Mid-Semester Break and the Southern Island Tour (LOTS of pictures!)

Setting: Anne, her flatmate Natalie and their neighbor Erin embark on a journey of epic proportions (less than 12 hrs after Anne returned from Uni Games, no sleep that night)

Day 1: Bus ride from Dunedin to Picton, 12hrs up eastern coast. I was way too tired at that point to really care that much. We slept in a backpackers (hostel) large dorm called the “Mussel room.”

Day 2: Bus ride from Picton to Nelson in a sketchy “economy” bus through narrow, winding roads. We spent the afternoon in Nelson exploring the town and walking along the beach. The backpackers that night was phenomenal- called Tasman Backpackers. Free ice cream every night! The facilities were very clean, and welcoming. Big patio, kitchen, herb garden and of course, free ice cream. They allowed us to store our extra stuff while we went on our tramping trip.

Day 3: (Abel Tasman 1) We set out early to begin our 3 day tramping trip along the Abel Tasman’s Coastal Track. Abel Tasman is known as the “beach” national park, and the track is not overly difficult so it is relatively popular. We were lucky that with winter approaching, there were fewer people in the park. We took a bus from Nelson to the start of the track, with one of the best bus drivers I have ever had. His name was Renee and he gave this amazing commentary during the drive. He knew so much about the area, including agricultural practices, social events and important people. There was plenty of scathing sarcasm and resentment for the urbanization of the area and the lack of sustainable living. He said that he had a lady write the bus company a letter describing how she had been offended by his commentary. The three of us vowed to write the company a much more praise filled letter soon. The first part of the track was smooth and almost flat, it is a common area for day hikers. We camped just passed the large campground so as to be away from all the people. It was really cold at night, but stayed sunny and warm throughout the day.

Day 4: (Abel Tasman 2) We set of somewhat late, not finishing our oatmeal or wanting to leave the campsite-on-the-beach till about 9:30am. There were two 400m climbs throughout the day, but through the hills and mostly avoiding the beaches. We passed through several little…villages?...with lodges and beach homes. Nothing terribly fancy, but maybe holiday homes. One lodge in particular, was set up with a café serving $30 meals, a huge organic garden, and resort-like hotel. Kind of a strange thing to see walking out of the bush, all dirty and carrying our big packs. There were also two major estuary crossings that could only be completed 2 hours before/after low tides. We timed them well enough, and had lunch by the first one while we waited for the water to recede below our waists. The second we waited on the beach of the major camp for about 30 min, and then walked across open clam shells across the estuary. It was a 20min walk and it hurt, but we were almost to our little campsite. Most people make the crossing in the early morning instead. We arrived to a site tucked away in the trees with a private beach! Well, private until after dark, when a few random hikers wandered in. At least we got to cook dinner and watch the sunset without anyone else around- it was amazing. Dinner was spaghetti with broccoli…. Lots of broccoli. I didn’t plan well enough to have an eating utensil and so I had been eating with a plastic fork- very difficult to eat spaghetti with. That night we made an awesome camp fire and heated water to put in bottles for warming our sleeping bags.

Day 5: (Abel Tasman 3) We got up very early (6ish) to watch the sunrise and get a good start on the remaining 1.5 hours of the trail. After a breakfast of ½ cooked oats and pears (our fuel ran out the night before trying to boil the water with a stiff breeze) we did some yoga on the beach in front of the sunrise and headed off to our final destination where we caught the water taxi back to the start of the trail. The water taxi was a blast and it was interesting to recap all we had traveled as we passed it on the water, even though it took only 2hrs to travel what had taken us 2 days to walk! There was even a dolphin playing around one of the boats. Back in town, after another bus ride with Renee and a well deserved ice cream, we rented a car at the airport, managed not to crash while driving on the left side of the road, picked up our stuff from the backpackers, showered, and headed NW to a place called Golden Bay. The intention was to stay with Natalie’s friend’s flat mate’s aunt and uncle’s house in a township called Tanaka. The reasons for the trip, which was slightly out of the way, were that Golden Bay has some of the most beautiful beaches in the country, and that Albie and Felicity have an almost completely sustainable house. Expecting just to set up our tent in their backyard, they surprised us (being complete strangers) to dinner, beds, breakfast, a tour of their systems and hours of wonderful conversation! They have detailed explanations of their sustainable projects on their website (click on Albie's Projects link). PLEASE PLEASE check it out! GET INSPIRED! Maybe there is something you can do at home to live more sustainably? It’s the little things that count. I’m excited to start an organic vegetable garden and look into ways to incorporate solar energy when I get home.

Day 6: We left Albie and Fil’s with hugs and well wishes. We headed on a quick tour of Golden Bay by stopping by for a walk along Farewell Spit and Wharariki Beach, which was covered in dunes and sculpted cliff faces. Just magnificent- we had lunch in the sand, fighting off sandflies (NZ’s version of mosquitos), wind, sandy bread, and nosey gulls. Then came the 4 hour drive to Murchison to spend the night with the Kayak club, who had been paddling there all week. It was their “court night” where all the stupid things people did on paddling trips were brought forth embarrassingly in front of everyone. Lucky for me, I was only a spectator.

Day 7: Early the next morning, we drove down the West Coast surrounded on one side by the ocean and mountains on the other. On the way we saw the Pancake Rock formations and "PuPu Springs," said to have the clearest water in the world. We arrived at the Fox glacier in time to check into the backpackers, eat dinner of vegetarian chili and corn-on-the-cob, watch Mrs. Doubtfire (since Erin had never seen it) and get a good night’s sleep.

Day 8: Easily my favorite day of the entire trip! 9:20am marked the beginning of our full-day guided tour of the Fox glacier. We were fitted with crampons, boots, warm clothing, rain jacket and pants, and an alpenstock. Since we had been blessed with fantastic weather for the previous week, the clouds were done with their holiday and proceeded to rain down all day. Although it was wet, I was so amping the whole time I didn’t even notice! Besides, it was way more epic that way. There was a 1.5hr hike to the glacier itself from the carpark, and along the way our guide, Grazer (short for Graham..weird…I know. Apparently in Australia, names are always shortened to one syllable. However, names that are already one syllable get another tacked on. Mark, for example, becomes Marco. Graham gets shortened to Gray…which becomes Grazer.) and Jared stopped to give us mini-geology lessons and glacier facts. It was a great group, being only 7 people and 2 guides, and we were all fit enough to tramp all over the glacier, through tunnels, up and down features. Grazer and Jared would cut ice-steps where needed, but walking in crampons became more comfortable as the day went on. We ate lunch under a parachute (like those you play in elementary school, where everyone sits on the inside edge so it forms a bubble) to keep out the rain and stay warm. It was just breathtaking. The colors of the ice- white, brilliant blues- crevasses, moulins, water flows, and rocks…were just amazing. It was unfortunately difficult to take pictures with the rain, but there are a few. Went to sleep that night (after watching LoR, since Erin had not seen that either) with sore calves from 1.5km of glacier awesomeness.

Day 9: Very early start, 7am departure to make it back to Dunedin by 3pm to return the car and attend 4pm lectures. We had incredible conversation on the drive home covering everything from religion, politics, sustainable energy and food.

Lovely trip, girls, one I will never forget!