Last days of hitching and hiking in NZ
So I’m in Christchurch tonight, thankfully, and I’m meeting up with the folks tomorrow for the start of the Parental Visit. I had a great time unwinding and resting up at Puponga for 5 days, with perfect weather, good people, and nice walks every day. Doesn’t get much better. Finally left and headed down to Nelson Lakes National Park for one last tramp on my own in New Zealand and I could not have had more perfect weather. But first I had some adventures on the way. I hooked up with an American guy to hitch down together and we had a very interesting day of hitches to get to St. Arnaud, the last one being withh a guy named Jimbo who works for DOC as a hunter and he invited us to stay with hime at his place for the night. We got there in the late afternoon and started drinking beer and getting ready for his mates to arrive for the rugby game. What a fun night hanging out with the locals. So many laughs…
Next day Jimbo dropped me off at the trailhead and I made my way up to Angeles Hut via the Robertson Ridge. Amazing scenery. Views all day from the ridge. Such a good decision to go there. Decided to stay at the hut and not carry the tent in for just one night. Following morning I was up and hiking at sunrise to hike down and around the lake back to St. Arnaud. Another perfect day of hiking.
Back in Arnaud at 2:30pm and had to start hitching right away to get to Christchurch to meet my parents. I was eating an ice cream outside the store (the only store in town) and the mailman asked me if I need a ride to the main road. Cool! So I did 24 km of the mail route with him along the way. Good fun. 2 other rides and then I was stuck, waiting over an hour with no luck. It was after 5pm and I was still hours from Christchurch. Then, my luck changed and a guy pulled over and said he was going all the way to Christchurch! I was SO happy! Even better, he invited me to stay the night with him and his family which saved me having to stay in another 38-person dorm! Thanks so much for that!! So tomorrow I am meeting up with my parents and our friends Paul and Nacy to do a whirlwind tour of the South Island…
Nelson Lakes National Park
Sunset from Angeles Hut
Don’t get too many sunsets like this
Add comment March 10th, 2003