Kepler Track

 

The day of the famous Kepler Track has come. We had high expectations to experience the best of Fjordland that was multiplied by our fulltime study of various books and listening to numerous odes of various hikers (excuse me, New Zealanders, we meant trampers).

Because the weather forecast is getting better towards the weekend we decide to start on Thursday afternoon and save the best part – the mountain ridge (let us note that this part is what makes Kepler so famous) – for the sunny Saturday. Google the following – I am sure you will get wonderful views: we planned to start at the entry gates, through the Rainbow Bay and sleep at Shallow Bay the first night. Second day towards Iris Burn camp for an easy day. Third day was supposed to be long with climb up to Mt. Luxmore, over Luxmore Hut and big descent to Broad Bay camp. Sunday then just recovery to Te Anau and relax day.

According to the DOC staff member even the first part – the walk along the lake Te Anau – is well worth it. We should have been cautious when their eyes got that glazed look and their cheeks got pinkish colour (state of orgasm). The ridge – we were told – is dangerrrrroussss. Brrrrr. (here imagine the music from Jaws).

And so we parked our big red car and full of optimism headed towards our first day on Kepler Track. After about an hour we started wondering whether we are on the right track as nothing SO exciting came up so far and we were getting little restless no matter our backs carried at least 15 kilos each (here we should make and intermezzo with few comments on the local style of hiking: on our first hike in Arthurs Pass we were equipped as real Spartans, dry noodles, bread and cheese, few nuts and end of story. Later in the evening while sitting in the hut we were salivating because we had to witness how people pulled out fresh vegetable, meat and even a bottle of wine. Imagine smelling the delicious dinners when you sit and force yourself to you extra light to carry dried noodles.)

The brochures, maps and DOC staff said approx 4 – 5 hours. It took us about 3 hours and we were bored. However the hut was simply wonderful. Cosy, on the lake and romantic. Old style hut with only six bunks, proper worn timber floor, open fireplace and BIG mosquitoes. Kate took a swim. Henner didn’t take a swim (kvok kvok).

The next day still full of optimism we head for approx. 5-6 hours walk towards Iris Burn camp site. Slowly we came to realisation why Kepler is called a ‘walk’. You could pretty much push a wheelchair here. We – together with about half a billion of sand flies – take a loooong lunch break. Reading, sunbathing (what?! Sun in Fjordland? Where?!) and getting burnt. After only about four hours we reach Iron Bay camp site which is really nice, except for four more people empty. We go to sleep listening to hopeless attempts of sandflies to get to our tent. It sounds like rain and the walls are black with them.

Saturday morning and we open our eyes full of really real optimism and hope to see a sun. Surprise! The sound of sandflies was replaced by the sound of raindrops. But WHY?!!!!!!!!!! Weather in Fjordland is NOT predictable no matter how good you are reading satellite maps. And as a cherry on the cake there is a thick cover of white clouds. The ranger tries to force a hopeful smile but we see through. And so we climb over a thousand meters to almost the summit of Mt. Luxmnore, admire the white clouds around us,





we descent over a thousand meters to Broad Bay and because we ran out of gas we decide to extend the day, skip Broad Bay and head directly to Te Anau. Later in the evening this had to be followed by a visit of a supermarket with the purpose of buying a muscle anti-inflammatory gel.

This is Fjordland and this was Kepler. However, still full of optimism we believe that Kepler must be beautiful.

PS: Do you feel lonely? Go to New Zealand! Billions of sandflies will keep you a company 24/7. They seem to be so cute and LITTLE. But behind these nice faces, big eyes and shiny blue wings they hide big teeth and appetite to suck your blood. Ready anytime. These little creatures are everywhere and always. Do you want to have a break? Do you need to go to the toilet? Get ready to keep one hand free. Do you think that killing 149 of them on your left leg makes a difference? Then you are an optimist!

PPS: Did you google the track? I’m sure you got wonderful views!

New Zealand. Keep going.

 Ok, we are on the move again. Headed towards the South with the final destination Fjordland (yay!). Our first stop was Franz Josef Glacier. 

Quite touristy village where toothpaste costs $15 and where most of the people are tourists jumping on the bus to crawl in a guided tour over the glacier. Well, we have to admit that the glacier IS impressive and no matter you would be insulted by being called tourist because you actually climbed on glacier in remote wilderness of Swiss Alps you simply have to go to have a look.  The Franz Josef glacier is one of those rare exceptions where the glacier actually regrows.

You follow the tourist path to the glacier – click click click - take few photos (everybody from the same spot) and go back. Let’s just leave this place.

The weather was getting worse towards the South. Apparently the Copland Pass got very technically difficult just recently, so we had to leave this plan and stick to Welcome Flat Hut (only about 5 hrs from the parking) to soak in the thermal pools. Oops, the DOC is starting repair works on the Architect Bridge, so we had to leave this plan too.

So to Wanaka. Really nice little town or better to say village. We pretty much camped in one of the local pubs with great coffee and horrible locally brewed beer (ha ha ha!). It’s really funny how easy it is to recognise climber. Wanaka neighbourhood is hiding over 500 bolted roots! And of course, we couldn’t resist ‘just to have a look’ at the massive Icebreaker offer in local shops (oh yes, shopping). Our credit card was desperately and hopelessly trying to hide in the wallet....  

