Dept of Conservation Visitor Log:
No. of nights in huts*: 2
No. in party: 2
Names: Liz Doster & Liz Voigt
Home country: Indianapolis & TN, USA
expected route: Upper Caples--Mt. McKellar--car park
Primary reason for stay: eating tuna & stomping through mud puddles (i.e. tramping)**
Comments: glorious, incredible***, happy to have semi-dry hut instead of tent in rain!
*Liz V, on an expected 3-night, 4-day tramp (took us a day less), decided to take 16 cans of flavored Sealord tuna as her sole means of sustenance. we both thought this hilarious!
**esp as we had extra room in our backpacks, as we didn't need a tent, b/c we utilized the great NZ hut system. though you have the option to tent it, along the route they have cabins that come equipped w/ water from a tank (suggested you boil or treat--I did not, & can but hope that in a week or 2, giardia doesn't disturb my biorhythms), & a roof, which is utterly spectacular when you've got a cold, autumnal rain pouring down for 2 nights, & you're able to almost-dry your soaking clothes & sleep in a bunk & move around under a roof, which is odd, after months in the confined space of a van.
***You would not believe the scenery along this tramp, just outside of Glenorchy, that we were able to enjoy in the sunshine on our last day, & in the rain on the day we had to go up & over the saddle (just 954 meters, but still a bit of a downclimb, esp when it's slippery). There were plenty of mud-sucking puddles to wade through, & I managed to find the 1 spot that a sink hole in a stream was waist-deep. good thing my sleeping bag was encased in a trash bag, or I'd have had a wet night! after being in the cold rain for so long, the water didn't feel too bad; if it'd been sunny & warm out, it would've been freezing!
As I was saying, there really is no way to describe in words the glory of the rugged, rocky mountains & enchanted forest & sparkling waterfalls & rays of sunshine & foggy mists & jade-colored rivers, & green valleys & golden fields & bits of snow tucked among rocky outcroppings of peaks that we encountered in our journey. not even pictures, let alone words can't contain the feeling, the mystique, the fantasy of the breath-taking, soul-snatching, awe-inspiring, astounding, stunning, etc. etc. scenery. you've just got to be there & experience it for yourself.
Though I didn't go so far as to solely eat tuna, I did find it funny that I didn't need to alter any of my grocery purchases for living in the backcountry, as living in a van is close enough, & I didn't care about the extra weight of cans of baked beans, cans of tuna, cans of corn, an apple, a couple pieces of chocolate, & a few granola bars. On our last day, a meandering, easy 16-mile hike out w/ blue skies, we did promise ourselves the joy of Big Bikkies, described as: "creamy cookie flavoured icecream packed w/ big cookie chunks, smothered in cookie crumbs & rich milk chocolate. Warning: This icecream will seriously satisfy." ah, the reward of gorging!
Aside from our tramp, in the last week we also visited the magnificent Milford Sound, packed full of more majestic, mystic mountains (& cold rain), as well as the confounded Nugget Point, an area so far South that the ocean gets confused & waves crash into each other & the sediment that it's pushed together into vertically-striped rocks. phenomenal. and, I was treated w/ a rainbow over the sea just before I left.
am I spoiled or what?!
