Matthew's New Zealand Blog: Green Lake Tramp- May 21-23

Once upon a time, my kea-catching mate Nick told me of a mystical lake in the south of Fiordland National Park, tucked away in the cradle of the Southern Alps. He told a beautiful tramp through forests and wetlands in the shadow of the snow-covered mountaintops. From that time I was determined to go to Green Lake, and successfully convinced my mates to ventured out to the southwest for a weekend adventure to Green Lake on the 21st of May.

And so, in typical fashion, we headed out for Green Lake early on a Saturday morning. Barbara and I accompanied the Spaniard crew- Ferran, Marc, Carmen, and Maria- on the drive through the rolling country hills of NZ to the Southern Alps, where our 4 hour tramp began. The tramp started typically, with lush green forests and perfect weather. Soon we found ourselves in marshland inhabited by tall grasses and big puddles. In no time our boots and pants were soaked, and the sneaky bog ground claimed dry leg after dry leg, and soon had us all soaked up to our knees. Barbara was at one time almost completely consumed by the soggy earth, but we saved her at the last second from death-by-wetland. Patches of snow proved to be loads of fun and sparked battles and countless sneak-attacks. Blessed once more with sunshine and good times, the tramp was over far too soon and we arrived at the Green Lake Hut.

The Green Lake Hut was really cool. It only sleeps 12 people, and we had heard on the way up that a group of Isrealis were on their way to the hut, and that there would be no room for us! Fortunately, when we arrived, there were only 5 other people there- an older group of trampers, and a mother and son group from Dunedin. We all hung around the hut and chatted and made food. The other groups even gave us some of their custard dessert! We played the game where you put a famous persons name on your forehead and then go around the circle and ask questions in order to figure out who you are. We played for a while around the fire, then went outside to stargaze by the lake before sleepy time.

The next day the other groups left early and we slept in and hung out at the hut for a long time. We kept making food and tea and played Pinchazo, a spanish card game. After contemplating spending another night at the hut, we ended up heading back. For the return tramp, we played the person-guessing game as we walked, which was a lot of fun. The weather was a bit rainy this time, but the tramp was heaps of fun!