But because we are in New Zealand not only for shopping (as some other people may have experienced) we decided to do one of the very few possible treks in this region. DOC issued serious weather warnings, Cascade saddle is still under the snow with danger of slides and wind around 70k on the tops... Decision is made – Rob Roy in the rain. We ended our day with slimy fingers after ribs dinner and stroll through beautiful

Queenstown. It is very  surprising little town (only approx 3400 people living here). The architecture is a mix of old and new style – stone, steel, timber, glass, it’s amazing how tasteful this mix can be. It’s also very posh and fancy (Louis Vuitton store!) and we feel little under-dressed J But it’s cosy and romantic (ach).

At night we headed towards Te Anau, the gateway to Fjordland (yay!). Somehow this time we didn’t manage to sneak out of the camp without paying the necessary fee. Few discussions with co-hikers persuaded us to do one of the Great Walks – the Kepler Track. Fortunately it is possible to camp on the trek and skip the crowded, luxurious and especially expensive huts ($50pp/night). Weather should be clearing towards the weekend.

Next on the plan is Dusky track. So far all reactions were raised eyebrows. FAQ is ‘have you seen any of the photos from the track?’ Well, it’s not surprising considering Hen’s cashmere scarf and our super new shiny Icebreakers. But we feel challenged by the guidebook sentence ‘the most demanding trek in New Zealand’. We see ourselves fighting the wild rivers, sinking into the deep mud, being soaked by the heavy rains and dried by the strong winds. The vision of rewarding views and experience is over helming. In reality we’ll be sick of the rain, wind, mud, rivers and – we cannot forget – billions of sandflies in ten minutes but it’s not going to stop us.

How a small camera can sometimes take better pictures than the big camera...

NEW ZEALAND! Hurray!

Hello hello, New Zealand calling. It took us only three re-packings at Sydney airport to finally fit the strict limit of 20kg pp and not a single gram over plus strict 7kg of hand luggage...  Kate was labelled a ‘collector’ because of few leaves in her travel diary and had to unpack her whole backpack to make sure she is not trying to smuggle some risks to NZ. It won’t help you either if the person at the check in counter is new and follows all the procedures strictly to the point. It took poor Hen a while to explain the whole visa situation and prove that he is not an illegal immigrant...

However, we made it to Christchurch which is a wonderful small town (population of about 350 th), really spectacular and full of life. The next day we decided to save our backs for the coming months and hire a car. 

These pictures will make any climber jealous... No more comments are needed... We just happened to pass by and couldn't resist to spend some time here playing around... Big thanks to two local chicks - Nicola and Leanne - who shared their boulder mat and showed us around. Btw, we met Ryan conquering some V5 problem :-) The world is so small. Love it. 

 Welcome to the Paradise. Oh yes, we know that you are sooo jealous now :-)

 V4 on the left, V5 and V6 on the right. 

 Hen fighting some V2. 

Happy :-) 

 Kate on V5 ;-)

Which one... Gosh, life if full of hard choices!

 Nicola and Leanne. Super climbing chicks!

The reflection in this photo is from a little pool where the lovely cows used to go to the toilet, Kate's comment was: "New Zealand in a pool of shit!" Suits quite well I guess.

 

Kea parrots are GANGSTERS! It's impossible to be at two places at one moment and these little feathered creatures seem to be well aware of it. So while you are trying to protect your breakfast against one (big!) bird the two or possibly four of his friends are either vandalising any rubber part of your car or stealing something from the boot they could eventually fly off with (so far one musli bar stolen).  And did we mention that we have about nine big holes in our tent?!

But they are so beautiful and funny... 

That's my T-shirt!

We got back from our first hike in the Arthurs Pass NP (population of about 62 people J,

 

wonderful three days in Taruahuna and Hawdon passes, Tarn col and enormously wide river beds. It’s so wild here... New Zealanders are very friendly people and all it took us to get a hitch was to yell at a bunch of kayakers ‘is anybody heading to Arthurs Pass?’ J 

 Edward's Hut

 Six kg of photo gear pays off :-)

 Tarn Col

NZ is in the middle of a big discussion about the 1080 poison and we plan to write some more about it little later. We asked one of the DOC staff for her opinion and were told that the employees are not allowed to share their personal opinion on this subject...

  

Also, somebody asked about the earthquake in the Cantenburry area. Yes, the damages are surprising even in Christchurch. In the remote areas of the wild nature it caused many earth slides and avalanches, rock falls on the roads. However NZ seems to be dealing with it very quickly and Europeans wouldn’t guess that the whole tragedy has happened only a couple of months back. Truly impressive. 

Henner is now called the duck murderer after admiring NZ trees looking as Tolkien's Ents and driving straight through Donald's family...

Great Barrier Reef and Cairns

As usual GBR simply can't disappoint. No matter whether you dive or just snorkel the colors and shapes of the coral and hundreds of fish are breathtaking... We went for one day of snorkeling with a boat and had a absofuckolutely great time with Hen's mum who - snorkeling on her own - even saw a turtle (Kate's comment:

should have sticked to Nanni rather than to Hen...).

I can't help it but think of Woody Allen's 'Everything you wanted to know about the sex but were afraid to ask'  the sperms episode... 

The next day another trip, this time to Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation. Let us just say that waking behind a sign 'authorised personel only' can turn into unexpectedly wild hike when one doesn't know whether it's better to continue or try to find the way back. 





Then washing the mud in a water hole (no crocs). Plenty of tropical fruit, super sweet mangoes, 32 degrees, sun... That's Queensland...


$3.99 a kilo! So sweet and tasty!

For Sigi...  We think of you every day :-)


Local wild olives...


Heny's dad eating oysters!