Year End Update

SEASONS GREETINGS ALL! 
I realize I've been a bad blogger.  Apparently blogging is another part time job and between working full time and traveling with every spare moment (and dollar) I've fallen way behind.  However, just to update you all on what's been going on in brief:

1. My Working Holiday Visa expired and I applied for a Work Visa to stay a bit longer and...
2. I GOT MY WORK VISA! so....
3. I'm continuing to work at No. 7 Balmac for the next several months and then...
4. I'm hoping to hop across the Tasman and road trip around Australia in July/August with Nicky followed by
5. Country hopping through Southeast Asia September/October with anyone keen to join me!

6. Applications for "travel buddy" for the Southeast Asia country hopping expedition can be submitted starting January 1, 2012.  Please contact me/submit yours via the comments section in this blog.  Please include available travel times, destination requests, level of adventurousness, previous travel experience, your views/preferences on "pre-planning", and favorite brand of travel guide.  All applications will be taken seriously!  So make sure your passport is up to date! :)
As a New Year's Resolution, I'm going to promise to post at least once a week - even if only a wee "hidey ho!" and in the meantime (if the holidays don't bog me down!) I'll try and catch up on the previous trips and travels in the past 6 months.  

This year has been AWESOME and even though I was here last year this time, I'm still finding it a little bit disconcerting to be tanning 3 days before Christmas, but I'm not really complaining!!  My holiday plans this year will, as always, include a Christmas Eve service and then early Christmas morning I'll be heading out to Queenstown to join the other family-less nomads (aka Nicky et al at the Qtown house) where the day will no doubt include games, food, and hopefully cliff jumping!!  (I'll try not to break anything this time) 

Merry Christmas, Chappy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and...happy anything else I forgot!

Abel Tasm-- I mean, West Coast Road Trip!

Monday morning, on the ferry back from Wellington, Tom and I had a cup of tea and a muffin and suddenly I had a pain in my left ear.  I haven't had an ear infection in easily 15 years, but this sudden sharp pain in my ear was vaguely familiar and most uncomfortable.  I was hoping it was something related to my fatigue from dancing and staying up late, but after a 3 hour nap on the ferry, it still hurt and I was getting worried.

Nicky had driven up from Dunedin and arrived in Picton on Sunday night so she met me at the ferry terminal Monday morning after Tom left to drive back to Kaikoura.  Nicky and I drove to Nelson and discussed my ear situation.  We ended up at an after hours/emergency doctor's office where $150 later the doctor confirmed that I did have an ear infection.  At that point I was annoyed that I had an ear infection and the doctor was recommending that I not go tramping, but I was happy I had an ear infection because spending $150 to be told I was fine would have sucked much more.  In the end, Nicky and I picked up drugs for my ear and had coffee to plan our next move.  We were too late to start tramping the Abel Tasman like we'd originally planned and we couldn't postpone a day because we both had work commitments, so instead we rescheduled our tramp and decided to road trip!

the beach at Marahau - horseback riders included - and Nicky

Abel Tasman National Park

From Nelson, we drove northwest to Marahau.  Marahau is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park so visiting it was slightly bittersweet because I really wanted to start tramping!  But Instead we just took pictures on the beach and decided to try and find Split Apple Rock.  Split Apple Rock is somewhere between Marahau and Kaiteriteri.  We weren't exactly sure where it was and the article I'd read in the paper wasn't specific about its location either, so it was a bit of a treasure hunt for us.  Obviously we didn't ask for directions, we're self sufficient women!  Plus getting lost makes everything much more interesting.  So, we drove around between Marahau and Kaiteriteri looking for every beach that could conceivably have a rock just off its coast.  In Kaiteriteri, we thought we'd found the right cove, but alas it was just another beautiful green space with a post showing how far away different cities are.  We wasted time there taking pictures and left as the sun was getting really close to the horizon.  We continued driving around as the sun sank lower and lower and finally, with the use of our headlights, we found the turnoff for Split Apple Rock.  We walked down to the beach with our flashlights and tried to take pictures of the rock in the dark.  Sadly, and not surprisingly, those pictures just turned up with a slightly darker patch of black against the Wellington nighttime skyline.  I decided not to include those pictures here, they weren't that interesting.  After that, we drove to Takaka and planned the next day of our trip.

