector dolphins in a place called curio bay, but the harsh winds made the sea impossibly rough :(
Later still, we saw the sunset near the southern most point of the south island - "Slope Point".
On the whole, we had 2 nice days, though a lot of driving...
the weekly lesson - driving can be tiresome.


and the relevant album...
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b47d8846f

the kepler

On the 23rd we started the Kepler.It was a very nice hike, with huge huts, almost-paved trail and lots of people.Great walk...We had excellent weather through this whole hike.
The second day was really lovely, most of it we spent above the bush line, and had great views of lake Manapouri, the surrounding snow-patched mountains and of UVM - an impressive mountain that Yuval adopted (UVM = YuVal's Mountain) and we could see it most of the hike.But the rest of the time was bush walking. beech forest.Being very, completely, absolutely tired of beech forest, we decided to take a day off, and did it in 3 days instead of 4...
But we had good time on this hike. It was fun, walking the 3 of us, and as I said, the 2nd day was really worth it.
And the weekly lesson:The great walks are different from the other NZ hikes. First, the huge huts are crowded but more lonely - in those huts everyone mind their own business, while in the smaller huts people talk a lot more.Second, the paths themselves are much better maintained on the great walks. Almost paved...Another thing is the official walking times. They are really exaggerated for us. We walk about twice as fast.

and the relevant album...
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b32b47dd055a

WOW!!!

Well, as you surely remember, we spent the 19th in nelson.
Re-supply, re-fuel, re-lax.But after that, we left nelson, aiming for the glaciers.Yuval wanted to hike on the glacier the next day...
We drove there, and just before the glaciers there's a place called Okarito.If you recall, I spent the night before my glacier-walk there.
And my ride said you can sometime see kiwis there.
It was already around 23, so we decided to give it a chance.
It felt quite pathetic, driving through this road at 10 kph, seeing nothing, but it was exciting as well.
And then...
We saw...
No, not a kiwi - a possum...
And then 2 cars.
Maybe they saw a kiwi? We stopped, but they ignored us, so we drove away.
Slowly...
We finished the "kiwi zone", turned around, and slowly worked our way back.
Those cars were still there.
This time they pulled us over, and getting out they showed us, with red torches, a male kiwi freezing in the bushes!!!
We couldn't believe our luck!
A male kiwi!
We could only see his head and his funny beak, but still!!
And not "just a kiwi" - one of the rarest kind - "Okarito brown"!
Only ~250 left in this colony, the only one in the world...
Wow!
We were speechless.
And then, there was some noise, and they turned their lights, and we saw a female kiwi, on the road, approaching us...
She got to less than 0.5 m from Yuval! About a meter from me...
It was incredible!!
And then she went into the bushes, found the male and chased him around... Now we couldn't see them anymore, but we could definitely hear them...Wow!!
WOW!!
The next few days we spent driving to Te-Anau, meeting up with the two Floes, going to the Milford sound and relaxing before going on the Kepler trek - a famous New Zealand "great walk".
We ate very well, and Floe even taught me how to bake stuffed bread...I baked one with zucchini, onion and feta, and one with blue cheese and peanuts.I liked them both. The rest didn't appreciate the genius just as much...
On the 22nd Yuval and me went kayaking for a couple of hours in the famous Milford sound.It was a sunny day, and we could see all the peaks around - even the most shy ones... At some point the whole guided group (4 kayaks + the guide) got together, opened a sail, and let the wind take us...It was really fun!What a nice way to celebrate 3 months in NZ :)
The lesson of this week - you don't have to go to Stewart island to see kiwis...

and the relevant album...

the heaphy and the wangapeka

On the morning of Feb. 12th we woke up early, ready to start the Heaphy trek.
82 km, great walk, lots of praises.

The plan - meet Emily (the American girl from the Tongariro and that hunted us down on the Taranaki) at the trail head, walk it in 4 days, meet the "new" Floe on the last night, and walk the last day with him. and the day after, Maayan and I were to begin the Wangapeka (4-days-hike) at the end of which Yuval was to meet us for a day hike on the slopes of Mt. Owen.

that's so far as the plan goes.
In reality, things were a bit different.

