Sleeping in a nest of mountains

I have decided that one of the most wonderful things in this world is putting on flip flops after a backpacking trip.  Having your feet bound up in thick socks and hot boots for hours is really just preparation for the delight that comes later- cool air tickling your toes through jandals.  Well, I suppose the boots do serve another purpose as well - and that's getting you up the mountains to see some incredible views!

Arthur's Pass

View from Bealy Spur Trail

Needing a good dose of the mountains, we decided to go on a four day trip to Arthur's Pass, the highest pass in the Southern Alps.  We discovered that NZ trails are definitely harder than your average one at home.  This one involved some serious bouldering, river crossings, and clambering up vertical bits of the trail using feet and hands, a tree trunk, root, or whatever else we could find to pull ourselves up.   After five hours of tramping we arrived at the Goat Pass Hut, set in a bushy bowl surrounded by peaks like a precious egg in a nest of mountains.

Robscott hut nest

Goat Pass Hut

The Dept. of Conservation (DOC) has this wonderful series of back country huts open to overnight hikers.  The first night we found ourselves at capacity, bunks filled with 20 new 'mates' from around the world.  The second night we had only one other visitor so we made our own nest on the floor of one of the rooms.

Our neighbor, the weka

At night we tried to socialize with the curious alpine parrots of southern NZ (called keas).  We heard their calls and saw them flying over the hut, but never got close enough to say hello.  We did, however, make friends with the local flightless weka, who roamed about our feet as we brushed our teeth.  We even saw some whio, the endangered blue duck, and promise DOC that we'll return a sighting card to help with the recovery of this species.

Having arrived in the mist we were delightfully surprised the next morning with the view from the deck.  At moments like these, Kiwis like to say, "Sweet as!"  I'm always wondering, 'sweet as...honey?  Sweet as...sugar, sweet as what?' Perhaps I should just take it as intended: it's sweet!

View from the hut deck:  "Sweet as!"

Crystal clear water

Best swimming hole ever

Leaving our big packs in the hut we set off day hiking down the Deception trail to find some of the most glorious pools of ice blue water.  The water was so clear you could see rocks at the bottom of a deep pool as if you were looking through a window.  

Rare alpine gecko

Secret fern grotto and pool

Much like a day on the Yuba with the Rinnes - we had to go for a dip, despite the cold temperature!  We also got to lunch and lounge on the sunny rocks like a couple of alpine geckos.  And of course I had to do some exploring of a fern grotto we found tucked behind a teeny trickle that fell into a turquoise pool below. 

No trip to the NZ mountains would be complete without some alpine flower sightings.  I was as enchanted by the sweeping vistas overhead as I was by the lovely views at my feet.  

On the last morning  we set out through fog nestled in the Mingha River Valley.  On this day Marshall decided to hike out "Kiwi style."  That means that instead of taking off his hiking boots and swapping them for water shoes at the river crossings (about 25 total), he just left his socks and boots on and waded straight across!  I was definitely more content leaving my socks dry and switching into my river shoes, but I too finished the trek as a very happy camper.

Our first REAL adventure

Last weekend we flew up to the north island on our first NZ adventure.  Settling into Christchurch doesn't count as a real adventure to me - this one involved war cries, a subterranean boat ride and hot springs on a beach!  On Friday, while Marshall was at a meeting in Auckland, I explored the museum.  There was an exhibit on Maori culture and I watched a cultural performance about their traditional songs, games, and dances.  One of the most well-known, due to its fame in rugby games, is the haka.  

The haka is a traditional dance performed to spiritually prepare the warrior for battle and also to intimidate his enemies with shouts, stomps, chest slaps, and most notably the bulging of the eyes and extension of the tongue.  Yikes!

Auckland museum garden photos

Sky Tower, Sky Jump

There were also a couple of greenhouses with beautiful blooms (in this post, click on photo captions for links to more pictures) and a fernery...  just like it sounds, a nursery for growing ferns, and one of my favorite spots in NZ so far.

Marshall and I met up that afternoon in the city centre and took a trip up the Auckland Sky Tower.    It's much like Seattle's Space Needle,  only we've noticed New Zealand has a tendency to make everything an extreme sport.  Look at the picture with my feet.  I'm standing on very thick glass that is part of the floor of the observation deck.  Below my shoes, 700 feet below, are the city streets and you might see a red target/bulls eye in front of my left foot.  That's where the daring can land after leaping off of the building, connected by a wire, of course.

Seeking a different kind of adventure, we proceeded south to the Waitomo Caves.  There we took a guided tour of the longest cave and marveled at the majesty of nature, creating delightful stalactites that take 100 years just to grow a centimeter.  A different tour of the same cave rappelled tourists in wet suits down the chute to the underground river where they floated through the cave on inner tubes.  And we thought it was cool just on foot- I guess we're not the cool kids after all.  In the next cave we got to take an underground boat ride in silence and blackness beneath a canopy of glowworms.  

Waitomo Glowworm Cave

Yep, hundreds of tiny little blue lights twinkling above us like a subterranean Milky Way.  The 'glowworms' aren't actually worms.  They're the larvae of a fly that have bio-luminescent bums and they dangle sticky feeding lines beneath them  to collect other insects for food.   To me, though, their spidery webs looked like the most delicate chandeliers illuminating an elegant feast.  After the tours we did a little spelunking ourselves on a tramp in the countryside.  In one surprise crevice I found cave crickets the size of my thumb!

North island caves

On our way to the next destination we stopped at the house of a Kiwi friend who lives in Hamilton.  We met Rob in Cuba on the Agricultural/Urban Garden tour.  He showed us around his own urban veggie garden where he's also experimenting with growing and drying tobacco.  After sharing a taste of his homemade cider we were on our way to the Coromandel Peninsula.  

The Coromandel is a stunning drive with blonde sandy beaches, turquoise water, and rolling hills with sheep & cattle.  We stopped to see a waterfall, a Kauri grove (the sequoias of NZ), the famous Cathedral Cove, and Hot Water Beach.

Coromandel Peninsula

Hot Water Beach

Now this place has to register as one of the most fantastic spots on the planet.  A volcanic fissure releases super hot water up to the surface of the Earth, a phenomenon that happens all over the place.  It's just that in this case the hot springs bubble up on the BEACH and are only accessible at low tide.  Marshall and I woke up at 6am on Sunday to "hire a spade" (rent a shovel) and we walked down to dig our own playa hot tub at the beach. Water temperatures can reach 140F so it's best to dig close to the waves where the cool water mixes in to create a suitable bathing temperature.  Watching the early morning sun rays break through clouds over the ocean while submerged in a private hot tub for two -- aahh, it's too bad some experiences can't last forever.