Easter Break Road Trip with Pops- 19/4-4/5

      For 15 days, starting a bit before and ending a bit after my Easter Break from University, I was blessed with a visit from my father! Together, we adventured around the South Island, completing a counter-clockwise circumnavigation of the island, and enjoying countless experiences along the way. Given the extended nature of the adventure, I feel it is best to give a summary of the trip, day by day. The following map shows our road trip, starting from Dunedin and heading north:

      As you can see, we managed to cover almost the entire South Island in 15 days. Our starting point was H, Dunedin. From there we headed up to the unnumbered pennisula that is Christchurch. We then covered all of the following cities-
B- Picton
C- Nelson
D- Greymouth
The Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers (unnumbered)
E- Haast
F- Wanaka and Queenstown
G- Te Anau
Then back to University in Dunedin.

       While summarization can do no justice in relaying the fun and adventure of the trip, the following summarizes all of our activites in each of the places where they occured:

Dunedin: Penninsula visit, Royal Albatross sightings, Speight's Brewery Tour- extended beer tasting session to follow!

Oamaru: Mouraiki boulders, blue penguin sightings, and New Zealand Fur Seal colony watching!

Churstchurch: Spent the night and witness some bad damage from the earthquake

Kaikora: Whale watching- saw 2 massive Sperm whales less that 30m away- totally amazing!

Picton: Queen Charlotte's Park day hike and drive along the Queen Charlotte Sound

Nelson: Delicious Thai dinner!

Abel Tasman National Park: Attempted sea kayaking, but the weather and ocean swells stopped us from going into the water, so we headed down to Nelson Lakes

Nelson Lakes National Park: Day tramp to Whisky Falls in the rain- amazing waterfall, which, to our dismay, did not flow whisky!

Punakaiki: Pancake Rocks and amazing views along the West Coast highway

Can you find the creatures in the rock shapes?!?!?!

Franz Joseph: Half day adventure on Franz Joseph Glacier!

Franz Joseph Glacier the night before the trek!

We went past cuz we're cool like that.

Fox Glacier: Fantastic lamb dinner, Matheson Lake- amazing views of Mt Cook (the tallest mountain in NZ) and Mt Tasman

Mt Tasman on the left, Mt Cook on the right

Wanaka: Dad's Birthday!! Mountain biking around Wanaka wilderness, NZ movie at the classic Cinema Paradiso- couch seating! And another delicious Thai dinner!

Dad with a random guy who wanted to take a picture with us! Haha!

Queenstown: River Boarding, it was freezing cold, but tons of fun. We rode atop body boards down grade 3 rapids in the middle of the beautiful NZ country. At the tend of the trip, we enjoyed being towed around by a jet ski, sliding down a massive waterslide, and doing cool tricks off of a rope swing!



View of Queenstown from our hostel!


Te Anau (Fiordland National Park): Milford Track- 4 days of "the finest walk in the world":

Day 1: 2 hour ferry to the starting point of the track, a short trip and long stay at a gorgeous river, and a short 1.5 hour walk to our first hut. We were lucky enough to complete the whole track with my good mate Ferran and his whole family! All of us enjoyed perfect weather for all four days, with a warm sun beaming down on our heads the whole way through, and no rain! In Fiordland, four days like this in  a row can be considered a miracle! The hut was a lot of fun, with good food and Spanish card games!

Day 2: Another beautiful hike through the valley leads us to Hidden Lake, where we eat lunch with plenty of sandflies! With Mackinnon Pass in sight, we enjoy the rapid changes in scenery and beautiful floral and fauna throughout the rest of the 6 hour tramp- taking it easy and enjoying all that the environment has to offer! Another great night at the hut finishes with some star-gazing!

Day 3: The day begins with a climb up to the highest point of the tramp- Mackinnon Pass, which offers breathtaking views of valleys, mountains, and fiords! The 7 hour tramp finishes with a slow downhill to a track leading to Sutherland Falls- the highest waterfall in the southern hemisphere at 500m!!! After taking showers in the mist from the falls, we head to the hut where we meet up with the rest of the group. More good hot food and lots of chocolate from our sugaraholic friend Kim from Belgium!

Day 4: This last day was filled with endless amazing waterfalls! The hike was just as perfect as the last 3 days had been, and as our feet began to get sore, we knew that the track was coming to an end.
After another day filled with perfect weather and gorgeous scenery, we reached Sandfly Point. From here we took a tiny boat to Milford, and grabbed the first beer and fish and chips we could find. Here we found out about Bin Laden's assassination, and the special at the tiny bar was 'Bin Laden Freedom Fries'! What a great trip!

Milford Sound: Sea kayaking in Milford Sound (not a sound, actually a fiord!)

Dunedin: Return to campus to turn essays in!

       In conclusion, the trip was truly an experience of a lifetime. Not only was it great to spend so much quality time with my dad, but the places we went, the experiences we had, the people we met, and the things we saw were all amazing and life-changing. I am so very blessed to have had such a fantastic Easter break, and such a loving father with whom to enjoy the trip!

Mt. Cook- Ball Pass Climb- April 8-10

       The weekend of April 8-10th I went with a group of friends to Mt Cook, where we climbed up to Ball Pass and Mt Pukaki, which rises above sea level 2222 metres. The first leg of the climb was done by all 9 of us in the group, but only Ferran, Jan, and I continued the climb up to Ball Pass around 3pm. This was the most exciting part of the journey, as we hiked across a Ball Glacier to reach our "campsite" on top of Ball Pass just as the sun dissapeared below the mountains. When we reached the pass, which was gorgeous, we pitched our tent on the flat snow surface and we slept in, by far, the sweetest place I have slept in my entire life. The following videos capture the experience of waking up on Ball Pass, and of our journey walking back down across Ball Glacier:

This picture was taken by Jan as a panoramic shot, and Ferran used photoshop to put the 7 images together. It is taken at the peak of Mt Pukaki, which we climbed the morning after our night to Ball Pass, and represented the climax of our journey from 800m to 2222m, a totaling a 1422 metre, or 4,665 foot climb. Many thanks to Jan and Ferran for putting this picture together, I think it is the coolest picture of all time:

Ferran and I atop Mt Pukaki Peak. The middle peak of Mont Cook stands in the background, and Tasman Glacier can be seen in the back right  side below the shining sun. Cool beans.