By the time we got to the trail head Emily gave up on us and started off. We met her only after a few hours walk...
The walk itself was somewhat boring for us. First, the trail went a long time in a forest, and not a magnificent one.Second, even when we got "above the bush line", it was a flat area, and nothing nearly as exciting as we got accustomed to in NZ.And last, the trail was really well maintained, and wide enough to walk side by side, and you just felt as if you were going in an urban park or something, not really going "out there".That, plus Floe having very little time left in NZ, made us decide, at noon, on the 2nd day, to try and make it in 3 days instead of 4. Even though Emily did enjoy it, and decided to stick to the original plan.
So we did the 82 km in 3 days, making 25-32 km a day.
On the second day we had a few places with nice moss-covered trees.The third day was really very beautiful. Once we got to the sea, the coast line was quite magnificent even if not thrilling (for us) as snow capped mountains.We didn't know what to do with Floe, and decided to walk the trek, knowing that when we'll run into him we might have to turn around and go back to he hut with him.We met him 5 min. out of the hut, after he walked 16 km.But after 2 minutes talk he just turned and started back.We got out and drove to Karamia, where we stayed at a backpacker.
The next day, after a delicious breakfast, maayan and I got dropped off at the head of the Wangapeka.We spent 4 lovely days on this hike, most of them in a nice forest - we both actually liked walking in that forest!We were supposed to climb 2 saddles. the first, little Wanganui saddle, was brilliant. Really nice views on all directions and even 2 "saddle lakes". Really nice. We could even see the ocean far in the distance...The second saddle wasn't there.I mean, walking in the forest we got to a sign saying "Wangapeka saddle", but it seemed that the saddle itself gone missing...during this 4 days we only met 4 people on that trek, and 2 out of the 3 nights we had the hut all to ourselves :)
Walking a lot along the river, I finally couldn't resist it anymore, and twice did I get into the water :) Maayan joined me on the second time. So cold... So wonderful!
And thus, on the 18th, we got to the shelter at the end of the trek, where we waited for Yuval.And waited.After 5 hours he finally arrived.We were so glad to see him!Or as he put it - we were very hungry ;) We had a long, nutritious dinner, and camped 4 km away, at the foot of Mt. Owen.
But the next day, instead of climbing up the mountain we took Yuval to see a dr. - he had an infected thumb (nothing too serious, but just to be on the safe side).
And the lesson of this week is...Give us, Maayan and Tomer, an easy hike, and we'll make it much harder.

the relevant album...
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b325e81484f7

Monday again.

on Saturday Yuval, a friend from Israel, is coming.
He's landing in Christchurch at around midnight.

So what do I do in the meantime?
Not a trek.
I thought to spend this time on things I probably wouldn't get to otherwise...
So I decided to try and get to the glaciers and Otago peninsula (albatrosses).

So I hit the road, and by ~22 PM, after 7 rides, I was in Okarito.
~10 hours drive from Amberley, and 20 minutes from the glaciers.
The French guy that took me there said he's been working there for afew months now, that I can camp there, and that part of the 10 kmleading from the main road to the village goes through a kiwi colony,from a special type, and he saw them once driving through.
We didn't...
But it was exciting even to have low chance of seeing kiwis...

Anyway, the next morning I got a quick ride to Franz Joseph, where Idid a half-day-tour.
That means ~4.5 hours total, out of which you spend roughly 1.5 hourson the glaciers itself.
Most of the 1.5-hours-glaciers-walking you spend waiting for the guideto do "maintenance" work on the trail. digging the stairs some more, reopening water side-tunnels etc.
But though it was very slow, and I didn't get to walk too much on theglacier itself, it was a lot of fun.
Just plain fun.
Walking on a glacier.
You don't get to do that so often.
Well, I don't...
After I've done with the tour I hitched to the fox glacier, and wentup to the lookout, very close to the glacier face itself. This glacieris situated in a beautiful valley - sheer cliffs carved by the glacieritself (during the ice age, when it was much bigger), nice river, verypretty.
I spent the night nearby in my tent.
Next day I made it to Dunedin.
In only 3 rides, and I got there much faster than I thought :)
I spent ~2 hours looking for a place to pitch my tent, but gave up and stayed in a backpacker.