PUKEKO!

From Takaka we drove all the way up to the top of the South Island to Farewell Spit.  It was a beautiful morning and the clouds (I LOVE the clouds in this country) were stunning.  The Pukekos were also running amok and they're so cute!  From the Farewell Spit we drove back to Takaka and the couple running our backpackers strongly pressured us to visit the Labyrinth Rocks, which we did and spent so much more time there than we'd anticipated.  These rocks are in the middle of a field and they create more of a maze then a technical labyrinth, but they are really fun.  All through the rocks are toy figurines of superheroes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, animals, dwarfs... all sorts of random fun things.  The rocks created numerous different paths so you could easily spend a day exploring them all.  After a couple hours we reluctantly left because we had The Grove to get to, Harwood's Hole and then a 4 hour drive to Karamea.

Farewell Spit

The Grove: very LOTR huh?

The Grove is another random grove of trees and rocks in the middle of another field.  Pretty, but not quite as much fun as the labyrinth rocks.  Regardless, we took pictures and moved on to visit Harwood's Hole, a REALLY big hole in the ground.  Nicky and I turned off the main highway onto a sealed road that quickly became unsealed and drove about 11km up hills, into valleys and waaaay out of cell phone range.  Once reaching the entrance sign to the national park it was another several km to the actual hole.  We forded a wee stream in Pigwidgeon (Nicky's car) and drove through an area that looked like where Deliverance was filmed.  We freaked ourselves out a lot because there was NO ONE else and a random scary cemetery we drove by to boot.  However after a 30 minute drive through Ish Gish, we reached a parking lot with cars and people.  Phew!  It was another half hour walk through the bush to the hole and it really just was a hole in the ground.  We couldn't see the bottom because to get a good look we would have had to fall into the hole first, so here's a better picture that I didn't take.

Wekas investigating the car - Nicky - Beneath the Oparara arch - Looking out from under the arch (amazing light!)

By the time we drove through deliverance land again, it was getting close to sunset and we had to book it to the other side of the Kahurangi National Park to get to Karamea.  We stayed on a small farm in Karamea and in the morning drove up to Oparara to see the limestone arch.  We also stopped to explore a couple caves.  There are only two that you don't need a tour guide for.  The first one has spiders and they're being studied so even though they're huge and scary you're not allowed to kill them.  They also hang grotesquely from the ceiling of the cave and the ceiling is REALLY low.  Needless to say, we didn't stay in that cave long.  The other cave was a dry cave (read: no spiders or anything slimy and creepy).  It was HUGE and you had to descend nearly two flights of stairs from ground level to reach the bottom.  We brought our flashlights because the light only reached so far inside and once you passed the first turn you couldn't see bubkus.  There were lots of crevices carved into the rock and the spaces kept going and morphing into more small pathways that led to more spaces and on and on.  Sadly, pictures of the interior don't easily capture the cool and slightly claustrophobic spaces, and those pictures were on Nicky's camera and we lost those pictures. (tear)  Looks like you'll have to go visit them yourself sometime!  On our way out of the park we were going to immediately start driving down the west coast, but the beach we drove out facing was absolutely stunning so we had to stop and explore.

Oparara Beach

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

After oohing and aahing over the amazing misty morning sunlight and the pristine beach, we started driving down the west coast.  The west coast is well known for being grey, rainy and generally host to crappy weather.  We were SO lucky because the weather was stunning!  It was sunny and warm and made every beach and cove look beautiful.  It was all we could do to not stop at every new beach and cove to take pictures.  The west coast may have crappy weather, but I would buy/build a house there in a heartbeat because when it's good, it's reallllly good.  Between Westport and Greymouth is Punakaiki, home to the pancake rocks and blowholes.  Fun rock formations that look like pancakes and make really cool water explosions.  We hung out there for a long while waiting for the perfect waves to make the perfect spray for the perfect pictures.  After a while I gave up and just took a picture of us instead.  Perfect, as always!

