Arthur’s pass weekend – hike, cave, explore

A few weeks’ break from tramping and generally any physically demanding activity was very much needed, but last weekend it was time to stop being lazy and get outside again. After watching New Zealand crush Japan in rugby on Friday night we woke up early and headed up to Arthur’s Pass once again for another tramping trip. This time the agenda was Sudden Stream/Valley and our team included me, Dahlia, Bernard, and three of his friends (what? a majority of Kiwis? this means it counts as a cultural experience too!). This was a nice easy hike, only 4 hours, and a good way to ease back into tramping without burning out our bodies and willpower because we have a lot of hiking to do in the next few weekends/months/rest of life. It was a scenic walk mostly up the river valley – we’re such pros at river crossings now it’s barely worth mentioning – into the mountains to a small hut called a “biv”.

 River crossings, as usual

 Nice waterfall along the way!

 Ridiculous rocky scree slope

We got to the biv really early so we wandered around and gathered a ton of firewood. Our night basically consisted of an awesome fire, lots of laughs, giving the Kiwis their first smores experience, and eventually heading to bed as it started to snow. It was so pretty in the morning to see all the hills and mountains around freshly covered in white! We eventually got going and had a relaxing walk back, making it back to the cars at about 2. We decided to check out a few other Arthur’s Pass spots since we finished so early, so our next stop was Cave Stream.

 Our clever sock drying setup, which worked a little too well and singed most of the socks

The crew at the end of the hike

Cave Stream is, as you might have guessed, a stream that runs through a cave that you can walk all the way through. One of the guys had done this before so we just basically went for it without really knowing anything about what to expect. We already had wet feet from the river crossings on our hike so we weren’t too worried about wading through the water for the 40 minutes it took to get through the cave. What we didn’t know, however, was that the very first pool was chest deep! It was freezing but I didn’t think much of it and waded on through to get going into the cave. The rest was usually knee deep, and we were all too excited to really be cold even though the water was freezing. It was hard to get good pictures but the walk was through these narrow stone passages ways, scrambling up rocks and even waterfalls in places. It was so cool! We eventually got to the end, which was a really deep pool with a 10-15 foot waterfall at the other end, so I was confused about how we were supposed to get out until I saw the metal rungs in the wall on the left side. You climbed up that and then shimmed/crawled along a short ledge, holding onto a chain so you didn’t fall down into the pool below, and you could eventually work your out into the stream above the waterfall. It was pretty crazy but seriously one of the most fun adventures I’ve ever had!

Entrance to the cave

Yeah, that first pool was pretty deep

 Looking down on the ladder at the end

The awkward wiggle from the ladder to the exit

Coming out of the stream above the waterfall at the end

The sign Andrew wouldn't let us read before we went in so it wouldn't ruin the surprise - you can see the waterfalls we climbed up, the highest of which is 1.5m

After the cave we stopped off at Castle Hill, which is an area with tons of giant rocks that is a haven for climbers. We’ve driven by a few times before and it always looks so cool, so we were excited to get the chance to just clamber around and have some fun. The rocks were way bigger than they looked from the road and they went on forever! We all ran around, climbed up and around the rocks, played some hide and seek, and just generally explored and had a good time. It’s so fun to just play around like that and I wish I did it more because it’s so fun. It was great to be with a group that totally wanted to do the same things as me. We could have easily stayed at Castle Hill for a whole day but it got to be dinner time so we reluctantly drove back to Christchurch, of course making the traditional stop on the way for warm drinks and meat pies. This was a really fun weekend to get out again and have some easy fun, so I’m really excited for all the other outdoor plans I’ve got coming up! Next weekend we’re hiking to the best hot pools on the South Island, so keep checking back for more awesome adventures. :)

Snowcraft

Last weekend I headed up to Arthur’s Pass once more for tramping club’s annual Snowcraft weekend, where you learn about how to use an ice axe and crampons and hopefully some other snow skills. The downside was that the weather was absolutely awful (windy and sleeting so we were all soaked in about 5 minutes) but we still spent about 2 hours playing around in the snow. Sliding around with an ice axe was even more fun than sledding, and I definitely want to do some hiking that involves snow and probably mountaineering in the future. Unfortunately there are no pictures of me because it was so cold and wet, but here are the two pictures I did manage to take:

We were originally going to build snow caves and camp, but the weather was so awful we stayed at a nearby lodge instead. Snow caves would have been really fun but it’s probably for the best that we used the lodge because I was freezing and it also gave us plenty of warm common space to hang out together. Our evening consisted of some snow theory, lots of eating, wine, intense card games (I seem to be spreading Egyptian Ratscrew everywhere I go here), and last but not least, table traversing. This is a game that involves trying to go all the way around a table lengthwise without touching the floor. It kept a group of us entertained for at least an hour, though I never managed to make it all the way around.

The next day we stopped at a scenic spot on the way down to practice using avalanche transceivers, aka play in the snow. So pretty!

Life now consists of cranking out school work before our spring break (and hopefully freeing up next weekend for some more tramping as well). Lots of Indian food, lots of sunshine, lots of cool new people, life is good!

Oh and I forgot to mention that I’ve reached a childhood level of scrapes and bruises on my legs. I suppose this is evidence that I’ve been having fun, or that I’m uncoordinated as ever, or both. Behold the remnants of falling on slippery rocks in the dark last weekend, plus table traversing wounds, plus sandfly bites!

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!