Next day I went to the Otago peninsula, hoping to see some albatrosses.
My 3rd ride was with 2 Israelis, and as we were driving along, I saw a car parking near the road, and Maayan standing next to it!!
Just as I asked them to stop, the driver muttered "I know her!"...We stopped, hugged, and had a happy reunion. It turned out the guy used to work with Maayan.What a hilarious meeting!!
Anyway, we went to the visitor's center, and talked for a while, standing outside, when this hugest of birds crossed the sky in a magnificent flight.
It was so impressive!
well, like with the whales, I saw only one (I think I saw more, far away,but I'm not sure) but it was so magnificent!!
After a pathetic attempt to see penguins in the daytime, Maayan drove me back to Dunedin, where we parted.
After spending a few hours there I carried on north...
I was taken by Graham.
A nice happy guy, of about 50 years old, glad to share his life experience. We had a lovely chat.
He was going to Palmerston, but I asked him about penguins, and so he took me to a place called tavora reserve, where you can see some.
I pitched my tent, and went to the beach. I spent ~2 hours there, in a light rain, watching the sunset and a few yellow-eyed-penguins.
It was so good!!
Being there, in a beautiful place, not mentioned in the guide books (though a British couple came there as well), watching them penguins...
Such a great feeling.
In a way, getting there, pitching my tent like that, and watching the penguins was the essence of my traveling.
I like hitchhiking so much. & travelling for that matter :)

Next day I woke up early and went to see the sunrise from that beach.Beautiful!And, I saw some more penguins. One of them was standing in the sameplace as last night, and I\'m guessing he was nesting...
Trying to get as close as possible I scared off a seal and a baby seal...
Later I did a short walk around, and saw some more seals & penguins.
afterwards I hitchhiked back to Amberley, and again, met Caroline aday earlier than was planned.

The following day was Feb. the 3rd.
Yuval is coming.
Caroline was on call, so we could do what we want as long as we don't go too far...
So we had a relaxing day.
In the evening we got some ice cream, watched "The World's Fastest Indian" and waited for Yuval.
We picked him up from the airport at ~1:30, and came back.
We talked almost until 4 am before going to sleep...

Next day we met Maayan, and went on some new adventures.

New adventures - new post...

But let's see what did we have in this post...
2 glaciers, 1 albatross, a happy if short reunion, yellow-eyed-penguins, seals, another reunion, and a great feeling of doing the right thing for me.
:)


the relevant albums (old ones, you might have seen them) -
the last part of http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b3257d94c4a5 (only the glaciers)
and http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b325646705f2

Well, last time i left you when maayan left me...

That was on Jan. the 23rd.We agreed on meeting on Feb. 10th, in the wine festival Katie invited us to, or maybe earlier...

By the way, that was the last day of my first 2 months in NZ! Such amazing 2-months!

before i start though, there are photos to along (an old album you might have seen)...
http://www.tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b3257d94c4a5

I wanted to hike with Caroline, but her only free day my whole time there was the coming Sunday.
And now was Monday.
So i decided to try and get to Mt. Cook and be back by Saturday.

So the next day, Tuesday, i hit the road at around noon. The hitching went very slow, and after about 6 hours i only made 2 hours progress.
But than a nice thing happened.
I was picked up by Brandon. Asking me if I'm in a rush, he invited me into his home.
I was in no rush, and so i accepted...
I had very nice time with him, his wife and their 9 months old baby... You know how much i like playing with little kids :)
they have a little farm, with a cow, some sheep, etc. And we dug some potatoes for an excellent dinner...
nice substitute for rice with peanuts in my tent ;)

Next morning they gave me a ride to the next town, where i was picked up by a Christian that 13 years ago came from Indonesia to NZ, and her family originated in china... It was quite interesting talking to her.
After 4 more rides, i got to Mt. Cook village, and started climbing up to Muller's hut.
After a few hours during which i had nice views on Mt. Cook (though the very top was clouded), i got there.
It was really nice climb, and very close to the hut there was a lot of snow - someone even built an igloo there...
Well, i didn't see one in Alaska...