Random cove on the west coast

We did stop at one random beach because it was all secluded and pretty.  I sat on a rock taking pictures and Nicky wandered off to do the same.  The tide must have been coming in, but I was sitting on the rock and, I thought, out of reach of the waves.  I was mistaken and taken off guard when my arse suddenly felt wet and I realized a much larger wave had breached the top of my rock and soaked me completely.  Nicky thought she was safe too behind some rocks but had to wade through the receding water to meet me, stranded on my wet rock.  Once the water was gone we beat feet to the car to change into dry clothes and amidst constant giggles continued our drive south. 

Before we hit Franz Josef we decided to turn off and visit Okarito.  Okarito is a TINY (shocker) town on the west coast where Keri Hulme, the author of The Bone People, wrote her book and where she has since become a hermit.  Seeing as The Bone People is a classic New Zealand novel, we decided it was worth a visit to the author's home.  There isn't much there, including gas stations as we started to fret about, but there were plenty of holiday homes and a really nice beach.  We took pictures on the beach but sadly we didn't run into Keri.

Pics I took to keep myself amused while driving - Driftwood & stone sculpture on Okarito beach

Franz Josef Glacier - and the riverbed we walked along

At Franz Josef we stopped and visited the glacier.  I was slightly unimpressed because it looked cooler from further away and we weren't allowed to get close enough to walk on it.  They make you pay money and take a safe guided tour to walk on the glacier, lame huh? But we did walk out to it and then spent the evening with Nicky's friend Rory who moved from her backpackers in Dunedin to work at a hostel in Franz Josef.  Good to see him again and I wouldn't have minded hanging out longer, but I had to return to work sooner than Nicky did.  

From the Bus to Qtown

Early the next morning I caught a bus for an 8 hour drive down to Queenstown.  I bummed around for a while waiting for Dougall to show up as he agreed to come pick me up and drive me back to Dunedin!  We went out for a drink at a Lonely Planet recommended bar with a large foreign beer selection and talked to the bartender who had moved to Queenstown from Hawaii.  So many Americans moving down here...  The next morning, Dougall picked me up from my backpackers and we had brunch, I met his sister who works at the Novotel and then we headed home via Omakau and Naseby.  Omakau is just fun to say (Oh-ma-cow) and then we visited Dougall's family holiday home in Naseby.  Nothing much in Naseby except holiday homes, 2 bars, and an International Curling Rink.  Priorities, eh?  So, Dougall took me on a tour of all the tiny tiny towns in the middle of the South Island and dropped me off back home, a quality road trip in two parts.  And even though I was gutted not to be able to hike the Abel Tasman, Nicky and I rescheduled and hiked it later.  That blog post coming soon!

Dancing

When I first arrived in Dunedin, I looked for a salsa studio to get acquainted with the salsa scene and possibly teach some On2 (because who doesn't want to be accurately referred to as an International Salsa Teacher? haha).  I had coffee with Alfonso, the owner of the salsa studio in South Dunedin, and he kind of took me under his wing and showed me around.  I've learned that it pays to find a good dancer who knows where all the good dancers go and on what nights.  Especially in large cities, you can waste loads of time looking for the good dance spots.  

After my coffee meeting with Alfonso, he and his fiancee Kate picked me up to go dancing at The Church.  The Church is a restaurant/bar/cinema that is home to a salsa/Argentine tango social on Friday nights.  There's a pretty good sized group of regulars that shows up every week  My first night there I got introduced to several people who either teach or attend classes at the salsa studio.  Alfonso introduced me as his new prima (cousin) so all night it was "come dance with mi prima!"  My dances with Alfonso were super fun.  I felt like it was my teacher's audition (and I didn't dance shabbily, thank goodness) and Alfonso commented leading me was like driving a new car...I reckon that's a good thing. 

