NYE Christchurch

Happy 2013!

  Mike and I rang in the New Year on bicycle, joining co-worker Jasmine and her husband for drinks and dessert at the casino (where it was a very lively scene of singers and dancing; average age of attendee maybe 50?).  Good people-watching, and fun company.

  Around 11:30pm we headed to the main park (Hagley Park)- on the way we spotted this cute hedgehog.  There is actually a family of hedgehogs that live at my host family's house.  They are introduced from England, and seem to do quite well here.

Stage at Hagley Park.

Fireworks!!!  And bagpipes.  It was a lot of fun- happy 2013!

Mt. Cook and Mueller Hut

Dec. 28th-30th

Home for just a few days, then off to Mt. Cook National Park!
  We had heard a weather report with rain and strong winds but went hoping the forecast might change a bit.

You pass Lake Tekapo on the way from Christchurch, then Lake Pukaki.  We camped at a free campsite at Lake Pukaki- upside- pretty scenery and free; downside- crowded with large noisy groups (one of teenage  girls in particular)- I ended up sleeping in the car as it was quieter.

Bright and early we visited the DoC office and reserved our spots for the Mueller Hut.  The previous night the hut was fully booked, but oddly enough for the night we were going (Saturday) night there were no other people with reservations.
  Maybe had to do with the forecast that included rain and gale force winds.  The DoC folks did not discourage us from going though- they just said if started to seem unsafe to turn back.
  Off we went!

Pretty glaciers on Mt. Sefton.

View looking down Hooker Valley.

This was probably the clearest view/the most we saw of Mt. Cook- we think this is the Mt. Cook Footstool.  It is rather rare to get to see the top of Mt. Cook, and we certainly did not.

Getting closer- it is a steep uphill climb to the Hut.  The 1st half is stairs up to the Sealy Tarns (small lakes); then hiking up loose rocks/stream crossings.  Then up to a snowfield.

Mueller Hut in sight!  Can accommodate up to 28 people.
We had a leisurely lunch in the hut, meeting and chatting with some folks who were up for a day trip, and the hut warden Mark.  We ditched our stuff and continued up to the ridge to Mt. Ollivier.  This is the first peak that Sir Edmund Hillary ever climbed, at the age of 20 (he didn't get into hiking until he was 16).
  We went on beyond that peak- originally our goal was the summit of Mt. Sealy, but the weather was not cooperative enough.

 Lovely views.

Until the weather changed- out along the ridge it started to pour rain and there were strong winds.  I was glad we turned back when we did.
We got back to the hut safely, but were soaked to the skin.

Here is the discouraging weather forecast.  Elevation at Mueller hut is about 1800 meters.

It just continued to pour rain with some snow/hail mixed in, and strong winds shaking the whole building.

The temperature in the hut was about 10 degrees Celsius.  Mike and I put on all the dry warm clothes we had, plus blankets.  We made packets of oatmeal with a lot of hot water to warm us up.

We passed the time in the hut reading (I'm working my way through War and Peace), and chatting with the hut warden, Mark.  We were lucky that Mark is a fascinating guy!  Originally from England, he has traveled and taught around the world, and is an avid reader and hiker.   He volunteers his time at the Mueller Hut for weeks every summer.

We played two rounds of Scrabble with him, which was a lot of fun.
The next morning, we were sad to part ways!
I was also quite apprehensive about the descent, given how terrible the weather continued to be.  The winds had died down quite a bit, though, so actually it wasn't that bad.

Ready for wet and windy conditions.

All the rain led to much larger waterfalls and streams.  The whole 1/2 of the hike that had been climbing up loose rocks on the way up was now walking down a stream.  Then we had this waterfall to cross.  Mike and I linked together, and it actually wasn't too scary.

I was still pretty relieved to reach the end of our hike though!

Safe at the end of our hike.

Cave Stream- Arthur's Pass

Heading home from Arthur's Pass, we stopped at Cave Stream- you walk in the river/stream through a long limestone cave.

Here is the entrance.  (where the stream exits the cave)- most people go in the direction of going upstream- this is what we did.

Definitely recommend headlamps and long underwear with shorts.  and shoes that you can get wet.

Right off the bat I was in waist-deep water.  Very cold mountain water.

Gets a bit narrow in places, and the water moves fairly fast.
At times it felt a bit scary- nerves were not helped when we came across an abandoned headlamp and pair of shorts on the rocks!  I kept looking out for a dead body in the dark.  (I think I have watched too many "Bones" episodes...)

But we made it safely to the end (where you climb up a metal ladder then crawl between the rocks as Mike is about to above).

Waterfall down at the far entrance of the cave- this is where you climb a metal ladder next to the waterfall.

Safely out of the cave!
We actually got used to the cold water quite quickly, and it was a nice warm day when we emerged.  I can imagine this not being as fun in the winter, or if there has been a ton of rain/snow melt and the water level is much higher than what we experienced.

Then we changed, went home, and I headed to work.

For weeks people at work had been telling me that Boxing Day is just crazy a the clinic- the busiest day of the year and long waits for patients- it ended up not being that bad!
The following days, though, were busy (as almost all GP offices were closed), and Jan 2nd ended up being one of the busiest days (about 360 people seen).