The following day i woke up early to watch the sunrise.At 6 i was already freezing out there... It was cloudy :(
But than it cleared and i saw an amazing sunrise :)
For 30 seconds...And it got cloudy again :(
But after 20 minutes, it cleared again!
So beautiful!!
again - 30 within 30 seconds it got clouded again...And it kept going on and off until 7 am, when the sunrise was over, and i walked back to the hut, and tried to defrost myself with some tea...
Quite stupidly, even though it's an alpine hut (and you pay 3.5 times more than for the regular huts), it was one of the only huts I've been to that has no heating :$ And the kitchen, the warmest room there, was 10 degrees Celsius!!
i waited a couple of hours for the weather to clear and than started down again, with a German guy named john.
Crossing a patch of snow, i fell down and "skied" down on my but...
Than john found a piece of wood someone left there, and did some snow-boarding...
I kept snow-butting...
not by choice though...
Anyway, we got down, enjoying great views of the top of Mt. Cook.
Back in the village, we parted, and soon after i got a ride to the main road, some 60 km from the village. where within a few minutes i got a nice ride directly to Amberely! I thought it will take about a day and a half...
The way was nice, and took us about 6 hours, and i surprised Caroline coming back a day earlier...
We watched the "Lord of the Rings" and went to sleep.

Next day was a quiet day of mainly resting, with some 40 minutes easy bike ride (Caroline's), and in the evening we had dinner with some friends of hers. It was really nice and very funny...

Next day we hike on Mt. Herbert.
It was a really nice hike, and we could see Christchurch and the rugged bay right next to it.
It was really nice hiking with her again...
Both on this evening and on the 23rd, after maayan left, we went to see the Basques festival.
All kind of street performance. Some of them were really nice and some were really stupid.
On the whole, we had a very good time there :)

So what did we have this time?
Brilliant views of Mt cook, parting with maayan, nice hitch that took me in for the night and fed me, snow-butting, watching Christchurch and its bay, amazing yet cloudy sunrise and a Basques festival.

the traverse-Sabine circuit

Jan. 15th.

Monday.

A fine day to start the traverse-Sabine circuit. the 4th consecutive Monday we're going on a tramp.

we started the Tongariro, the Taranaki and "the queen" on the last 3 Mondays.

Well, to be honest, "The Queen" wasn't really a tramp. More like a walk. A long one, but not really a tramp...

Anyway, we started along a nice lake, easy nice walking. We had lunch near the lake head (in a hut originally called "head lake") and carried on along the river, in a beautiful valley. We stopped for the night in a nice hut, after a perfect day.

The following day was even better - we walked for a couple of hours in a nice forest, along the river, and then, walking out of the forest the views were just amazing!

Steep mountains on both sides of the valley.

Brilliant.

Near the next hut, where we had lunch, we saw a regular sign pointing towards traverse saddle. But, in smaller letters... "are you prepared to traverse saddle?"...

well, after lunch we felt ready, so we started off...

We followed the trail to end of the valley, where it took a right turn, and started climbing the steep mountain-side to the saddle.

Just before getting to the saddle, there was a big rock split in half. We took a few funny photos, and carried on to the saddle...

So pretty!! Such great views!!

Snow capped mountains. rugged peaks. Beautiful!!

But than we started descending; a long, steep, scrumbly, ugly descent.

Yuck.

We got to the hut with sore knees.

In the hut we met Katie - a local wine-maker who invited us to come to a wine festival in Blenheim on Feb 10th.

Next day was a short, quiet day, easy walking.

The only problem was that the hut we got to was swarming with sand-flies... The door had been worked on the previous day so it was open for hours...

Morning.

We started off.

After 5 m, maayan stopped, looked up, and asked me "there?".

I looked, and said that I don't think so.

But it was there.

Without any warning or time to get warmed up, the trail took a turn, and we started climbing an almost-cliff.

We climbed that steepest of climbs for 2.5 hours, in the forest, with sand-flies closing in on you whenever you stop.

