Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I feel like I didn’t accomplish much today. As I knew was coming, the weather turned and it was a much colder and rainy day. I’m getting sick of waking up puffy. I think all the AirBnBs have down bedding for warmth and between that and the seasonal spring allergies here I have looked like a pufferfish every morning. Yesterday I took some Sudafed, today I went with Benadryl, tomorrow I’ll go back to Sudafed but double the dose since nothing seems to be helping much. I also woke up with my knuckles hurting like crazy; they are not too happy to be missing chunks. I had a hard time falling asleep last night. Once I was out I was good but falling asleep took a while. I’m pretty sure that old church was haunted. As soon as I turned out the lights I could hear all sorts of weird noises coming from what sounded like the little choir loft behind and above the bed. It was creepy as hell.

I was too tired to put together my day’s itinerary last night so I laid in bed and worked on it when I woke up this morning. I put together a great list of hikes that I was pretty excited for and then went to map them out to figure out the order of them. And I promptly realized that I was looking at the wrong national park! Ugh. I started over, this time making sure that I was pulling up hikes in the Mount Aspiring National Park, and put together a much shorter list. But at least it was a plan. I got myself ready and packed up. As I was taking my bags to the car I instinctively grabbed my phone and threw it in my pocket even though I wasn’t ready to go yet. Talk about luck; the door to the old church closed behind me, even though I had gently left it ajar, and if I hadn’t brought my phone out I would have been completely locked out and screwed since I didn’t remember the keypad combo by heart! I got back inside though, made my roadie cup of tea to go in my glass from Hokitka and I was off. I decided to just have some nuts and a protein bar for breakfast and eat in the town of Haast. It was going to take me about two hours to get to Haast, and from there another 45 minutes or so to my first hike. The Haast region is a UNESCO World Heritage Sight and the letters for the town are pretty big on the map so I figured I would find some good options there. Haast is also the last port on the western coast as then the roads turn inland and the coast become the Fjordlands.

Pretty quickly after getting on the road I found myself behind two vans. I really wanted to pass them but there weren’t any straight aways long enough. It wasn’t that they were necessarily slowing me down, but I didn’t like not being able to see what was up ahead. As my frustration grew and I kept looking for ways around them Guns n Roses “Patience” came through my speakers and I had to laugh at myself and chill out. But my shirt was also driving me crazy. It was bad enough that it had long sleeves, I HATE wearing sleeves, but it was pulling tight across my shoulders. Finally, I pulled off at the Lake Paringa campsite and solved all my problems by stopping for a few minutes to let the vans get ahead and changing my shirt. As a bonus, the campsite bathrooms had just been cleaned too!

I enjoyed the landscape as I drove on and stopped at Knight’s Point because the parking lot was full so I figured it had t be cool. And somewhere along the line I recalled someone mentioned Knight’s Point to me. It was fine, just a beautiful Tasman Sea view, but I believe it was also the start of the World Heritage Sight Region. It was at Knight’s Point where I realized what a cold day it would be as harsh drops of rain pelted me.

As I approached Haast I was anxious for some lunch. To my dismay, I found that the Haast township really only consisted of two motors lodges and one restaurant/bar. Ugh, I had really been looking forward to a good lunch. I decided to take my chances at the Hard Antler since I really did need some real food and well, I would have been better off with another protein bar. I ordered the Antler Platter and, as my man put it when I sent him a picture (at least there was cell coverage there!), it looked like an adult lunchable. Salami, ham, cheese, crackers, and some garlic bread. It was “eh” at best. I ate as much as I could make myself and called it good. A note on garlic bread, the Kiwi must really love their garlic bread because it is on EVERY menu.

From Haast I continued south heading to Thunder Creek Falls. The rain was coming down but not too terrible. On the way I saw a sign for Roaring Billy Falls. This wasn’t on my list but it was right there so I decided to check it out. The track sign said it was a quick 25 minute return so it wasn’t going to waste much time even if it wasn’t spectacular. I pulled out my rain coat and headed down the trail. I was cold. I was going to need to add another layer if I wanted to do much today. The brief track terminated at the river bed. You could tell that when the river was up the entire area was under water. But it wasn’t now so I could walk another 100 yards or so across the rocks to get closer to the falls. Looking down so as to not trip and kill myself as I walked I was mesmerized by how stunning the rocks were. I know they’re just rocks but these were unlike any I have ever seen before. The swirling patterns, the perfect stripes, and then I saw a glistening piece of greenstone (called pounamu in Maori), about the size of my fist! Greenstone is only found in the southern part of New Zealand and is treasured and “hunted” in the lakes, there are even tours where you can pay a stupid amount to be taken to lakes with high likelihood of being able to find some. And now I was just, literally, stumbling upon it! My pack grew heavier as I put the piece of stone in there and grabbed a few more varied pieces along the way. I took my time walking across the rock bed taking in all the glory that nature had put before me.

The falls themselves were ok. The rushing river beneath was a gorgeous turquoise color. The river water and the rocks definitely outshone the waterfall. By the time I got back to my car it was REALLY raining. The storm clouds left a gray haze over the landscape as I drove along.

Apparently this was going to be the waterfall portion of my day as my next two stops where Thunder Creek Falls and Fan Tail Falls. Thunder Creek Falls was a pretty basic waterfall, but again had that beautiful turquoise color beneath. At Fan Tail Falls there was a fallen tree across the dried river bed adjacent and people had stacked rocks all over the tree. Though man-made it was a pretty cool site, especially with all the rocks glistening in the wet rain, and overshadowed the falls themselves.

