Last time I updated my blog I was in the town of Oamaru. Many people describe NZ as being like England 20 years ago. If they mean in terms of it being slightly backward, then I would agree. On a Saturday afternoon in town, most places are closed. And on Sunday, well everything is closed! I'm not sure where all the people are in NZ - parts of South Island seem so remote and uninhabited - incredibly beautiful pristine scenery though.
We continued down the east coast of South Island. My first cycle ride was a nice easy one along the coast into our camp where we had a campfire and fireworks on the beach as it was the 5th Nov. The next day, we stopped off at the Mouraki Boulders, then onto the city of Dunedin which is apparently the furthest city in the world from London. Did a great downhill bike ride (i.e. minimal effort on my part) into Dunedin and then climbed up the world's steepest street. That night, we camped at Kaka Point (in the rain naturally) and had a bbq at the local pub.
The following day we headed further south to the town of Gore. It is the country music capital of NZ and also claims to be the world capital of brown trout fishing. There is not much else to be said about Gore really! We then headed across to the south west corner of NZ and Fiordland National Park. Another nice bike ride into camp in the Hollyford Valley. In Fiordland, it is either raining or you are being attacked by sand flies (or sometimes both). Joking aside, the scenery is stunning - dense beech forests and snow capped mountains. Amazing drive to Milford Sound the next day. Milford Sound is probably one of the most photographed areas of NZ - the one you see in all the books and ads. The boat cruise is a bit of a "must do" whilst you are here although the rain and mist meant that the views and photos we got weren't as spectacular as the pictures in books and on postcards. The sun did come out towards the end though in time for our Routeburn hike.
The Routeburn trek (or "tramp" as they call trekking / hiking in NZ) is one of the most famous three day tramps in NZ. Eight of us on the Flying Kiwi tour decided to undertake the challenge. The track is closed throughout winter due to snow but should theoretically be open in spring. However, we were told before we set off that part of it was still impassable but it may be possible to take a helicopter flight over that section. As you can imagine, I was hugely excited about the prospect of hiking and helicopters particularly as I've never been in one before. Unfortunately, conditions meant the helicopter wasn't guaranteed either. We would trek to the first hut on day one then find out from the warden on day two if we could continue. We were very fortunate to have beautiful weather in the afternoon that we set off on the trek affording us amazing views of the mountains. Sun was shining and we were trekking in t-shirts (and carrying huge packs with enough food to last us about a week, not to mention cold and wet weather gear). As it turned out, we were not able to complete the trek. Two more avalanches that day meant the second section of the trek was not passable so we wouldn't even be able to reach the helicopter point. Still we had an entertaining evening in the hut playing cards and eating freeze dried packet meals - chicken a la king and mashed potato. For anyone who hasn't done multi day hiking or been in the armed forces, then you probably haven't had the pleasure of eating freeze dried meals. Basically it is a complete meal in a packet comprising of a dried powder that you add boiling water to, stir and then leave to "develop" for ten minutes. You will then have a tasty dinner to eat!! Suffice to say, they are pretty bad..
So we retraced our steps this morning and got a bus back to Te Anau to join the rest of the group. Next stop tomorrow is Queenstown.
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