April 2006 Archives
South Island adventuring, part four
The final leg of our South Island adventure was a drive up the West Coast with an overnight tramp up the Copland Track to Welcome Flat where there are several hot spring pools available for soaking in. They were superb, indeed.
After the tramp we drove to Greymouth after which Don/Rebecca hopped on a bus to go over Aurther's Pass and on to Christchurch, while I continued driving up the West Coast and on back to Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington. On the way I stopped in Punakaiki to view the so-called pancake rocks and blow holes.
Finally I rejoined Minette in Wellington (catching an evening ferry instead of my booking of an early next morning one) and spent one more day in Wellington before we drove back to Auckland to bring the lovely holiday to an end.
Lucy "Ate My Mate" Green, championship rally driver
South Island adventuring, part three
The next leg of our holiday was another tramp: the Kepler Track. One of New Zealand's Great Walks, the Kepler was created to relieve crowding on the nearby Milford and Routeburn tracks. Apparently it didn't and instead became just one more popular Great Walk, with the distinct advantage of being easily accessible from Te Anau and a loop (loop tracks seem hard to come by in New Zealand). Unfortunately for us the storm system we saw coming in at the end of the Rees-Dart track struck Fiordland pretty hard over the first night and second day of this tramp, ushering in snow up to our knees and enough wind to make standing, let alone walking, next to impossible. In the end we turned back on the second day, stayed a second night at the Mt. Luxmore hut, and walked out and back in the reverse way to the Moturau Hut.
South Island adventuring, part two
The second leg of our South Island vacation was a guided 3-day kayak trip on Doubtful Sound, a fjord (or fiord as they spell it here) in the south of Fiordland. Access to the fjord is by way of a water taxi across beautiful Lake Manapouri, just south of Te Anau, followed by a 4WD drive over a pass to Deep Cove.
South Island adventuring, part one
Friends Don and Rebecca joined me, or perhaps the other way around, for a few weeks of roaming around the South Island. We left Wellington on a early morning ferry and hooned down to Glenorchy by way of Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, and Queenstown. We had a wild start actually, as I forgot one important bag (with food and some tramping gear) back at Cecile and William's house. Lucky for us Cecile was kind enough to race down to the ferry terminal in under 15 minutes (still in her pajamas, with Minette by her side!) and bring me the bag. From there we drove all the way to Lake Tekapo, where we camped, and then drove all the next day to Glenorchy.
The following day we started the Rees-Dart track which would take us through wide open valleys, over mountain passes, past some glaciers, and through moss-covered forest. We had five days of beautiful sunshine for this tramp, when I had been bracing for rain, rain, and more rain. Don and Rebecca might have had the wrong idea about New Zealand weather if it had not been for the rain and snow to catch up with us later...
#@$!#@* computers
Minette and I left Auckland on the 26th of March for a three week vacation to Wellington and the South Island. Late on the night of that very same day the hard drive on msqr.us died. Thus msqr.us has been dead for a few weeks. I guess I'm not too bad off since after the last time the hard drive crashed on msqr.us I implemented some more stringent backup procedures... but @#&^$!! what are the chances of that? It's been less than 2 years since the last drive failure. At least the last drive had the decency to fail after I got back from vacation.
Computers can be so damn lame.