On the Road Again – Tramping and Traveling

I’m just over a week out from leaving New Zealand for a while to go traveling, so these are exciting times! Since my last blog I have done two big tramps, finished up my job, and finalized our travel plans for the next few months.

After some discussion, my work contract was extended from the original end of August to October 17th. This was perfect timing – in August, I was not yet ready to leave work, but by October, I felt like my time there was done. We had finished up the planting season and I felt satisfied with my work but ready for new things. On the last day we had a chocolate fondue after lunch where everyone brought some things to dip in chocolate and I brought the chocolate, which was a nice way to end things.

In the beginning of September I took two weeks off over Travis’s midsemester break so we could do some tramping together. We had some big plans but unfortunately the weather was atrocious, with fronts rolling in every two days. We ran to the only place on the South Island with nice weather – the Marlborough Sounds – where we did the Queen Charlotte Track. It’s a very nice track (you can mountain bike the whole thing), so we did some big days and our feet were quite sore. A ferry drops you off at the start of the track and picks you up at the end, and included in the price is bag transfer to certain points along the track. This meant we didn’t have to carry our bags for most of the way, which was quite lovely.

The track goes over sections of both public and private land, much of which is regenerating bush and was pretty cool to see. There are also sections of old growth bush that were never cut down and were very beautiful. I knew from friends doing the track that there were lots of possums on it, and indeed we saw many many possums. We were always very careful about where we left our food at night, and managed to keep the possums out of our stuff, except for one night when a possum climbed up on the bench and knocked over some of our stuff before proceeding to FALL OFF THE BENCH ONTO THE FOOT END OF OUR TENT! I got quite a fright, but Travis slept through all of it.

After my job ended, I had a week to chill out and begin to sort out life before Travis and Noah (who’s back in New Zealand!) and I drove up to Blenheim, and then drove to Kahurangi National Park with Zeean (Travis’s mom). We had been planning for a while to do the Leslie Karamea track, which goes through some stunning valleys in Kahurangi. Zeean had arranged transport from the end of the track (where we’d parked the car) to the beginning of the track. Both ends required some road walking due to a high river ford and a slip causing the road to be closed.

On the first day we walked up a massive hill along the road and then in to Salisbury Lodge. Although the weather forecast said it was going to rain parts of that day, we actually had really nice weather for most of the day. On the second day, the weather was atrocious, which we knew would be the case, so we had a hut day and stayed inside most of the day, only going out for a little exploration in the evening. On the third day, we woke up and it was snowing. Walking in the snow was magical in the beech forest, but not so magical when we walked across the tablelands and the winds whipped it in your face. The snow later transitioned to hail and then rain.

That evening when we got in, my knee was a little bit sore. No big deal, I thought, knees get sore sometimes. However by the end of our fourth day, it hurt A LOT and was visibly swollen. We were halfway through a long tramp and a knee that is very painful to walk on is not what you want. I iced it (dangled it in the freezing cold river), and the next day, Travis and Noah took a lot of my weight. I also wrapped it in an ace bandage to stabilize it, and compensated for much of the weight on it with my walking poles. I could walk on it – a bit slower than usual but it was better than nothing. It improved slowly over the next few days – I think the lighter pack helped a lot. Once we were out it did get better quickly, although I did go see a doctor about it and they diagnosed me with “knee sprain”.

The bush we walked through during the middle of the tramp was some of the most beautiful I’ve seen in my life – everything vibrant green, carpeted with luxurious fluffy mosses from below and dripping with lichens from above. Pictures cannot do it justice. There has also been some amazing predator control done in Kahurangi National Park, with several doses of 1080 dropped over the last few years and a good trap network set up on the main trails. I didn’t see any possum sign over the entire trip (although we did see some wild goats), and the birdsong was incredible. I saw Korimako/Bellbirds, Tūī, Kakaruwai/South Island Robins, a Titipounamu/Rifleman, Pīwakawaka/Fantails, Mohua/Yellowhead, and Kōriroriro/Grey Warblers in the bush.

One highlight of the trip was seeing Whio/Blue ducks. Whio are whitewater ducks that are endemic to New Zealand and are listed as endangered. They are very susceptible to predation by stoats while the female is sitting on the nest, and are effectively exterminated anywhere there are stoats. However, they do really well wherever good predator control is occurring, and there are several strongholds throughout both islands.

We saw a pair of Whio on the fourth day rafting by down the river. Noah asked “what are those whitewater rafting ducks?” and we had to explain to him how special it was to see them. The true highlight came a couple of days later though, when we came upon a pair of Whio doing what looked like a courtship ritual on the river. We watched them for 15 minutes or so before leaving them to their shenanigans.

Now, I’m back in Christchurch and preparing to fly out on the 14th. There is a lot to do – pack up our room, decide what is coming to Europe and what is staying, as well as what feels like a million other tasks.

My birthday is also a few days before we head off, and I’ve organized a sushi dinner with friends, as well as some fun activities during the day. As I’m getting older it’s more on me to organize something fun and memorable for my birthday, and although I could just let the day pass by, I’ve always celebrated my birthday in some way and can remember pretty much every birthday in order from age 11 or so and it’s a good way to mark the time passing, so I think I’ll keep doing my best to make it a memorable day in some way. It’s a little harder in New Zealand because the 11th is not a public holiday like in the US, but this year I’m not working and have some friends who aren’t working either so it won’t be too hard. Unfortunately Travis’s final presentation is that day and he’s required to be there all day.

I will try to keep the blog up while I’m traveling – posts may be shorter but hopefully more frequent. I’m looking forward to seeing friends and family that I haven’t seen in a while – if I haven’t reached out to you but you would like to see me please send me a message and I’ll see if we can make it work! I will try to fit in as many people as possible.