New Zealand 2001 (Part 5)
(Cue background music, aerial view of scenic lakeside town; close up on the hero . . . and ACTION!! )
So I made it Te Anau. It is a very pretty town. Very quiet, but so picturesque as it sits on the edge of Lake Te Anau. Now I must say that I was a bit apprehensive about the upcoming adventures I had planned. Of course it didn't help when I got some times mixed up and showed up for my sea kayaking briefing 25 minutes late. Hey, I know how to make an entrance! The deal with this trip was that it was camping (okay) but it wasn't catered. So I had to buy and cook my own meals. To make over a gas burner out in the wilderness. Okay it seems harder than it sounds. I got the basic briefing. Then went to the grocery store to buy my food. Now most of
my comrades on the trip were campers, so they just needed to buy a little bit more. I needed to come up with 4 meals (2 lunches, dinner, breakfast) and I didn't want to have a lot of leftovers. One of the things that I did learn from my previous trip up in the Abel Tasman NP was that I needed soda. Beer is good, but when I'm thirsty, I need soda (can I tell you how much I would kill for some ice tea. They don't do it here and it's killing me!). So I stocked up on soda for the trip as well. Oh and you're supposed to get these little snacks as well to "keep your energy up." This will be quite the theme for this trip and I think it's all a plot to make me fat. Sure you are exercising all day, but does that gives you carte blanche to graze all day on chocolate covered granola bars? I think not! But did I, oh yeah. Hey, I'm weak, I admit it. Anyways, I did my shopping and then went back to my motel to pack my backpack for my trip.
The day started early as the van picked me up at 615. Yes, that’s AM. So much for sleeping in on my vacation. I'm off to Doubtful Sound so that requires an early get up. Its a nice 25 minute ride to Manapouri on the edge of Lake . . . Manapouri. They are really imaginative here. Here we got to transfer our gear from the van to the boat, which is still on the trailer. Then we hop in the boat and the trailer backs into the river and we are afloat. It's an hour ride across the lake. A bumpy hour long ride. The wind had come up from the wwest (where we were going) and we were catching quite a bit of air as the boat catch a wave and then SLAMS into the next wave. I think I may need to get my spinal chord re-adjusted. And all I can think is that if the fiords are like this, I'm going to be paddling in hell! But we made it to the power plant on the other side of the lake and transferred our gear from the boat to carts to take up to the road. But it is here where we meet our mortal enemy: the sand fly. Now sure, Trey's over exaggerating again, it can't have been that bad. All I can say is "OH MY GOD!!!!!" There were swarms of them and they lust human blood. I dived for my REI Jungle Juice (95% DEET), and smeared it all over my body. I'm sure there are parts of the human body that shouldn't be covered in DEET, but I didn't care. Even with the DEET, they would continue to swarm around your head and ears which only drives me UP THE WALL!!!!!! We transferred our gear from the carts to this ancient truck/van thing and then drove up and over the mountains for about 45 minutes until we had arrived at Deep Cove in the Doubtful Sound. So we unload the truck, carry our sea kayaks to the waters edge, load them, and then have our safety briefing, all while the sand flies as slowly draining us of our life force. It really helps you concentrate on the safety briefing when your doing the windmill with your arms to keep the sand flies away. Now, this is not the Abel Tasman National Park with it’s the warm water. This is Fiordland. Where the water is COLD! So that means wetsuits. Now this is the drill. You strip down to your bathing suit (exposing more of your skin to the pernicious sand flies) then you put on the poly-pro shirt that must have been washed, but smells so badly of BO that you want to puke. Then it's time to put the wet suit on. Now that's only flattering for those who are anorexic and smells strongly also, of what you really don't want to know. Then it's the fleece jacket to keep you warm. Then it's the water proof (sure!) paddling jacket. Then you put the paddling skirt on. And then, to top it all off, the life jacket. I looked like one of the kids on South Park, wwearing so many clothes that my arms are sticking straight out. Now have I mentioned the weather? Oh, this is the Fiordlands, the second wettest place on the earth; they get 5-8 meters of rain a year. And it's overcast and drizzling. Apparently when it really rains the sand flies go away, but of course I'm not so lucky. The good think about the 9 layers of clothes I'm wearing is that only my head is actually exposed to the sand flies. Now to top of this fabulous ensemble is one of those red neck ball caps with mud flaps on the back. Yes you know what I mean. At first I rebelled, I don't care about the sun. HELLO, IT'S MISTING! But then I got it. It keeps the sand flies off your neck and away from your ears. I LOVE THIS THING! Well we finally get into the water and it is worth it. If you haven't seen fiords before, they really are cool. The overcast clouds are low so the sheer granite walls rise steeply from the water and disappear into