Christmas Down Under

Dec. 24th-26th

Christmas Miracle, Christmas Keas, Arthur's Pass with several waterfalls

Christmas Miracle:
  So, as many of you may know, I lost my wedding rings about one week after getting married.  I went on a 6 day glacier mountaineering course on Mt. Shuksan (which is next to Mt. Baker), and the very first night snow-camping my rings disappeared.  I remembered having them on when I was getting ready for bed.  I woke up in the morning and part of my sleeping bag was wet (with snow-camping any part of the sleeping bag not on the sleeping mat gets wet)- so I put it upside down on top of the other tent to try to dry it out before we changed campsites.  Then I looked at my hands and realized the rings were gone!
  I stayed pretty calm, searched through the tent and all of my belongings, and concluded that they must have fallen out of the sleeping bag into the snow.  The 3 of us in the class looked extensively in the snow, but then had to move on.  The instructor Chris and I went back the next day and searched again.  They did not turn up in my (very few) belongings over the 6 days, and we searched again coming back down after summit-ing the peak.
  That is when I felt like they were really lost, and I was so upset!  Mike was really nice to me about it.
  A week or so later, I went back to the spot with a metal detector- no luck.  Then when the snow melted I went back again with 2 metal detectors and helpers (thank you Dad, Molly, and Kerry!)- no luck.
  So imagine my surprise, when on December 24th I went into my room and saw one of my rings on the carpet floor!  Here in New Zealand!  6 months later!  I couldn't believe it.
  Still processing, I went to work my shift.  (I worked on Dec. 24th and 26th).  After work Mike and I headed to Arthur's Pass and stayed in the Christchurch Tramping Club hut.  That evening I spent about 45 minutes exploring every millimeter of my backpack, and, lo and behold, found my other ring between the frame of the pack and the fabric!!!  So exciting.  And amazing that they managed to fall out on my carpet at home in a visible spot rather than during numerous hikes, plane rides, car trips, etc.  Crazy.
  Anyway, back to Christmas in New Zealand.  Mike and I skyped with my family in California and chatted with his family on the phone prior to taking off for the mountains.

Christmas day we went on a hike- Avalanche Peak- it was very hot and sunny!  And steep.

Nice forest cover.

 Christmas Keas!  We encountered some Keas (mountain parrots) on our way up-

  These parrots are really fun- very inquisitive, destructive (they love to pick at anything rubber and are one of the leading causes of rental car damage in New Zealand), and smart.
  We loved our Kea encounters on this hike.  At one point Mike recorded their cries, and then played the video back to them, and the Kea making the calls on the video replied to each call immediately!
  video:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111801169627502333103/ArthursPassNZDec2012?noredirect=1#5826031101103896802

At the summit we met 2 gentlemen from the Netherlands (surrounded by Keas) and reflected with them about Christmas Day in Arthur's Pass.

Heading back down.

Waterfall at a distance- The Devil's Punchbowl.

Now the waterfall up close!  We both got soaked by spray- felt great on a hot day.  Mike was more adventurous and got right next to the fall (I stayed back a bit but still got soaked).
  This waterfall is a short walk from Arthur's Pass town.
We visited Bridal Veil falls as well.

A great day!

Side note on Keas- once back in Christchurch Mike and I watched some documentary videos about Keas and saw them solve puzzles and things.  Much to my horror, though, they also showed them pulling fuzzy baby birds out of nests and eating them!  (non-Kea baby birds).
  They also like to peck at sheep until they get to the subcutaneous fat- and they eat that.  The poor sheep survive this, but then tend to get fatal infections from the wounds!  The farmers used to kill Keas on site, and this is a major reason why they are now endangered.

Abel Tasman

Dec. 20th-23rd

  Well, I bought a car the day Mike arrived- I had test-driven it, and wanted him to look it over as well- a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant for $1450 New Zealand dollars! (about $1100 US).
  The next day we took off on our first road trip to Abel Tasman National Park at the North end of the South Island.

Here was our route through Lewis Pass.

 Mike doing the classic pose with the new car.

When we got to Abel Tasman, we had an orientation about the park and kayaking there; then we were dropped off at the North end of the park with our kayak- along the way in the water taxi we saw a ton of dolphins really close!  They were playful- leaping in the surf from our powerboat.
  Our first day we did not have far to go via kayak, so we explored around a bit, and found this blue penguin swimming!

 Gives you a sense of the landscape.

Here was our first night's campsite- Mosquito Bay.  The whole bay becomes land at low tide; at high tide the water sneaks around past the bay forming a lagoon that connects with a stream and waterfall more inland.  I have cousin Georgia's annotated guidebook from when she studied abroad in New Zealand- and this bay is where she camped as well, and is one of her highlights!

Neat looking bird at our second campsite at Anchorage.  This campsite had many more people, but there was a lot to do- we hiked for about 6 hours- including to the Cleopatra Pool (with eels!) and the long swing bridge over a river.  It was warm, so Mike and I did some swimming in a river pool 1/2 way along our hike.

 At the campsite we befriended one of the guides, Hamish, who let us tag along with his clients to the caves at the end of the beach- there were a ton of gloworms!  It looked like stars and constellations on the ceilings and walls of the caves.  When you shined light on the walls, though, in addition to the awesome gloworms, you could also see hundreds of wetas (the insect pictured above).  yuck!  Harmless though.  Luckily they did not seem to want to drop down on us.

We spent 3 days kayaking in Abel Tasman, then made the long drive (about 6 hours) back to Christchurch.  We went via Nelson then via the coast.  North of Kaikoura we stopped at the point with the short hike to the waterfall where I had seen seal pups swimming earlier in the month.  No seal pups this time at the falls- turns out they are too young- this time of year is when the seal pups are newborn!  Luckily we spotted a ton of newborn seal pups on the beach- most cuddling with a parent, but many playing/rough-housing with each other.  Too cute!  Good end to the trip, along with a tasty dinner in Amberley at the NW Cafe.