Maayan, coming out of the forest, said "I thought I'd never see the sun again!!"

Well, after a refreshing break we carried on along the narrow ridge-line. That was the only part of the trip with foul weather. It was very foggy and we could just make out the next marking pole each time. But it was still impressive and misty.Mainly misty ;)

After a couple of hours we could see a beautiful, blue lake. The clouds cleared a bit, and we could see the most inviting angelus hut.

we toured the surroundings, enjoyed yet again clear blue sky, great weather and even greater scenery.

later, in the hut, we met again Elad & Liat - the nice Israeli couple from picton...

So we had good time in the hut, even though we were 25 people in the hut, 13 of them Israelis...

The next day we had some more great views from the peak of angelus Mt. It was really amazing - snow capped mountains everywhere you looked... And we could see almost all our tramp...

Fabulous!! Than sore knees from the climbing down, and a nice evening in the company of Elad & Liat...

About the kiwis and the human-introduced mammals.

When in the 1 of the huts on the traverse Sabine circuit, we met this nice old granny. She seemed like 65 years old and super-fit. She did our 5-days-hike in 3 days.

As she put it "everyone and his favored pace..."

Anyway, she was really a cute old lady, charming, gentle, doing some sudoko.

Until Maayan said that we saw a stoat the other day.

Immediately she raised her head, her features hardened, her eyes turned cold and in a somewhat harsh voice she asked: "did you kill it?".

It was puzzling, almost even scary...

the next day was very bad for hitchhiking. Or rather, for hitchhikers... Two specific poor hitchhikers.

Yes, i mean maayan & me...

We made it from St arnoud to kaikura in just 3 rides, but the total waiting time was 6 hours... It took us about 9 hours only 3 of them we spent in a car...

The next day we went on a whale watching cruise, and we saw a sperm whale!!

Only one whale, but such a magnificent creature!!!

Afterwards we waited for 2.5 hours until we got a ride to amberley, where we met with Caroline (i hiked with her in Alaska).

We used her place as a base, going each day to Christchurch, to extend our visas, shopping etc.

The following day, the 23rd, Maayan's father landed so we parted. But only for less than 2 weeks.

But that's for a new post...

South Island

Hi again.

the south island.

the feeling of new adventures.

But before that - we took a day off and relaxed.

And on the 8th we started "The Queen" - a famous trek called "The Queen Charlotte".

We did only half of it, but in 3 relaxing days. We didn't enjoy it too much, most of the time we walked in a boring forest with no views... And even the views we had weren't thrilling, but between "nice" and "very nice". Nothing that made us want to stop and admire the scenery like we did on the last 2 hikes...

Points of interest along the tramp:

- We had a nice ride with the rural mail to the beginning of the tramp. Funny experience.

- instead of huts they have real lodges along the way. The 1st night we spent in such a lodge. We were the only hikers there, and they were quite amazed by the fact that we carried our pack ourselves - most of the people have their stuff transferred from lodge to lodge... It was a nice lodge, but we felt kind of out of place

- in the morning i took a little kayak and rowed for half an hour. best half hour of the tramp itself!

- on the water taxi back, we had the most amazing part of the whole "Queen" thing - the views were really good, and we saw a pod of Dusky dolphins. ~10 of them, with calves. Such beautiful animals!! That was so exciting! They were really so beautiful! They have a yellow line on the side, and they're just adorable.

Back to picton, to the jugglers' rest, the homey backpacker.

We even met there a very nice Israeli couple - elad & liat.

The following day, the 11th, we hitchhiked to kaiteriteri. It took us 4 rides, and the best part of a day, but we got there, and booked 2 days of kayaking in the abel-tasman starting the very next morning.

We spent the night in a huge campground, where most of the people stay for several weeks (they build massive tents, with fridge and all).

The next day, after some basic explanations and guiding lines we set out to the sea, with guides for almost an hour and than only us and another Israeli couple maayan knew.

We had so much fun, kayaking these 2 days!! It's my first time really kayaking (the Fiji kayaking exp. And the half an hour on "The Queen" don't count), and i really really liked it!

