We drove west over the mountains – a gorgeous area I’m getting more familiar with – and out to a town called Hokitika to the trailhead. Almost immediately we got into some serious jungle, which was really fun to see because it was almost like the rainforest at home only with cooler trees.
Trails in New Zealand are not nearly as well marked as they are at home, so things got confusing quickly and our hike started taking much longer than we had expected. Trails are marked by orange triangles, but sometimes the trail ends at a valley or riverbed and you have to wander around until you find where it starts back up again. We had to backtrack a couple times but were eventually confident we were on the right track, though our map was hard to read. So we trekked on, up and down steep inclines, scrambling over rocks and crossing streams.
All was well until it started to get dark. We kept going, sure we must be getting close, and eventually pulled out our headlamps and made sure to be careful as we pressed on. Finally we arrived at another riverbed, excited because we thought we must be at the hut, until we realized there were no landmarks anywhere and we couldn't find the next part of the trail. We saw a faint light up the river and felt sure it must be the hut, but we couldn't find it and it was too far to signal or call out. Everyone searched, and we must have been there in the cold for an hour, afraid to admit defeat because it would mean turning back and either spending the night without a tent or hiking back six hours in the dark. I wouldn't even consider the option we might have to cross the fast, waist-deep river in front of us to continue. The guys were coming back, prepared to bear the bad news, when by some miracle they spotted a small trail and the next orange triangle. Relief!
Only 15 minutes later we got to bridge we'd seen online, sure the hut was just on the other side. This was a happy moment except that this bridge was narrow, shaky, and slightly terrifying to cross in the dark, but we all made it across and found the hut a few hundred meters away. There was a small second hut just the perfect size for five people so we all settled in, got warm, laughed about our own fortune, and admitted how worried we all were when we thought we might have a long cold night ahead. Lessons learned for next time: leave earlier, keep an eye on the time, stay together, carry a tent just in case, and know when to turn back – maybe we should have given up earlier but we definitely would have if we hadn’t found that trail. Celebration quickly ensued, the clearest sky I’ve ever seen in my life was enjoyed, and some major silliness took place to make up for all the anxiety of the evening.
Dahlia and Brandon spent the evening trying (and basically succeeding) to build a fire
Bag of wine: a backpacking essential
It was very nice to see the daylight in the morning, not to mention actually get a good look at our gorgeous surroundings. The only downside was that my boots were frozen solid, but this was quickly fixed as we stopped by the hot springs we missed out on due to our late arrival the night before. The hike back was much less stressful, which we all enjoyed, and we got back to the car in 4 hours in contrast to 7 hours on the way in.
Cute hut and cute frozen dog!
Actually even scarier (and more icy) in the daylight
From my seat in the hot pool, life is good
The crew - we made it!
In non-weekend trip news, school is good and pretty easy and my classes are interesting and I’ve made some friends in one of them. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the wealth of Indian food here. Evenings are pretty chill and usually consist of just hanging out, and Dahlia and I have been doing lots of baking (impressive since we only have a microwave with a convection setting) – just like home! I’m very settled in, pretty much feel like I live here, and just generally having a blast. I can’t believe it’s been a month already, time please stop flying by. Last week it snowed, which is very unusual here (climate comparable to Seattle) and we had a snow day so that was good fun. I also went on a pub crawl with the tramping club and met some cool people there and only managed to take one picture. I believe the tally for small earthquakes I’ve felt is 5, with the biggest coming in at a respectable 4.2 (there was a 5.1 but I slept through it, haha). That’s all for now!
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