First tramping trip - Otehake hot springs

This weekend marks my first tramping (what they call hiking) trip in New Zealand! It was a blast, totally made me want to do way more backpacking trips while I’m here, and was generally very satisfying because it’s something I pictured myself doing while I was here.

Me and a number of the other international students I’ve been hanging out with signed up for an overnight trip out to some hot pools with the university tramping club. We drove up to Arthur’s Pass, which is a national park in the mountains about two hours from Christchurch. The drive was very scenic, and it was great to get out of the city and see some more of the surrounding area, but nerves were also running high among novice hikers like myself because we didn’t really know what we were in for. We knew this trip contained of a number of river crossings, which is scary because they could be as deep as our waists and it’s winter here so we knew we were in for a cold few days and hoped we wouldn’t be miserable the whole time.

Gorgeous Arthur's Pass on the drive in (unfortunately it was cloudy all weekend)

The trip started off with some river crossings right off the bat – and that water was cold! It wasn’t too bad though, we kept moving and everything but our feet dried pretty quickly. We wound through woods and fields, heading up the valley to the hot pools. Let me tell you, these Kiwis (or maybe it’s just experienced hikers in general) are beasts! We didn’t really stop at all, even for water, in our first three hours, and we were walking much faster than I would have on my own, so I tired out pretty quickly and it became a mind game to keep up and not be crabby. The trail got more difficult as we went up and down rugged trails that can’t even really be called trails through the forest, and the worst of all came at the end when we had to zigzag up the river for the last few miles. At this point we were freezing with sore ankles from walking over so many rocks and really not pleased about having to get in the deepest water yet again and again. My feet have never been so cold, but just when it was getting unbearable we finally made it to our destination after 7 tough miles – the Otehake hot pools!

A smaller river crossing

And a more accurate representation of most of the river crossings - although there were still plenty deeper and faster than this! 

There were really no trails to speak of for much of this tramp

Some of the ladies, and an example of the nasty rocky terrain most of the hike was on

My poor cold feet upon our arrival (you can't really tell but they were purple)

I camped with my friend Dahlia (in a one person tent, which was cozy) and we headed down to join the others in the hot pools soon after setting up camp. It was just one small, shallow pool of very hot water (no major destination you’ll find in guidebooks or anything) but very satisfying after such a long cold hike – the water was so hot you could just sit in the one foot of water and be totally warm. Everyone stayed in the water more or less the rest of the night and I talked to some interesting new people. Very fun, very worth the trip.

Probably about half of the group enjoying the hot pools

It was super painful to put my cold toes in at first, but soon enough I was in all the way like everyone else!

Camping was not too cold, which was reassuring, but it was still pretty miserable putting on those soaking wet boots again in the morning and setting off for home. We went an easier, flatter way on the way back and I think return trips are always easier anyway since you know how far you’re going. The walk back was nice because I wasn’t so preoccupied with just keeping up and not passing out so I could enjoy how pretty the mountains around us were. We had some well-earned hot chocolate on the drive home, and though I was sorer than I’ve ever been that night I’m fine now! It wasn’t easy—I’m not used to carrying a pack and that makes things much harder—but I’m stoked that I survived my first tramping trip because it means I know I can take on more. And I must say, all those deep river crossings in the winter (it was even snowing for part of the time) make me feel pretty intense!