Jobi goes to New Zealand: October 2005

Tramping!

They call it "tramping", I call it "hiking". Whatever you call it, I've done a lot of it lately. The the last two and a half weeks I've walked the Kepler Track (60km), some of the Hollyford Track(40km), and the Routeburn Track (32km). Regarding my goal of spending 30 nights in the wilderness, I have 15 left to go. I hope to post a bunch of pictures up really soon.

PHOTO: Lake Te Anau at dusk from way above the treeline.

PHOTO: Lake Manapouri, we spent the night here.

PHOTO: This rocks!

PHOTO: The river on the Kepler Track.

PHOTO: It's just a fern. Hey, you wanted more pictures, you got em!

PHOTO: Lake Mackenzie was a really cool lake. I jumped in it at dawn with my German friends pictured here. It was freezing!

PHOTO: We uh... sort of got in a little trouble with the law.

PHOTO: Earland Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls I've ever seen and I've seen more than my fair share.

Invercargil & Bluff

After three peaceful days in the Catlins, it was time to move on. We dove out to Invercargill, the southernmost city in New Zealand. I came really close to running out of gas, but I made it as always. Our main objective was to go to Bluff, the very southern point of New Zealand, where the highway ends at a sign post that points the distance to cities around the world. I have to say, Bluff is a hole. It's run down and industrial and the only thing it has is that damn sign. Bluff is currently the butt of every joke that Bart and I tell. We also had a funny exchange at the gas station there.

ATTENDENT: Hello
ME: Hi, fill er up please.
ATTENDENT: Sure. Where are you guys from.
ME: America and Holland.
BART: Are you from Bluff?
ATTENDENT: No.
BART: Where are you from then?
ATTENDENT: I'm from the UK.
BART: Why are you in Bluff then?
ATTENDENT: I've been a lot of places.
BART: I'm sure you have, but why are you in Bluff.
ATTENDENT: I like New Zealand.
BART: I do too. Why Bluff though?
ATTENDENT: Where are you from?
BART: Holland.
ATTENDENT: Where in Holland?
BART: [some town in Holland]
ATTENDENT: Why are you from [some town in Holland]?
BART: That's where my family is from. Why Bluff?
ATTENDENT: I like New Zealand a lot, I've been here for over 30 years.
BART: BUT WHY BLUFF!?
ME: How much for the gas?

You probably had to be there. I found it quite funny. Imnvercargill was quite nice though, nothing out of the ordinary, but a pleasant city. We parked next to a park and spent the night. Then we headed to Fiordland.

PHOTO: Yours truely and the famous sign.

The Catlins

What a nice little area the Catlins are. Very few people live down there, maybe a thousand. There's lots of widlife though, birds out the yin-yang.. We saw the rare yellow-eyed penguin! You have to wait for them to come out of the sea around dusk and wait in a hiding place where they can't see you because they're very shy. I wasn't close enough to get a photo, but I had definately saw some, binnoculars helped a lot.

I've got a travelling companion for a little while, Bart, from Holland. He's got a van too, so we're travelling in convoy.

PHOTO: Nugget Point

PHOTO: Jack's Beach. Van living at it's finest.

Winter Vacation is Over

Mt. Hutt closed for the season yesterday and I lost at the horse races. Today I'm leaving Methven for good. It seems like so long ago I was fretting about what to do for the winter. Now winter is over but it feels more like the summer has come to an end. I'm been in Methven for so long (3 months) that I have sort of forgotten that I'm travelling. I don't want to leave, but I also do. Most of the people I've been hanging out with have left in the last few weeks. Anyhoo, it's been a blast. If any of you ever come to Methven, definately stay at Skiwi House. You can't beat the price and it's got the friendliest atmosphere in town. Trust me. I'm heading to the Catlins today. It's pretty far South and very remote. It's supposed to be one of the best places to see wildlife (penguins and seals) in New Zealand. Catch ya soon.

Cass-Lagoon Saddle

Last Monday Craig and I drove 3.5 hours to do a five day hike. When we go there I realized thatIi forgot to bring my shoes. D'oh!

So the enxt day we headed out on the slightly-shorter Cass-Lagoon Saddle route. Four four nice days we had the whole forest to ourselves. It was very nice. I'll post pictures soon. We just missed rain on one end and snow on the other.

When I returned to Methven I found out that they got 20cm of fresh snow. Sadly the wind was furious when I went up and had blown most of the powder away. I had already written the season off so it's all good. I'm off to the horseraces on Sunday!