:)

And on the second day we saw a penguin, and lots of seals. We even got really close to the seals, and one of them even swam under our kayak, bubbling air bubbles and playing.

They were so amazing!

When we'd finished, it was raining quite hard, and though we managed to keep our stuff almost dry during the whole two days of kayaking, it all got soaked wet on the open water taxi back...

we took the shuttle to nelson, where we spent the night in a nice little hostel, and dried our stuff as much as we could. Which wasn't really enough...

The next day, Sunday the 14th of Jan. we hitchhiked all the way to St. Arnoud, the gateway to the nelson lakes N.P.

What a week... 2 water taxies, Seals, kayaking, and the duskies!!

from the tongariro to the taranaki and more

Hi.Wow! So much happened since last time i wrote...
[and so much will happen until next time ;) ]
Well, i left you in Turangi. In the backpacker. With a whole groupfrom the hike, most of them going to rotorua the following day.maayan & i decided to go on hiking together. We really got along very well, and it seemed we both want similar things from NZ.But we decided to go to rotorua first.though I've already been there, i wanted to see craig and annettagain, and the whole group going up there was very nice. so there we went.
I talked to the swiss couple in the hostel, and they were going torotorua by car, but they only had room for 2 people, and we were 3(emily, maayan & me).So i told the dutch couple got an easy ride...
Next morning i found out that Mark (also from the hike) is going tolake taupo by car and we all went with him.Mark also took us to see the "huka falls" and the "craters of the moon" - both were nice, even if not much more...than we got a ride with a few maori people. It was a van with noback seats, and we set on a blanket in the back part of the van with a teenager and a little kid.We played with them, talked and laughed and it was really nice. So both emily & maayan enjoyed their first ride very much.
Rotorua.We went to the "secret spot" again, with craig, annett, maayan, emily,hether & the dutch couple, and again it was so great!
next day i did something that is very not "me".
i went zorbing.
they put you into a big ball inside another ball, and roll you along a slope.
you are the center of gravity, so you are always at the bottom, and when ever you try to get up - the ball jusr turn and you on the bottom (both yours and the ball's... ) again.
it was really hilarious!
i spent the rest of the day with craig and annett, and the following day - dec.31st - maayan and i headed to new plymuth, to hike around the taranaki.It took us 4 rides and a few hours to get there. The last couple to take us - brenda and keith - were really very nice and even apologised fornot taking us in for the night because they are going out on a newyear's eve party... But they helped us quite a lot in finding a hostel. And by the way, they have really amazing views of mt. Taranaki fromtheir home. And though it's usually a "shy" mt. We could see the snowcovered peak above the neighbour's house.Amazing!
We were in a nice hostel, and we all gathered in the living room witha guitar and had good fun. But being very tired we both were fastasleep on the turn of the year...
On jan 1st we headed to the taranaki. It wasn't easy, but we got thereand started another hike.It was raining at first, & we were quite miserable but later it clearedup, and we had amazing views of the mt. The top had snow on it & somehow reminded us of a giant orio. It was so beautiful!
The next day we took the "lower track". It was muddy, and we keptsliding, hopping, clinging onto trees etc. we didn't see much as wewere walking in the forest, but it was such a hilarious day! :) And on one of my slips i broke my walking pole :(
We spent most of the next day on the "upper track" and though it wasquite foggy, it was still amazing, and we even got to some snow patchand played a little.But it was a tough, long day and we ended it with sore knees and extremely tired.
and i managed to break my other walking pole as well, slipping.I went the last 45 minutes reluctantly, just walking to get to theend, without so much as looking left or right...When we got to the hut, maayan said "that looks like emili's shoes" and my answer was "well, not just 'like' - it is".Apparently emili went to wellington, where things didn't work out well for her,so she rented a car and hunted us down, using the guest book of the hostel and asking people about us on the track...
the next day was such a glorious day that we could see mt. Doom & ruapehu from the taranaki. So we kept stopping, admiring the views, and it took us 7 hours to do the 3 hours walk out of the track.
We got to emili's rented car, had an indian dinner, and headed to wellington, stopping in wanganui for the night.On the 5th we arrived on wellington.