the clouds overhead. So amazing. We are five minutes out on the water and we see a seal. It's swimming along in the water doing barrel rolls just relaxing and having a good time. I'm thinking that a seal's life isn't that rough. Now the most beautiful thing is that the sand flies haven't followed us out onto the water so we are blissfully free of their annoying presence and just get to appreciate our beautiful surroundings. We follow the left coast of the fiord as we leave Deep Cove and the scenery is just stunning. The eco system here is very unique. This is a temperate rain forest, but it is built on hard granite rock that thrust up hundreds and thousands of feet up into the air. With all the rain, the moss and lichen are the first plants to take hold. They grow, and die, and provide nourishment for the ferns and small scrub bushes that follow which cling to the sides of the steep fiord walls. Then finally trees appear. They can't get their roots into the hard granite, so their roots spread out and they grow by linking their roots with other trees building a mutually supportive basis for their growth. It is really amazing. Every once in a while, the rain will be bad or the wind will be bad and one of the trees loses its grip and falls. This causes a tree avalanche. It's like falling dominoes. When one goes, it takes everything below it as well. So you will see these green growing walls of the fiords, and then the stark barrenness of the granite where a tree avalanche has occurred. At Deep Cove we have to carry the kayaks into the water. Now unlike the blackwater rafting, they did not provide wet suit booties, so I am wwearing some hiking socks and my tevas. Wow the water is cold. I am a bit concerned about that, but the hiking socks keep my feet pretty warm. We started about 1030 and by around 1 PM we pulled in for lunch. I am kayaking with Dirk from Deutschland (Germany). His paddling style leaves something to be desired (no I'm not an expert, but his strokes were too short and too quick). And he can't drive wworth a crap. I assume he's trying to impress the American girl in one of the other boats because he keeps trying to crash into her. Isn't that something we got over in the 2nd grade? Anyways, we stop at one of the very few beaches (read smaller rocks!) for lunch. I had your basic s/w (turkey/cheese/hummus on pumpernickel), a pear, and some weird yogurt covered granola bar. Plus a coke of course. Plus I got some extra protein because I'm pretty sure I ate a sandfly or two. Yum! Now the good thing (which there were a lot of contrary to my bitching) is that that weather decided to clear. The sun came out between partly cloudy skies and we had the most absolutely stunning views of the ragged rocky tops of the fiords. Wispy clouds would wind their way around and over the tops of the fiords. Just absolutely majestic. We paddled out the main part of Doubtful Sound and into the Hall Arm of the fiord. Just so beautiful. We paddled to the far end of the fiord where there was a little bit of land as the water ends and a steep narrow valley forms leading up to a crest in between the two towering walls of the fiord. Have I mentioned that it is just amazingly beautiful here? Eventually we have to leave the safety of the water and head to shore . . . . and the sand flies. We land at this rocky beach and then have to carry our HEAVY kayaks about 100 feet into the trees since the shoreline is so shallow and it is low tide. Just not fun. Then it's time to set up camp. I have a tent to myself, which is okay, except setting up a tent with one person isn't exactly easy, and I really don't have a lot of experience with it. But it gets up and I put in the sleeping bag that I have rented plus my gear from the kayak before escaping to the safety of the insect shelter. The company leaves this shelter/tent up that is basically just a big screen with a tarp on top. But you know what, it works!! There are fewer bugs in there and we can rest and relax for a while. Of course I am wearing so much DEET that I have a headache and I'm sure I wwon't be able to have children. Oh well. As it gets dark, we all start to cook. Pasta is a favorite of the camping set, as is rice. Moi? I had tortellini with veal, rosemary, and thyme with red pesto sauce and then a slice of this gingerbread cake I had picked up. Plus a coke of course. Sure I was camping, but I wasn't slumming.
The next morning I am up early. I walk to the edge of the water as the sun is cresting the tops of the fiords. So magical. Then off in the distance, on the other side of the fiords, I can hear this strange noise and I can see these strange fountains of water/mist rising from the wwater. It's a pod of bottle nosed dolphins who are clearing their blow holes and sending a mixture of water and air up into the morning sky creating little water fountains. I am so ready to be kayaking again. Breakfast was quick. I don't cook breakfast. Ready-made muffin, slab of cheese, pear, bizarre yogurt bar. It takes forever to break camp, not sure why. And then we are back into the kayaks and away from the sand flies. As we paddle out of the Hall Arm, we catch up with the pod of dolphins and turn around to follow them. I'd say there were about 20 of them gracefully swimming along, occasionally jumping out of the water, and then re joining their friends.
