Tramping in New Zealand

Marcin left for New Zealand in December to attempt Mount Cook. This time of year was supposedly the season to climb Mount Cook - spring south of the equator. The route is covered with crevasses, so care had to be taken to follow the right path towards the summit. After about two weeks on the mountain, unfortunately, Marcin and his partner did not summit. But he, of course, vows to be back and plans to go earlier in the season when it is not as warm. 

I did not arrive in NZ until January 16 so Marcin had a lot of free time on his hands. In the mean time he decided to hike a good chunk of the Te Araroa, NZ's Long Trail (http://www.teararoa.org.nz). The trail goes from north to south through both islands and is relatively new.  Marcin completed three weeks on this trail from around Queenstown to Rangitata Gorge on the south Island. He said the trail was a bit remote compared to the other tracks we did.

Te Araroa trail

Fortunately Marcin wasn't alone the whole time. He met up with an Alaska friend and did a week of hiking in Kahurangi National Park. 

A friend of ours recommended the Dusky Track when we asked what are some must-do tramping tracks in New Zealand. So as soon as I got to New Zealand we made a plan to do the 10 day track. The Dusky Track (http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/dusky-track/) is located in Fiordland National Park between Lake Hauroko and Lake Manapouri. In order to access the track in either direction you need to hire a boat to get you there. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the average rainfall for Fiordland is 1200mm to 800mm or about 200 rainy days a year. And boy did we experience rain. 

Some before pictures- before we were wet and muddy. You can already see the uncertainty in my face! 

We started our treck with 6 other people. There was no camping on this trail. The terrain was just to wet, muddy, and rooty (if that's a word) from the trees. The huts are small compared to other tramping tacks - they have a sleeping limit of about 12 people. 

The trail was wet and overgrown. I joked with Marcin that we had better not stand in one spot too long or we would be covered in moss. The trees were huge canopies that created a canyon-like track. The mud and downed trees were consistent throughout the trip. At one point I stepped in mud up to my knees. Since then, I have heard that the track can be worse than what we experienced - mud up to the thighs! The downed trees were another challenge. Due to the weather and unstable earth, there were a lot of trees. It took 10 to 15 mintues to climb through, under, or around these masses of chaos in the middle of the trail. 

One of 6 huts on the Dusky

#hutlife

climbing down some roots

so. much. growth. 

Day two on the track we finally got above the trees. Like I wrote earlier, it was like stepping out of a cave and seeing light again. Granted, it wasn't sunny, not in the slightest. We were lucky though, it didn't really start pouring until we got to the hut. 

This hut was our favorite because of the lack of sandflies. Have I mentioned the sandflies yet? Sandflies are as bad as mosquitoes in Northern Alaska. They bite and you won't even know it until two days later when you are itching incessantly. The little bastards leave welts on some people and can even leave scars depending on how much you itch. For me, the worse was at night when I would itch in my sleep and start bleeding. On the Dusky Track they were the worst. They would be so bad that we had to rush to kick off our boots at the end of the day outside the hut. They relish in muggy weather and around water. It was so bad we were inhaling them. 

The days that followed were rainy. It rained every day we were on the trail. If it wasn't raining it was drizzling. We waited out the third day due to rain and knew there would be a three-wire bridge crossing that had a potential to flood. There are 21 three-wire bridges along the whole trail. It is not always necessary to cross them as you can usually cross the creek if it low and there is good access. But the access to this three-wire bridge was flooded. We had to walk through chest-deep water to get to the bridge and that was just the beginning of pur flooding issues. 

getting to the three-wire bridge

one of the 21 bridges

only views on the track

The next day and night brought torrential downpours. The hut was nestled between a lake and a river. The trail was flooded in all directions. So much so that we read accounts of trampers that didn't wait out the weather and had to swim in sections. 

We waited out the flood for two nights. The water finally receded enough to continue on. The trail was more of the same. There were two passes above tree line that I am sure were beautiful if it weren't for the socked-in weather. We made it out on the 9th day. There are a total of 6 huts on the track or 7 if you decide to do a detour. We wondered why the description said the track can take up to 10 days but now we get it- leave time for floods. 

Overall we both said we wouldn't recommend this track- even if we had good weather. We were eager to get out of the bush and see some views. A majority of the track was in the canopy of trees, roots, moss, and deep dark bush. We were only above tree line twice during the 9 days and we soon found out that a majority of the tracks in NZ were in the bush. 

Overall we completed 7 overnight tracks during my 7 weeks in New Zealand. More to come on the other tracks and our experiences hitchhiking throughout the South Island.