We spent most of the 6th in town, and took a late ferry to picton, in the south island.
Bye bye north island.
I had so much fun!!
Hello south island - i'm thrilled with excitement thinking of all the tramps i'm gonna do!

NZ
Such a great place
:)

and though i already published it, you can see some related photos here:
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b327b50684cb
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b327b50b05f6

another album

hi.

another small album.
small but proud!

http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGzFq3Ys2LEcA

hope you're having fun!

a new album

hi.

sorry that i don't write (i know you're not).

but i had the opportunity to add an album, so here are some new photos...
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGzFq3Ys2LEUg

it's from the last week, so there's a gap in the middle in which i did quite a lot, but that's what i have now, and that's what you get...

i hope to fill in the gap soon, but don't count on it (i don't)

well, leaving the beautiful falls i headed towards rotorua.

getting there i contacted Craig and annett (the couple that took my photos with the dolphins in Fletcher bay).
they were so nice to me - we went for a dinner and then they took me to the thermal park in rotorua - incredible! bubbling mud pools, steaming pools and stuff like that.
just so weird!!!

the next day, Dec. 13th, merry (the American Jewish from thames and the pinnacles) came to town, and we went to Te-Puia, where we saw a few geysers! nuts! it's so funny! they erupted for about 20-30 minutes, spitting water and steam to some 20m high. incredible!!!
plus, we went into the kiwi house they have there, and we had the luck to watch it alone for about 7 minutes when it was nibbling just at the front window. it was so funny! it's such a funny bird! looks just like a feathered ball with legs and a weird beak.
later this evening annett and craig took us to the well known "secret spot". it was just so amazing! two streams joining together, one hot one cold, forming a pool with various temperatures along it. you can lie down so that your shoulder will freeze and your toes will burn.

but of course you don't have to freeze or burn - you can just have pleasant temperatures.
and it was so great!
and when it got dark craig and annett lit some candles, and it was just fabulous!

the following day i spent with merry, walking in the redwood forest just outside Rotorua. it was an easy stroll through quite a nice forest, with some nice vistas and the birds were singing beautifully.
in the evening i met Craig and Annett again, and had some dinner with them.
they were really so nice to me! it's truely part of the great fun when travelling - meeting such wonderful people!

anyway, the next morning i headed out of rotorua towards Whirinaki forest, to start doing what i came to NZ for.
hiking, treking and tramping.

so on the 15-16th of Dec. i had a very nice 2 days hike in the whirinaki forest, going to some hut and back out.
it was really a lovely forest, and since i'm not used to such forests, i enjoyed it very much.
plus, i was really hiking again!

on the 17th i started my next tramp - around lake Waikaremoana. i circled this beautiful lake for the next 4 days (until the 20th).
it was really a very nice hike, going through forest most of the time, but a different forest than the one in whirinaki.
during the first day the weather was ok, but towards its end it started drizzling, and in fact it didn't really stopped drizzling the whole time i was on the trail.
i ended each day completely soaked. but still, it was a lovely lake, an impressive forest (for an Israeli like me), and i saw black swans which was a great excitement for me back than (hint, hint).
most of the time i saw a lot of fog, but there were nice views of the lake as well, and the when the fog clears a bit but not completely it makes all kind of misty. it's really nice!

afterwards i had to rest a little.
i was after 6 days of hiking.
3-4 of them in the rain.
i had many bruises and wounds.
maayan (the israeli girl from hot water beach in the coromandel) said she'd love to meet me on the 24th and do the tongariro northern circuit (see below).
so i went to napier and did very little.
the only thing worth mentioning during my time there was that on the 21st I met Merry (see above) again, and we celebrated HANUKA by making really nice LATKES.

on the 23th i hitchhiked to Tongariro national park, and spent the night tenting in the park near whakapapa vilage, where the visitor center is located.
coming into the park we had magnificient views of the snowy Mt. Ngauruhoe better known (and better named) as Mt Doom from "The Lords of the Rings".
so briliant :)

the next day i did a little hike near the visitor center - an hour an a half trail where you can see the Taranaki waterfall.
it was really foggy, and a little wet but it was still nice.
and i went to Torangi, where i met Maayan and Emily (an american lady that maayan met that morning and it turned out they both go on the same bus, to the same backpacker, to do the same tramp and they share a lot more other things as well).
we met, made our plans, bought "great walk hut passes" and i thitchhiked back to the park, to tent there.