One of the coolest events of the weekend occured on our hike down to the car park. The way the track is set is allows for a 4WD car to power through 6km of walking if the car is able to handle the bumpy rock road and get over piles of stone and streams. As we descended, we met a NZ mountain guide and his father, who had been a guide for 50 years and was climbing to Ball Pass with his son (suddenly I did not feel so cocky about completing the climb). After a short talk, the man asked us if we could drive 4WD. Of course, we said yes, and the man asked us if we could do him a favor. The result was that he gave us his keys, and we drove his 4WD car (ferran drove, since it was manual) from the end of the rock road to the car park, so that him and his father would not have to walk all the way back to the car at the end of thier tramp (they were not going back in the same direction, but continued on to the end of the track, where they had a 2WD car parked to drive them back to the original car park). In return for our favor, we used the car to carry the packs of our mates back to the car park, as they were ahead of us, so they did not have to carry their packs the whole way. The deal worked out perfectly, but all of us were shocked that this man would trust a bunch of total strangers from around  the world with his car! Only in NZ! While the backpacking/mountaineering culture is very trusting and friendly, I dont think any american (or spaniard or swede) would trust a bunch of strangers with his car. It was extremely refreshing to be part of an experience that illustrates that people can really trust in eachother, and it was great to see that there is still hope for humanity afterall!

This was truly an amazing weekend and we all felt so lucky to have had such beautiful weather throughout. Walking across the Ball Glacier was one of the coolest experiences of my life and it helped me to understand further the massive powers of nature. Climbing amongst gigantic glaciers and towering mountains helped all of us to realize that our puny human selves are really not the most powerful or important existences on earth. Thanks again for an amazing experience New Zealand.

Love to All,
Matthew

P.S.

Here is another panoramic photo that Ferran made, I am sitting at the top of the peak snacking on some peanuts and you can see the trail on the right side of the photo on the ridge. I should be paying him for these!

Kepler Track Weekend: March 31-April 3

Hello friends and family!
Life in NZ has been splendid as usual, and this past weekend I completed the Kepler Track with some mates. The Kepler Track is one of 4 Great Walks on the South Island. The Great Walks are maintained especially well by the DoC and are aimed at attracting tourists with magnificent views and "lux..urious" hut accomadations- meaning there are gas stoves in the huts and flush toilets. The trip went fantastically and the tramp was gorgeous as usual- with the second day being the most beautiful as we walked on mountain ridges. Heres some details:

Crew:
Matthew (USA)
Ferran (Spain)
Tina (Denmark)
Astrid (Norway)

Timetable:
Thursday: Drive to Te Anau, spend night in hostel
Friday: Bus to tramp start, 7 hr hike to first hut
Saturday: 7 hr hike to second hut
Sunday: 6 hr hike to tramp end, bus back to car in Te Anau, drive back to Dunedin

Ferran is very cool and gave me these pictures of the tramp route:

The hike was moderately difficult, but the path itself was paved with rocks and felt like a freeway compared to other tracks that I have done. The first day was a steady climb next to beautiful Te Anau Lake, and ended on top of the mountain side at Luxmore Hut. The huts all weekend were crowded, but with great people from around the world, so it was very exciting to meet people. The collest part abot the Luxmore Hut were the caves located just 10 minutes away. Ferran and I explored the caves for over an hour and still did not reach an end! They were fantastic and scary at times, escpecially when we turned our lights off and sat in pitch-black darkness. Here are some photos leading up to the caves:

Myself, Tina, Ferran, and Astrid pre-tramp

Marching up to Mt Luxemore

Ferran caught me mid-laugh

Exploring the caves!

Things got pretty tight at times

Sweet mineral formations that took hundreds of years to develop

The second day was by far the most beautiful, as we hiked across the Mt Luxmore ridge to the Iris Burn Hut. The day started out rainy and cold, and when we climbed up to Mt Luxmore's peak, we couldnt see further than a couple metres ahead. However, as we continued the hike atop the ridge, the clouds suddenly parted before our eyes and revealed a magnificent scene in the mountain ranges and lakes that surrounded us.

View from our hut in the morn

chillin

party hut!!

Top of Mt Luxmore (fabulous view!)

Clouds parting right before our eyes!

That's me chillin on the ridge

Ferran mid-happy jump

Trail over the ridge



Ferran and I took a bath in the freezing waters by the waterfall. If you can see our expressions, you can understand why the bath was very, very short!



Awesome waterfall off the mountainside- the winds made the falling water dance in different ways

The day was made up of a 6 hour hike to the trail end through mostly forest terrain, with some marshes along the way

Ferran showin off his moves

Deer skull we found



Marshes

Clouds over Lake Manipori

            Once again, the trip was amazing. I really enjoyed meeting people from around the world at the huts, I even talked to a girl from Isreal for quite a while and was truly enlightened by what she told me about life in Isreal, which differs greatly from the preconceptions Ive obtained from media and such. As I continue to meet new people, it seems that Mark Twain was truly correct when he said: "Travel is fatal to prejudice."

Love to All,
Matthew