I started going to salsa on Friday nights and when I wasn't working on Wednesday nights I joined Shaz dancing ceroc.  It's another 4 count dance that you can dance to practically any song - which is nice when you can't place a ballroom or latin dance to the song that's playing.  I jumped into ceroc pretty quickly (yay 5 years of ballroom dancing teaching you how to follow!) and joined Shaz in the intermediate class.  Learning the patterns was easy enough, but the social dancing after the classes definitely tested my following abilities.  The guys I danced with would set me up for...something, but I had no idea what move they wanted me to do.  Instead, I regressed to my fallback move: I wiggled on beat until they realized I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and either talked me through the move or led me into something else.  Rockstar dancer I am.

After a few months of dancing, I got introduced to my new good friend Tom who had recently returned from the States.  He'd been living in South Carolina for a while and knew how to dance on2 and on1.  I got pushed to dance with him and it was so nice to dance on2 again and with someone who's danced for years! After moving to Dunedin from NYC and LA before that, I've been used to dancing with lots of people who've danced for years and are better than I am so I'm used to being challenged when I go out dancing.  Not that the dancers here in Dunedin aren't great, but the variety is definitely more limited based on the population so new blood is most welcome.

Tom and I danced all night and he invited me to the NZ Salsa Congress in Wellington.  I had wanted to go but hadn't planned how and he was driving up and offered me shotgun.  Over the next couple weeks I checked up with people to make sure he wasn't crazy or a serial killer, got some days off work and had coffee with him to plan our trip.  Laura and Todd were still in NZ and "happened" to be nearby while Tom and I had coffee so they all got introduced.  Laura's final job as my protector in the Southern Hemisphere: to check out that the most recent random travel buddy was ok before I drove the length of the South Island with him.  They didn't seem too disturbed by him so all was well with the world and our congress plans.

Last view of Dunedin - a quality memory

A couple days before Tom and I drove up to Wellington, Laura and Todd flew home.  We attempted a wee flash mob at the airport, but Matt Tucker and I were the only ones who were able to get work off.  Regardless, we arrived at the airport, sat at separate tables and read the paper all nonchalantly as Laura and Todd arrived with Kitty and Vanessa.  They had a good laugh and we all sat around until their flight was called.  Hugs and tears ensued (I think Laura shed one too!) and then we all made blowfish/haka faces at the glass by security for their amusement.  Classy we are.

A couple days later Tom and I started our trip up the south island.  We drove up to Christchurch on Thursday night and stopped at Salsa Latina to dance.  According to Tom, most of the good dancers were already up in Wellington so after a couple dances we motored up to Kaikoura where we stayed with his friend Tony.  Tony is also from the states and has a house in Kaikoura with a lot of land.  Friday morning we all went motorbiking/four wheeling around his property.  It's just a little north of Kaikoura so from the hills around his house there's a lovely view of the Kaikoura beach.  We also scared some sheep atop a hill and Tony had to help one sheep get back up as it was too fat to roll itself over after falling.  Tony is keen to sell some of his property so let me know if you're interested!

Tom and Tony

Kaikoura beach in the distance - me and the bikes - more of Tony's land

View from The Store

Friday afternoon we continued up to Blenheim, stopping at The Store for a late lunch and a view of the early sunset colors over the ocean. In Blenheim we stayed with Tom's uncle Mike and his fiancee Jo.  After dinner, the boys decided to go out driving in Tom's car and me and Jo watched the Highlanders v. Force rugby game on TV.  It was a GREAT game, mainly because I "knew" half the people on the field.  The Highlanders and their coaches come into No. 7 relatively regularly and the previous weekend some work friends and I happened to meet, have a drink and watch the F1 race with a few guys on The Force (the rugby team from Perth).  I love how small Dunedin and NZ are.  It makes access to relatively famous people so easy!  Hence my goal #1: drink with rugby players - check!  I digress...   