We got really close, but I doubt if my picture will really capture the moment. It was just beyond memorable. After awhile, our guide turns us around and we head back to the main channel of the fiord. Today the sky is clear and it is wwarm. There are no clouds in the sky (quite unusual!) and we have the most stunning and uninterrupted views of the fiords. It hasn't "really" rained in a couple of days so the wwaterfalls are kind of weak, but still beautiful. At the briefing, the owner wished that we wwould get one clear day and one rainy day. She says it's just magical in the rain. I say it's magical regardless of the rain, and as a bonus, I'm not wet. (It really is the little things in life that make a difference!) We stopped again at a small beach for lunch. At lunch, a dolphin comes in close to shore and actually rubs himself on of the rocks in the deeper part of the water. Pretty cool. We make it back to Deep Cove around 230 ish and then we start do this logistical nightmare process in reverse. From kayaks to truck. Truck over the mountain. Truck to carts. Carts to boat. Boat across the lake. Boat onto trailer. Drive from Manapouri to Te Anua. By the time I get to my motel, I am SO desperately in need of a shower. I think I may need to boil my skin to get the DEET off. Now the funny thing is, I'm doing this again tomorrow!
Yes I am up again early and the van picks my up at 630. We are off to Milford Sound for a day of kayaking. I have decided to have lunch catered so I don't have to deal with that hassle. NNow the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound is supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in NZ. I wouldn't know. I was asleep. Hey, it's a hot van on an early morning. Sleep is good. Plus I will see a lot of that road. After a 2 plus hour drive, we arrive a Milford Sound around 930 ish and the sand flies are back. Now, I must say they sucked, but not as bad as in Doubtful Sound. There were some people doing the 2 day kayaking trip to Doubtful Sound and they wwere not happy to hear my opinion. After the requisite safety briefing, we are in the kayak. I am driving this time and Brad from Canada is in the front seat. Brad quit his job as a financial analyst in Toronto and is just taking some time off. Do you see a trend here? Anyways, the wweather here is awesome also. Mostly sunny with a few low clouds working their way up and over the top of the fiords. Now the not so good thing is that the wind has picked up and we are definitely working up a sweat as we paddle out into the Sound. Now Milford is very similar to Doubtful, with these stunning sheer granite walls that seem to reach up to the stars. The difference between the two is that Milford is a bit more accessible, so there are more tour boats and scenic flights going through the fiords. But for the most part, it didn't bother me. The paddling is rough, but Brad (6'5") has quite long arms and is intent on getting a maximum work out, so I am feeling the burn. But it is good, no, change that, awesome. Really. The wind kept the temp down, the sun was quite nice, and you can't imagine a more beautiful place on earth. We stop for lunch on a small rocky beach across from Mt. Mitre. According to our guide, it's the most photographed mountain in the world. Sure. Have you ever even heard of it? Anyways, the cool thing is that down the fiord ridge from Mt. Mitre is Brown Falls. When you see The Lord of the Rings you will see the band of dwarves, plus Frodo (right?), walking along this ridge over these falls. Just too cool. As we paddled back to the dock area in Milford Sound, we circled Elizabeth Island and saw lots of seals just lounging around on the rocks enjoying the sun. Again, it must be a rough life. We were back ashore by 3PM and back in the van for the ride to Te Anau. We made a couple of stops back on the way, one for tea along the side of one of the rivers that feeds Lake Te Anua. The Kiwis love their tea. We got back to Te Anua around 630 and I promptly climbed into my car and drove to Queenstown. It's a two hour drive to Queenstown and I was beat by the time I made it to the "Pinewood Lodge Budget Accommodations." Okay, when I made the reservations, the ad I saw never mentioned "Budget Accommodations". So what does "Budget Accommodations" mean? Backpackers. Yea. But I did get a room to myself with sheets and towels, so I dealt. I mean it was late and I just wanted to repack for my next trip. The hiking company had left a backpack, raincoat, and sleeping sheets for me, so I just need to pack up and be ready for pick up at 645 AM.
[Cue soft background music, camera slowly backs away as the hero gently
falls asleep and "CUT!!!