Trav's Travels: March 2019

2/18/19

It was a beautiful day as a send off from McMurdo. Not the kind of day you want when leaving. You kind of want it grey, freezing, and windy so that you can’t wait to get out. Instead it was bluebird, windless, and warm. In the morning I saw a family of orcas cruise by. Elisha and I walked down to hut point as a farewell. It was so pleasant in the sun and we watched the seals and a couple of adelie penguins. On the bus ride out to the airport, we also saw some emperor penguins.

The flight out was amazing. Clear skies and we were on the Royal New Zealand Airforce plane that has windows. So we got to watch all the glaciers and peaks below as we cruised by as well as the frozen artwork made out of rafted ice. We arrived to Christchurch around 10pm where we had a place at the Crowne Plaza. We went out to eat at a Turkish fast food place as it was the only thing still open

2/19/19

Today we did errands around Christchurch. We picked up our camping gear that we rented, picked up our rental car, and dropped off our excess luggage at the CDC. We also walked to the travel health clinic to make an appointment for vaccines. We went out to a Thai takeaway for lunch. We camped at a campground near the airport that had a really fun and bouncy trampoline as well as some other outdoor games. We went for a date night to my favorite Thai place in town. The mats that we had rented didn’t hold air very well, so we didn’t have a great sleeping night (we ended up trading one of the mats in and Elisha bought a big blow up one at the NZ equivalent of Wal-mart.

2/20/19

We did some shopping in the morning for our trip and then went to the travel clinic where we got vaccines for hep B, typhoid, cholera, and yellow fever. Our company gives us health insurance for 3 day after we are terminated, so we made use of that to get our shots. We had a lunch at a Thai place and then drove to Arthur’s pass. We had hoped to stay there and do a hut trip, but it was raining, with no end in site, so we continued on to Hokitika. We stayed at a really cool campground that used to be a psychiatric ward up on top of a bluff overlooking the ocean. All the old rooms in the ward were used as hang out places, dining, the kitchen, etc. It was cool and charming. We set up our tent out on a grassy knoll overlooking the ocean. When the rain dissipated, we took a walk along the Hokitika beach where they had recently had a driftwood art competition, which was pretty cool. At night, we visited the Dell (a grotto) where we got to see some really cool glow worms.

2/21/19

We drove along the scenic west coast road which has nice ocean views. We drove through Westport and Karamea and to the very end of the west coast road. We then took a very steep, narrow, and dirty road up Oparara Basin, where we did 3 short hikes. The first hike was to a really cool and long “arch”, which was more like a limestone tunnel carved out by the river. We explored the area and walked the length of it. Next, we hiked to a second “arch” (tunnel) that had a cool little 3^rd, cave-like entrance that we entered through. Our last hike was to a couple of caves that we explored with headlamps.

We stayed the night at Gentle Annie’s campsite on the beach. It’s voted New Zealand’s #3 campsite, and it indeed was amazing. They had brick ovens, so we cooked yummy wood-fired pizzas

2/22/19

It rained a good chunk of the morning, so we just hung around the campsite. Around noon we started a cool hike (Charming Creek) that followed the path of old mining carts. It went along a cool gorge with a blue river and through rainforest foliage The trail went past a cool waterfall, some mining relics (including an old cart), and cold sulfur springs. It also led us through 2 man-made tunnels in the rock.

On the drive back south, we stopped at a headland near Westport to check out a NZ fur seal colony. It was fun watching the little nursery of pups in the tidal pools play. We cooked dinner along the pier in Greymouth and camped at Arthur’s Pass.

2/23/19

We started a trek just outside of Arthur’s pass, along the glacial Waimakariri river towards Carrington hut. At times there was no trail, and we had to bushwhack and ford the river at times. But it was a bluebird day, and the views were beautiful with huge, steep glaciated peaks around the valley. Carrington hut is a large 32-bunk hut, but we had it all to ourselves! We hiked a bit further up river after dropping our packs off. On the walk up we happened upon an old human-propelled cableway—cloughs cableway—used for crossing the river when it’s running high. We gave it a try, which was fun and exhilarating.

In the late afternoon I chopped wood, and we started a fire and hung out at the hut. Overnight a big storm blew in.

2/24/19

It rained almost the entire day. It was very cold outside as it was an Antarctic storm front that had blown in, so we mostly just hung out in the cabin by the fire reading and drinking tea. Again we had the place to ourselves.

2/25/19

We hiked out in the early morning mist. But the skies slowly cleared as we hiked. It had snowed a lot and rather low down in elevation overnight. We had started very early and got back to the car around noon. We went back to Christchurch to return our camping gear and pick up our 2^nd dose of the cholera vaccine. We then drove to Methven to have dinner and stay with Elisha’s friends John and Judy that she had met while she was delayed several weeks in New Zealand on her way to Antarctica.

They are a really nice couple. John is Kiwi, but Judy actually grew up in Estes Park, so they have pictures and paintings of Longs Peak hung up around the house. Judy regaled us of stories of Estes in the old days. They’re in their 60’s, but still super active. They do some crazy mountain biking, ski a lot, and do some big treks. They’re also part of a local tramping club. They’re fun and spunky and made some delicious Indian food.

2/26/19

-We got up early and drove to Christchurch for our long flight (3 movies + sleep) to San Francisco. I then continued on to Denver, and Elisha to Spokane