Saturday morning we hit the Wairau winery before catching the ferry into Wellington.  We checked into our hotel, met up with Keith (another Dunedinite in Welly for the congress) and hit the congress.  It was definitely a lot smaller than the LA and NYC congresses I'm used to, but it was still a lot of fun.  I didn't dance much on Saturday night, but I did my reconnaissance so I knew who I wanted to dance with on Sunday night!!  

Sunday night dancing

Sunday I met up for brunch with Ashleigh who used to work at No. 7 and had moved to Wellington.  I love the fact that I know people all around NZ now.  During the afternoon Tom and I hit Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand and tried to check out all the cool things that Laura and Todd had raved about.  Great museum, but alas, my attention span isn't much longer than a newt's when it comes to museums.  Fortunately neither is Tom's so we both happily left after a couple hours and got ready to dance it once more.  Sunday night I danced heaps and was brave enough to ask guys to dance!  We danced until about 2am and then ran back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and catch the 3am ferry back to Picton where I was meeting Nicky to go tramping.  Nothing like a jam packed weekend, eh?

Stewart Island

After Nicky and I finished the Milford Track, we drove out to Queenstown to meet up with the 3 American sisters we'd met on the track.  After we'd all taken ridiculously long, hot and luxurious showers, we met up and had our first Fergburgers (ginormous burgers that are soooo good: Fergburger ) before heading over to the Buffalo Club for some drinks.  Whilst us 5 girls were reminiscing about our trek, two guys came over and asked if we were playing card games (which we were) and then introduced themselves and joined us.  These two boys were Matt and Dougall.  Dougall lives in Dunedin and once we figured out we both knew the same people who frequented No. 7 Balmac, we became bestest buddies.  

Oban Township looking towards NZ

Nicky and I drove back to Dunedin the following afternoon after brunch with the American sisters and made plans to head to Stewart Island shortly.  A couple weeks later, we both had Tuesday off and figured Tuesdays were great days to spend on Stewart Island so we decided to catch the last boat on Monday over to the southernmost island in New Zealand.  In the meantime, we had kept in touch with Dougall and on a whim we asked if he wanted to join us in our touristy quest.  Sunday he asked his boss if he could have Tuesday off and leave work early on Monday.  His boss was sweet with that, so Monday afternoon the 3 of us piled into Dougall's subaru and raced to Bluff to catch our ferry.

After a lovely hour boat ride to Oban, the only township on Stewart Island, population almost 400, we checked into our backpackers and found the only bar/restaurant open for dinner.  We chatted with the bar manager (who was from Los Angeles and had moved to Stewart Island about 3 years earlier) and learned that Osama Bin Laden had been killed (yes, I realize how far behind in my blog posts I am...).  After closing down the bar (it couldn't have been later than 10pm), we went back to the backpackers and got ready for bed.  We were all staying in the same room so Nicky and I were definitely hoping that Dougall wasn't a serial killer.  But in case he was, I was hoping he'd attack Nicky first so I could run.

One of many lovely views from a hill top - and Dougall

The next morning we decided to rent scooters and traverse the island.  85% of the island is National Park that you can't access unless you go on a 5-10 day tramp so that left a manageable area that was easily visited if you rented scooters for half the day.  We started out exploring the eastern end of the township and visiting all the short walks to gorgeous views.  We visited Ackers Point, where there was a lighthouse, and the beach that Lewis Acker (an American whaler) built his house on.  It must be nice to have first dibs on a beautiful and secluded beach for you and your family to live on.

Ackers Point Light House - and the trusty tourists

At the Acker beach: enjoying the views and being photographically artistic with driftwood

Intrepid Scooterists

After that we scootered over past Halfmoon Bay (where Oban is located) to the chains that hold Stewart Island to mainland New Zealand.  There are also chains on the South Island at Bluff since Stewart Island is the anchor for Maui's canoe.  Maui, in Maori legend, fished up the 'Great Fish', the North Island, from his canoe, the South Island, and Stewart Island was the anchor.  All anchors need chains, eh?  These chains are large sculptural pieces that make for a fun playground and photo opps.  