X-mas day was really very foggy and rainy.
we met, and went about 3 hours in the fog and rain.
it was nice, but just because the company. the trail itself was badly maintained, and we couldn't see much.
in fact we could barely even see little ;)
but we got to the hut, dried out a bit, and met two nice dutches called Maarten and Clemens.
we played cards (set to those of you that know the game) and it was really nice.
we also had a nice Austrian warden named Flow.

the next day was the day of "the crossing".
it's considered to be one of the 2 best day-hikes in NZ.
we started climbing up, and the weather was just perfect.
it was a sunny day, with clear views, and we had great fun.
we climbed to a saddle between Mt. Tongariro and Mt doom, and had just the most amazing views of Mt. Doom - with hardly any snow whatsoever. 2 rainy days just washed away all the snow, leaving the perfect cone lava-black, justifying the name Mt Doom.
awasome!!!
we stopped every few minutes to just admire the mountain from a slightly different angle.
near that saddle we could see the red crater. the name speaks for itself... it was very nice as well, but after climbing its northern edge we saw just below us the most amazing emerald lakes - 3 small lakes (more like ponds than real lakes) with a beautiful green-turqoise color.
further away we could see a bigger lake, named "the blue lake".
our trail took a right turn near the emeralds lakes, but we went to the blue lake for a little rest before coming back and start the descent from the saddle towards the hut.
and from the blue lake we could see the red crater, Mt. Doom and the snowy summit of Mt Ruapehu all in one row.
so beautiful!!!
walking down from the emerald lakes we passed through an area they call a desert.
well, it has sand, and there are no trees, but a desert?!?! let this kiwis come to israel to see a desert (they can checkout the australian outback as well).
anyway, that part was a little frustrating - we went for a long time hoping to see the hut just around the corner, but everytime -
"do you see the hut?"
"no"
"what's there?"
"marking poles"
"more marking poles"
"guess what - yet another marking pole"

but finally we got to the hut, and again it was very nice.
later this evening i played cards with the dutch couple and a swiss couple. we played assholes and presidents.
Maarten and i were the assholes.
almost through all the game.
but we had good time all the same.
it was one of the best days ever.
such great views! so much fun!
:)

next day i woke at 6, went out and saw the end of a fabulous sunrise.
we were standing a little higher than a blanket of clouds, and the sun rose above them.
it was amazing.
really one of the best sunrises i saw.
other than that the day was very nice, but nothing remarkable.
it was quite foggy, a little drizzling, not too hot, not too cold, climbing up, going down, a little bit through a forest, a little through a semi desert area.
we decided not to use the hut this night but rather to camp. we found a nice spot, and had a nice time cooking, eating, chatting and playing cards.

next morning was wet and cold, but after a little while it stopped raining - kept drizzling a bit every now and than but nothing serious.
we had a nice, relaxed walk back to whakapapa village, where we parted - i hitchhiked back to Torangi, and the ladies awaited the shuttle.
i got to torangi in ~50 minutes (it's ~45 minutes driving), checked in and dried a little.
in the backpacker i met the swiss couple from the 2nd hut, and Mark - a Welshman guy that also was in that hut.
going to the supermarket i met flaw - the Austrian warden from the first hut... i talked with him and invited him to come meet us at the backpacker later on.
later the girls got to the backpacker, together with the two dutch guys.

well, though that happened almost two weeks ago, and it seems very far away, i'll stop for now.
but i hope to update my post again quite soon...

so if anyone still wonders about it - for me NZ already proved to be what everyone keeps saying - so beautiful, magnificent, fabulous and all the other superlatives.
and the people here - both locals and travelers - are really so nice!!!

i'm really having so much fun!!

and of course - pictures
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGzFq3Ys2LDIg