Tuesday I drove to the west coast! I picked up a hitched named Hector from brazil. He was a nice smiling dude who lives in Queenstown. He was just outside of Hawea where lots of folks try to thumb a ride. I drove with out stopping because I wanted to see the sunset on the ocean. The town was Haast beach. I quickly changed into board shorts and hustled down to the beach to have a bit of a dip. The waves were breaking right on the beach and it was defiantly not safe to get in. Even standing near and getting my knees wet was some what trecherous. We found a nice cheap campground for the evening. Wednesday I saw the sun rise over the mountains. Some of the taller mountains had snow on the peaks. It was a nice start to a great day! I dropped off Hector and bid him farewell and I went to the DOC office to see what tramps were available to me. The tramp in Jackson Bay was a bit out of my league by my assumption but the nice lady at the office convinced me to try for a 3 day tramp north of Haast. The first day was a 5 hour walk to the first hut and a 2 hour tramp the next day with a half day trip up a valley, day three would be a return wander. I needed to hit the trail soon so I gassed up and hit the road. I stopped to pack at a really cool lookout. I made a series of poorish decisions. First I did not do my homework on this trail, next I did not drop off my computer for safe keeping. Most importantly, since there was no cell coverage I did not leave my hiking intentions with anybody. This can lead to a bad situation if I am lost or hurt. The trailhead where I parked has many tracks that lead off and I was on one of the more obscure tracks. I think everyone is familiar with the movie/story 127 hours. Still I pushed on. I parked, was packed and hit the trail at 12:34. I would need every moment of daylight to reach the hut. The track was one of the least maintained trails I have been on out here. It was also littered with mud pits that would take your boot if you were not careful, and I was. Like always my pace was good and I did not slow or stop for anything other than short breaks to figure out how to get past/over/under an obstacle. Then I got to my first deep cut creek, I jumped the gap. It was a risky move but it had been done before so why not. I took extra care to keep my feet dry so I would not get blisters or foot rot.
The New Zealand west coast is a rugged piece of land. It is a rainforest but unlike many in the tropics it is in a cold climate like the northwest of the US. Not only is there lots of rain, the Taman sea currents come from the Antarctic. Think the movie Willow only more green. This particular valley was shaded from the sun most of the day but had spectacular greenery, fungus and lichens. It was also very wet, the ground was soggy and the trees were dripping yet it had not rained for a day. I thought about my time in the rainforests of Costa Rica and Belize. In those places the plants and animals could kill you. Here mother nature is in control and a freezing rain can pop up at any time. At this juncture I must run for a bit, I will tell the rest of my lovely story and explain my cutting it short in a few hours....... Hopefully!