We continued to scooter along past an old public pay phone and along other random roads.  I, unfortunately, wiped out at one point because a turn we were planning to take came up really quick.  After I decided to take it realized I was going too fast and tried not to take it... but alas, my indecision left me in a heap on the gravel with the scooter.  I was more upset that I would have to pay to replace parts of the scooter, but fortunately they'd been used so much before you couldn't really tell I'd done anything new to it!  Phew!!  However my hand was bleeding and my blood sugar had plummeted so we returned our scooters and got lunch.

The Chains - my fave pic of Dougall and Nicky - Proof I was there too

We caught the early afternoon ferry back to Bluff and since we were there, we took pictures at the other side of the chain and the signpost at the southern end of the 1 motorway.  I have now officially been to the top and bottom of the 1 motorway in New Zealand.  Although I haven't been to the geographical northernmost and southernmost points, I've been to the recognized locations and that's just fine by me!

The signpost at Bluff - Our traveling threesome - The Bluff-side chains

On our way back to Dunedin we drove through the Catlins because Dougall said they were cool and pretty.  Sadly, Dougall forgot to account for sunset so we didn't see much.  However, we had a fabulous roadtrip back with good tunes and a lovely new friend who has since joined us for rugby games, parties, dinners, and helped me and Nicky with our cars and the problems they've developed.  Who says you can't meet a nice guy in a bar?

Milford Sound - proving NZ can get even MORE beautiful

On the boat to Milford Track

Shortly after my parents flew home, I started to get ready for my first multi-day tramp in the NZ Great Outdoors: the Milford Track.  I was explicitly told from one lady at my church in Maine that I HAD to hike the Milford Track because it is one of the most scenic hikes in the world!.  Given a recommendation like that from someone who’s never been to NZ but knows about this particular hike, I made it a high priority. 

Nicky, my Italian hiking partner in crime, and I got together and booked our stays in the huts along the way and planned to do the hike in the last few days of the season.  The tramping season is from October-April and then (so we heard) they take away some of the bridges and the rivers start to rise and you have to be able to ford rivers, find your route in a blizzard and be fully prepared for all hell to break loose.  Despite the lower cost of staying in huts during the off-peak season, we decided that our hiking skills were just shy of those requirements and booked during the higher prices of the peak season.  We figured our mothers would be happy with that decision.

After taking a brief inventory of the hiking things we (didn't!) have, we decided we needed to talk with people who had gone on multi-day hikes before to determine what we needed.  Enter Vanessa: my lovely and continuous Kiwi knowledge go-to lady.  After coffee and questions, I borrowed almost all Vanessa's stuff (thank you!) and Nicky and I got packed and got up bright and early (before the sun!) and started our journey out to Te Anau in the Fiordlands.

Lake Te Anau

When we got on the boat, I noticed that my backpack was the smallest BY FAR.  I used to be a heavy packer.  After 5 months in Europe schlepping everything everywhere, I started to pare down what I carried with me.  4 more years in New York honed this skill and the final result was admiring stares when I picked up my backpack and walked off the boat.  In all honesty, it was too small and without Nicky to help out with the load, I wouldn’t have been able to do it with my backpack.  But that point aside, what some of the other trampers brought still seems excessive!  Nicky and I couldn’t think of many more things we would have liked to have had with us, but I suppose if we’d been caught in a blizzard we would have been screwed.  Good thing the weather was beautiful!

On the way to Clinton Hut

To get to the start of the track you have to take an hour boat ride through Lake Te Anau.  During the trip, the captain of the boat narrates what you’re passing and what you can expect on the tramp.  He’s a funny one and kept us all laughing while we surreptitiously checked out our fellow trampers to see who we wanted to hang out with in the huts.  Once we reached the start point, we dipped our boots in a special water so we would prevent the spread of this gross algae whose proper name I don’t remember but whose common name is Rock Snot - and that’s exactly what it looks like.  It’s gross so the Department of Conservation (DOC) is trying to prevent the spread of it.

