Hitch-hiking away

You know the nearer your destination the more you’re hitch-hiking away…

9:20am. On the road, waiting for a ride to Christchurch. I had the most amazing hike up and down from Mueller Hut the last 2 days. The weather was absolutely perfect the day I went up – not a cloud in the sky and no wind. The trail was steep but not too bad and from the top, man, the views – looking across to Mt. Cook and peaks and glaciers everywhere. When I got to the hut I ran into Omer, an Israeli guy who I had met before back in the beginning of December on the Tongariro Northern Circuit! It was great to see a familiar face and catch up on the past 2 months. We sat outside in the sun and talked for a few hours while admiring the scenery and watching the avalanches fall from the surrounding peaks every 10 minutes or so.

Eventually the hut filled to it’s 12-person capacity and we were lucky to have a really good group of nice people – 6 Dutch, 2 Israeli, 2 Canadians, 1 from the Czech Republic, and me. We all sat around talking for some time. In the evening after dinner I walked up to the nearby summit of Mt. Ollivier at 1917 m (the first peak that Sir Edmund Hillary climbed) which gave even better views of Mt. Cook and the valley and Mueller Glacier below. For sunset we all went outside the hut and sat on the rocks to enjoy the show. We all knew how lucky we were to have such good weather and a beautiful sunset. More good conversation and laughs all evening.

At 6am the next morning I woke up with 3 of the Dutch folks to go outside and watch the sunrise on a perfectly clear, crisp morning. The perfect start to a great day. After a lazy morning of conversations at breakfast we all left Mueller Hut and headed down into the valley. I walked down with Roni, the Israeli girl. She was heading out on a 4pm bus so we said our goodbyes at the Village and then I went to the pub to meet the Canadian couple, and we sat out in the sun with our perfect views of Mt. Cook and sucked down a few beers. They were staying in the park last night but I decided to start hitching out to Christchurch because it was still early (about 5pm) and it would break up the 4-hour ride for today. I got as far as Tekapo, about 110 km from Mt. Cook Village, in 2 rides, first 3 French people and then 3 Israelis. Lake Tekapo is a very small town but it is situated on the lake which is a beautiful blue glacial lake. The YHA hostel is right on the lake and I was able to get a tent site in their backyard for $10 NZ. Had a shower and spent the rest of the evening reading the news of the shuttle crash which I didn’t know anything about until I arrived in town.

So I am now in Christchurch after getting ONE RIDE! direct from Tekapo, a 3-hour ride! Believe it or not it was the guy from the Czech Republic (at Mueller Hut the night before) who picked me up! He recognized me on the road and pulled over immediately. Cool! What’s so interesting about travelling is getting to meet people from so many different parts of the world, and I learned so much about the Czech Republic today. Anyway I’m staying tonight in this nightmare of a hostel in a 38-person dorm room which feels more like a hospital ward in a third-world country or a homeless shelter, but it’s only for one night. Tomorrow morning I’ll be up early to go food shopping and then I’m outta here, destination Arthur’s Pass and the mountains again.

Mt Cook and Hooker Valley

Views from Mueller Hut

Sunset from Mueller Hut

Add comment February 4th, 2003