The waterfalls were all right off the road basically and not really hikes, just sights. I was ready for my first hike of the day, even in the rain, and my next stop was to provide me just that. I had read that the Blue Pools track was about an hour return that led to a series of bright clear blue pools. Well apparently what I had read about this being an hour hike was either outdated or just plain wrong. The sign on the side of the road said it was only a 30 minute return, which really meant closer to 20. It was also really crowded, to the point where in the car park I had wait for someone to leave to get a space. And I had to pee. And there were no bathrooms. I finally parked and was feeling a tad crabby about the situation. The car next to me left and a van pulled in close. That was going to work in my favor as I could do my little “turn the car doors into a bathroom stall” magic trick. Of course the woman in the van took what felt like FOREVER to get her stuff together and go. It did give me time to crawl into the backseat of my car and add a layer of leggings under my pants. Finally I was on my way. The track was very brief but I did see some pretty awesome fungus growth on the trees. In less than ten minutes I was to the blue pools. They were indeed gorgeous. But having to dodge people carrying umbrellas half the time was quite annoying. It was here though I took my only selfie of the day, looking tired and wet.

The next hike on my list was the Mount Iron Track in the town of Wanaka, where I am staying for the night. I knew it was close to my AirBnB so I figured I would head there to drop my stuff and get my bearings, this was another hour drive from where I was. The drive was fascinating as I watched my surroundings change from rain forested mountains to more redwood and scrubby bushes. As I soaked in the scenery I also would have killed for some goldfish crackers. Who knows why but a goldfish cracker craving came on strong. I was distracted by the craving by a fit of sneezing, on a windy mountain road. I swear if I die premature it will be from sneezing while driving! I could see Lake Wanaka to my right as I drove. There were many places indicating to pull over for pictures and viewing but I was happy viewing it from the car as I drove along. But then I came around a bend and Lake Hawea appeared to my left. The scene before me was simply stunning. I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped as I pulled off the side of the road and snapped one of my favorite pictures so far this trip.

When I arrived in Wanaka I had a hell of a time finding my AirBnB. Apparently this was built as an additional structure on the property and doesn’t really have a technical address. I drove up and down the same street looking for the place about five times before I finally saw a long drive with the number small against a post. Jackpot! I knew that the Mount Iron track was close by so I dropped off my stuff and took a few minutes to look up dinner spots in town. Wanaka is the largest town, by far, that I’ve stayed in so far this trip so I knew there should be plenty of options. I set out to find the Mount Iron Track and again drove up and down a road multiple times not being able to find it when google maps said I should be there. Finally I figured it out. I got out of my car and it was cold. And windy. And raining. And I really didn’t feel like doing this hike. Even though I hadn’t really gotten in any really good hiking yet today. I got back in the car and tried to google things to do in Wanaka. It was right about 5pm so a 90 minute hike was just perfect before dinner but maybe I could find something else to do in town. Of course, not enough coverage for the google to work for me so I decided to just drive down into the town and see what I could find. Well that was a bust. In the end I drove back to the trailhead, now that I knew where it was, and told myself to suck it up and get out there. The rain had stopped and the wind wasn’t bad so I grabbed my pack and off I went. This track was to take me to the summit of the mountain I was currently beneath and promised beautiful 360 degree views. I did not anticipate that the entire trail would be on an incline. The first half was entirely uphill and the second half entirely downhill.

I had seen a sign at the trailhead warning that bunny poisoning was in process as the invasive bunnies were killing the terrain. Sure enough, I probably counted 20 bunnies on my way up. Each time I passed one I tried to warn it not to eat the special treats being left out for them! The summit provided a great view over the town of Wanaka and Lake Wanaka with the snowy alpine mountains in the background. It had rained off and on the entire time with a strong rain picking up towards the summit. And, of course, I had left my rain jacket in the car. Oops. Towards the end of the hike I saw a dead bunny off the trail and it made me wonder, just what are they going to do about all the dead bunnies once those cuties start eating all their poison?! That thought left my mind though when I looked back behind me and realized that I had just successfully made it up and back down the little mountain, I was glad I did it and a little proud that even though I felt like I struggled and went slow I did it in 20 minutes under the expected time. It was so cold that I couldn’t feel my hands by the time I got back to the car. Except for my knuckles, those still hurt.

I rewarded myself with a great Mediterranean dinner in town, complete with a tahini brownie and some pear rose bread to go. After dinner, I returned to my abode for the evening to relax. This place has an outdoor jetted tub and as I filled the tub I enjoyed my chocolate tahini brownie. So yummy. Sitting in the outdoor tub was divine! The jets massaged my back and legs while I laid my head back and felt the cool rain drops gently fall on my face and listened to birds chirping as it grew darker around me.

I need to figure out what I’m going to do with myself tomorrow. I will be making my through Queenstown and eventually down to Kingston for the night. I was planning to head out early and do the Rob Roy Glacier Track, a 3-4 hour hike before I left the Mount Aspiring National Park area tomorrow but that would double my drive time from two to four hours since it is out of the way. Plus I understand it’s a pretty steep track and I feel like I wouldn’t mind a day off from incline hiking! I really didn’t have a lot of ideas on my list for this part of the trip so I guess have some research to do!