The swimming hole with FRIGID waters, horrible sand-flies and stunning views

Day 1 is a really short day: a 5k walk to the first hut.  At the hut, the DOC hut warden guided a little nature walk but Nicky and I only heard part of it as we preferred to get to the swimming hole.  In summer weather, the frigid water probably feels great because you’re hot and sweaty.  When you’re just barely warm enough to begin with, the frigid water is really really frigid - not that that stopped me from wading in. 

Clinton Hut in the morning before we left - yes, I did hula with the ginormous hula hoops :)

The first hut was actually 3 huts: 2 full of bunks and 1 where all the cooking stoves and tables were.  We made our soup and sat down at one of the tables and started talking with everyone there.  I met one girl who had gone to school in Gore with Vanessa (small world, eh?) and we made friends with this lovely Australian couple who commented on the size of my backpack and Nicky’s legwarmers: they were fans of both.  The hut warden came in and told us safety stuff and what to expect on the tramp the next day.  He had a really dry sense of humor which amused me, but he also talked for a long time so when he was done most of us just went to bed.  The next morning, we were almost the last ones to leave, and it was only half past 8ish!  But that was fine because we didn’t like hiking amidst a large group and we didn’t feel bad about holding people up when we stopped every 4 feet to take pictures. 

More stunning views on the way to "Hidden Lake" - Nicky taking pictures at Hidden Lake

Day 2 was about a 13km hike with the majority of the elevation change in the last couple km.  What is most apparent, aside from the murderous sand-flies - whom bug repellent does not dissuade - is that the water is SO clear.  You can see straight to the bottom no matter how deep it is.  The colors were stunning: blues and teals which my camera couldn’t do any justice.  It was a constant fight to not stop and gawk at the clarity of water every few feet.  Right before the last hut we crossed a scree field.  In bad weather, or heavy rainfalls, it’s a treacherous place to cross and because of that there’s a shelter, called the “bus depot” on one side so you can sit and wait for it to be crossable.  Fortunately, it was dry so crossing was easy peasy.  It started to sprinkle a little bit just before be we got to the second hut but nothing worth writing home about (oops, guess I just did).  

The Kea - Our hiking boots hung for protection from said Kea - Mintaro Hut

Mintaro Hut was by far my favorite hut.  It was all one building with a couple bunk rooms downstairs, separated from the cooking/eating/stove area and an open room upstairs with more bunk beds and extra mattresses on the floor.  We got bunks upstairs but spent most of our time downstairs with our new found friends.  After we hung up our boots outside (they needed to be hung up or else the Keas would steal them - literally!) it was only about 4pm and we weren’t sure what to do until dinner and bed time.  We made tea and started playing a card game, and then we started talking with the other people our age.  We met 3 sisters, Meg, Mo and Kate, who were from the states, a British couple currently working in Christchurch and another couple from San Francisco.  The 9 of us started playing S***head - a fabulous card game despite its vulgar name.  It started to get quite competitive and inexplicably addictive.  We stayed up late laughing and joking around.  When the lights went off in the main room we were not deterred.  Everyone whipped out their head torches and extra flashlights and card play continued until late in the evening.  I can happily say that I never ended being the s***head.  I came close, but I’ve got some serious card playing skills. 

MacKinnon Pass and the Monument to him - The path to the 11 Second Drop

Once the fog cleared on the way down from MacKinnon Pass

The next morning, Day 3 and the longest distance and most elevation change day, we got moving earlier.  We climbed up the 11 zig zags carved into the lee side of the mountain (no wind and therefore a warm ascent considering how cold it was at the top!).  At the summit we sheltered behind the monument erected there for MacKinnon and had some muesli bars and cookies.  We were all bundled up and thankful that we’d packed our hats and mittens close to the top of our packs.  We had heard about the 11 second drop in one direction versus the 3-4 hour descent in the other direction - we opted to take the longer descent, again a nod to the mothers we knew would be pissed if we died.  There was a small hut to relax in just around the corner from the summit and we planned to stop there for a bit but we came around a bend in the trail and the view was STUNNING.  I stood there gawking and “Oh my God!”-ing for a good 10 minutes before I finally moved on and entered the hut.  We re-grouped, dried off, repacked and kept on going, although at a much slower pace because the views were continuously stunning and the cloud cover was receding so more gorgeous peaks made their presence known to our camera lenses. 

