Our Last Two Weeks in the South

Burr… it’s getting cold

Over the past month or so we’ve noticed quite the change in weather and atmosphere. The days are getting shorter, which means the leaves are losing color, and the temperature is getting quite low as well. Similar to autumn in Michigan, you never know if the next day will be warm and sunny or just wet and cold. About half of our time is spent in our long johns and its not because we find them attractive. It’s also getting dark around 6pm so we are spending many hours in the van playing dice, cards or reading.

We fly out of here on the 31^st of May, which left us only 2 weeks to see the rest of the south island after our friends Jess and Scott left. We thought it would’ve been enough time, except for one factor; the weather. Our raincoats are always ready and accessible, and we try to do the majority of our driving while it’s raining to maximize our sun exposure. We’ve modified our plans quite a bit, but we are happy with the things we’ve done considering the conditions.

We travelled back to the west coast to take care of some unfinished business.

We hiked up 1200 meters in a few hours to get a fantastic view of Franz Josef glacier. The weather wasn’t the best, but the clouds were high enough for us to get some great views; it’s the next best thing to paying $300 for a helicopter ride.

We made our way as far northwest as we could to Karamea to explore some caves and arches and also stopped at the Heaphy track (another Great Walk). 

We only hiked into the Heaphy for a few hours, but it was a great day walk with incredible powerful beaches, rivers that look like iced tea from all the tannins, and tropical forests. 

If you notice we are back in the palm trees again, and the temps were nice too, but there’s one problem…

Let me set the scene for you; we just finished a 5 hr hike and we were looking forward to a nice picnic on the beach. It was an 80 degree sunny day on the beach and here we are in the van hiding from the stupid sandflies. Sandflies are similar size to fruit flies, but swarm like bees. They leave you alone as long as you are walking, but the second you stop you are attacked from all angles. They’re blood suckers like mosquitoes, but their bites itch for days if not weeks later. The west coast and parts of the Fiordland are known for them. So we finished our hike around 2pm and took shelter in our van for the remainder of the day. Needless to say we didn’t stick around for long.

The Maori legend has one of the Maori gods creating the New Zealand and doing too good of a job. There was concern that the coast was too beautiful and everyone that visits wouldn’t leave, so another one of the Maori gods created the sand fly to keep people moving.

When Michelle and I first arrived in NZ, I was looking in a tramping book and saw an incredible picture of a hike and I knew that it was one of the walks we had to do. So we planned on doing the hike after we toured the west coast. Well the rain didn’t let up and this is one of those tramps in which fine weather is highly recommended for views and safety. So we sat in our long johns and waited for a few days in the cold rain. We looked at the forecast and saw that it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. Out of curiosity, I checked the east coast forecast and it was a week of sun. A bonus of NZ’s size is that you can drive from one coast to the other in a few hours. So it was a pretty easy decision for us, we went back to Kaikoura. Kaikoura is the place where we snorkeled, gathered paua, and tried some fishing. We’ve been there twice before and were excited to go back.

There is a 10 min hike up to a waterfall that supposedly has baby seal pups playing in the waterfall during the winter months. We checked it out twice before (once in December and another in January) hoping to see some, but it just wasn’t the right time of year. Well this time we got it right. 

As we walked up the river we could see baby seal pups playing in the river. As we approached the waterfall we could see dozens. They were everywhere; in the water, on the rocks, on the hill, and down stream. 

Michelle took heaps of photos, which give you a pretty good idea of what we saw, but she also took an incredible 5 min video that we recommend you watch (link at the bottom). They are so adorable and they remind me of little puppy dogs. They are just as playful and curious too.

Apart from observing the seals (everyday), we did a few walks in the area, did some souvenir shopping, and relaxed in the sun watching hundreds of dolphins swimming in the bay. It really changed our spirits and we were enjoying ourselves again. We continued to check the weather for Mt. Owen (THE Hike) and it still had rain forecasted for the next week. We couldn’t wait around for the weather to clear up since we had to go back to the north island soon. So we left the sunny east coast and drove back into the clouds to really give it our best shot. If we get there and the weather is terrible then we’ll bugger off and head north, however, if the weather isn’t too bad we’ll give it a shot.

The weather going up to the hut was windy, rainy, and cold (go figure), but it wasn’t a heavy rain so we kept pushing ourselves. It was a difficult 5 hr hike; up a super steep mountain and then back down the other side to reach the hut. The whole time I was waiting for Michelle (who had a cold) to say lets go back, but it never happened so we kept going. That evening, the clouds broke and the moon came out which gave us hope for the morning.

It was clear that morning and apart from a few clouds around the summit it was an amazing day and well worth the hype. The attraction to Mt. Owen, (Drimrill Dale for the Lord of the Rings fans) is the marbleized-limestone rock formations. It’s rock, but has the features similar to that of glaciers with smooth faces and deep crevasses.  It was almost as if we were walking on the moon. 

When we returned to the hut for the night the clouds moved in and the rain started up again. It didn’t let up until we reached the van the following day. It’s crazy how things work out sometimes. Now that we’ve done Mt. Owen our trip here feels complete. We’ve done all the tramps and seen all the things we’ve wanted to.

Tomorrow we board the ferry for the north island. This gives us one month to sell our van. It’s our largest concern at the moment, and it’s going to be sad to let her go. We’ve become quite attached to it and would love to ship it home with us. Apart from trying to sell the van, there are still a few places to check out and a few friends to visit in the North Island, but we really don’t have any major plans. It seems a little sad knowing that we are leaving, but we try and remind ourselves that our last month here is still more time than most people get to spend here. So much can happen in a month and we are excited for what’s to come.

Seal Pup Video:
http://youtu.be/03J4vjQmle4

If you would like to see more photos of our trip click on the following link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115853505113135701754/TwoWeeksLeftInTheSouthIsland