Ball Pass Trek Day 2

‘First there’s the Pass.’
‘Then there’s the Hooker. I Hate the Hooker.’
‘And THEN there’s Tina!!!’

Paul looks back at where we came from

Graham you are so cool!

Paul and Graham heading down to the dreaded Hooker!!

Add comment March 27th, 2003

Ball Pass Trek – the Highest Guided walk in New Zealand

I couldn’t think of a better way to end my 1,000 km’s of tramping in New Zealand than by doing the Ball Pass, and getting up to see the sunrise on the Caroline face of Mt. Cook. These 2 days with Paul and our amazing guide Graham were so good that I have to put 2 days entries in so I can show more pics!

Taking a break at the Ball Pass Shelter

Sunrise in the mountains

Graham and I getting ready to go over the Pass

Add comment March 26th, 2003

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

Albatross trivia and Mt. Cook facts

I’ve been rather busy these past few days. Yeah, so I checked out the albatross colony on the Otago Peninsula and it was very cool and worth the 4-hour detour to see. I was lucky too because January is the month that the chicks hatch and I got to see 5 albatross sitting on their egg (or chick). It’s the only mainland albatross colony in the world (that’s a bit of albatross trivia for you).

I also stopped on the way out of Otago to see the famous castle but in my opinion it was overpriced and not very interesting or spectacular. Ok, so you don’t go to New Zealand to see castles.

I finished my driving experience in NZ be delivering Sally’s car to Riverton and in the end I had no problems and no speeding tickets either. I arrived in Riverton on the 29th and met up with Sharlene and Sally who had just come off the Hump Ridge Track with 8 other family and friends as a celebration of Sally’s 40th birthday. That night we all went out to dinner in Riverton and Sally was very generous in paying for everyone. The food was incredible.

On the following day everyone packed up and drove the 4-hour ride back to Queenstown. Sharlene decided she needed some quality time with her boyfriend, so I stayed at a campsite instead of sleeping at her place. Hey, I can understand. And Sharlene’s been more than hospitable already.

I really didn’t have anything else to do in Queesntown though so the next day (which was yesterday), I left. I woke up early at the campground to go food shopping and pack up. The morning sun and sky were absolutely amazing – the sun was dark orange and the sky was grey, like an apocolypse. Turns out that it was the smoke blown over from all the fires happening in Canberra, Australia. Weird.

Anyway I hitched from Queenstown to here in 4 rides. By the time I got to the junction for the road to Mt. Cook Village it was nearly 7pm and I was so lucky to get that last ride from 2 Australian women. I was even luckier I think to get a bed at the YHA hostel because it’s the only hostel in Mt. Cook Village and is normally fully booked (someone didn’t show so I got their bed). It was a good thing too because yesterday the winds were blowing like mad (over 150 km/hour) and it started to rain just when we arrived!

I was wanting to start the Mueller Hut Track today but DOC advised against it because the winds are still very strong. The woman at DOC told me that yesterday people were literally CRAWLING off the ridge from Mueller Hut because the winds were so strong. No Thank You! But the weather is supposed to change for the better tomorrow so I decided to stay another night and see what happens. The YHA is full tonight so I’m tenting at the park’s campsite. I had some really ignorant Europeans park their campervan right in front of my tent earlier so I had absolutely NO view except campervan (even when there were loads of other sites), and it put me in a most unpleasant mood for awhile and I even put a note on their windscreen but then I took it off and thankfully they moved anyway. When it’s just little ol’ me in a one-person tent and no car in these big campgrounds, I just get eaten alive by the campervans. I have no way to protect my space!

Spent the morning looking around the visitor center where I watched a 1-hour video on the first ascent of Mt. Cook, which, by the way, is the highest mountain in New Zealand at 3754 m (first summited in 1894 by 3 NZers). Then I walked the 40-minute trail to the campsite (which unfortunately is also accessible by road for the evil car campers), and set up my tent in a most beautiful view that was all mine until the Attack of the Campervan.

In the afternoon I did the Hooker Valley Walk which is a 3-hour return walk to Hooker Lake with amazing views of Hooker Glacier and Mt. Cook. It’s still been very windy today but the sun has stayed out. Let’s hope for a chance to do Mueller Hut tomorrow.

Walking up the Hooker Valley

Hooker Valley, with Mt Cook in the clouds

Climber Memorial, with Mt Cook in the background

Add comment February 1st, 2003