Sutherland Falls

An hour before we reached the final hut there was a turn off to go see Sutherland Falls - the highest waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere: 580m.  We were able to drop our packs in a day shelter and do the hour detour hike with just a camera - an amazing feeling after 3 days with 15 kilos on your back!  The falls were really pretty and some crazy people actually went swimming in the pool at the bottom.  I think if it had been warmer I would have done the same, but I was actually pretty keen to get to the hut for a cup of tea and more s***head.  However, the cold spray from the falls got us damp enough without swimming and we took oodles of pictures before heading back to our packs and the final hour to get to the hut.

My favorite picture of the clouds at MacKinnon Pass

Upon arrival at the final hut, we were quickly ushered into one of the sleeping buildings by some fellow friendly trampers because we were assured that no one who snored was in that room.  There had been constant conversation about one epic snorer who kept people up at night.  Fortunately, we were nice and quiet enough in our sleep that we were actively sought after to fill empty bunks.  I felt completely special and like part of the “in” crowd.  Who’d have thought that people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s can still be so exclusive in their choice of group members?  Our sleeping hut was full of cool people who we got along with and had a good laugh with, and once again, after changing into our thermals and comfy clothes, we went to the cooking hut to make dinner, play more cards and exchange stories about our hiking experience that day.  It was another late night (headlamps included again!) and an early morning because we had a 2pm boat to catch back to Milford and it was a 6 hour hike to Sandfly Point.

Nicky in all her hiking glory :)

Sandfly Point is aptly named so we didn’t want to get there too early, but we knew our habit of taking lots of pictures so we left just before 8am and booked it.  We stopped at the Bell Rock.  It’s literally a rock that’s hollow in the middle like a bell.  Apparently 22 Japanese tourists squeezed in the rock and still hold the record for most people in there.  I guess this is the Kiwi equivalent of the American "how many people can you fit in a Volkswagen bug?"  Leave it to the Kiwis to have their records based in nature.  I would like to think we could have beaten the record, but after 4 days of hiking with no real showers, I’m not sure I’d want to be in a closely confined area with 22 other sweaty hikers… Regardless, the rock was cool, as were the Mackay Falls.  When the first two guys who tramped into Milford, Mackay and Sutherland,  this was the first falls they came across.  Mackay and Sutherland flipped a coin to see who would get to name the falls.  Mackay won the coin toss and Sutherland had to settle for the next waterfall.  He was gutted at first, but then they came across Sutherland Falls…

The last views - and the minor Falls - on our last day on the track

It started raining during the last couple hours of the trip so everyone stopped at the last shelter, about an hour from Sandfly Point.  We were all trying to time our arrival at Sandfly Point as close to the boat departure time as possible because sand-flies are horrendous beings that don’t succumb even to specialized bug repellent.  When we finally left the shelter we were behind the Australian couple we’d met.  They both had Aarn backpacks that they absolutely loved and I wanted to try them out since the whole trip I had been mentally backpack shopping as I passed people.  So, I put on his backpack for a bit while he carried mine, and then I swapped with her and she carried mine for the last few hundred meters and I think I’m sold on Aarn.  I’ve yet to try one out for several days (Aarn has an awesome system.  They let you borrow a pack to try out on a tramp before you buy it!) but I fully intend to try one and possibly buy one and then feel like a real tramper! (that's trampER with an ER.  please don't forget that all too important suffix).  We got to Sandfly Point just as the boat did (perfect timing I say!), took pictures at the finish point sign and climbed aboard the boat for our last trip through Milford Sound.  We had some stunning views of Mitre Peak and some excellent waterfalls, but sadly those were on Nicky’s camera and we lost those pictures :( so I’ll have to find a postcard of those views.  But they were lovely!