Finally Arrived in Oz

Well...It took me a week, but I'm finally here in Sydney. I did my normal walking tour through the major part of the city hitting a few of the tourist spots.My niece's place is in north Sydney, so one must cross the harbor bridge to get to down town. The views from the bridge are good and you can see the opera house and the main harbor from there. Along the way, I could spot people walking on the bridge as part of an organized tour. Everyone was wearing the same outfits and tethered to a safety cable. The folks on the tour are up really high on the bridge and totally exposed to the outside. This is one tour that I would not attempt if I was scared of heights (it's a long way down!). The walk only took about 30 minutes, then I was in the downtown area.

The big cities are all beginning to look the same to me now. The major shopping areas are crammed with the same stores and restaurants. I browsed for some new sunglasses and souvenirs on George and Pitt street working my way over to Darling Harbor by early afternoon. Sydney has a decent aquarium, so I stopped in for the remainder of the afternoon fighting crowds of Japanese tourists to check out the shark tank and dugongs (sea cows). I think I'll be seeing some more of the beaches and ocean tomorrow. Big cities are just not my thing anymore so I'm not planning on doing too much here before moving on to Brisbane.

Ping Pong Wizards

I've had some time to fart around in Auckland while sorting out my travel plans. The extra time has been spent hanging with family. I ended up playing table tennis with the old timers one afternoon. These guys were serious ping pong players! My cousin and uncle are THE BEST table tennis players have have ever seen! My uncle watched me play Raymond (my cousin) for about three minutes and immediately knew what my weaknesses were. He basically toyed with me for a couple volleys before slamming a cross table shot to my backhand which was unreturnable. To counter this, I cheated over to the right hand side of the table (I'm a lefty). My uncle then targeted the left side of the table where I was not able to reach with my forehand. I have never been so sore playing ping pong before in my life not to mention being embarrased by a bunch of 60 year old dudes.

Sorted

The burglary at the hostel this weekend has cost me about a week in travel time (not to mention a few hundred dollars). The US embassy is closed on Wednesday, so the soonest I will be able to do anything will be Thursday. That means the earliest I'll be able to arrive in Oz will be this Friday or Saturday. Quantas has been great helping me change my flight schedule. So everything seems to be in order for me to start travelling again shortly. The latest word from the police is that about 13 different backpacker hostels in Queenstown were hit on the same night. According the the owners at Black Sheep, this was the first time anything like this has happened in years. I guess I let my guard down too early.

Looking over my schedule now, I will have to skip Cairns and fly directly to Brisbane after Sydney. We'll see if I can cover all the activities I had originally planned to do. Brisbane seems to be a good base of operations, but travel time to the Whitsundays and Byron Bay is a bit long. I find myself already thinking of Switzerland. I booked my tickets last night and I'm ready to go.

I "doctored down" again yesterday. Since I have saved about 1/3 of my pictures from my trip, I felt the need to capture as many photos of Queenstown as possible before moving on. I ended up buying another day pack and digital camera (the third one in two years) before summiting Dan Lomond peak for the second time in three days. Fortunately the weather was still awesome and I had great views from the peak. This time I cheated and took the gondola back down to the city instead of bombing the switchbacks. The other people who I have met during my travels will send me their pictures from Milford Sound and the Routeburn Track. Only the pictures from the glacier walk will be missing.

The Oh Shit Bag...Gone

Of all the places my "Oh Shit" bag could have been stolen, I can't believe it would be New Zealand. Apparently, there was a rash of thefts last night in Queenstown. About eleven people reported items stolen from their rooms in various backpacker hostels. In my hostel myself and another girl had their belongings stolen. The only consolation is that the police have a good description of the person who committed the crime. So now I'm sorting out what needs to be done as far as my passport is concerned. I hope I don't need to travel back to Wellington.

By the way. The "oh shit" bag is where I keep my passport, emergency cash, itineraries, and credit/ATM cards. So when you loose it, you say "Oh Shit!"

Queenstown is...

The nicest mountain resort town I've been to outside of the United States!

Every country has a town like this, but this place is so clean and comfortable that you feel so at ease when you arrive. I would equate it to Bariloche in Argentina or possibly Pucon in Chile. The town is a year round destination with great hiking, water sports, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc. in the summer and skiing in the winter. The only problem is that the activities are quite expensive. Paragliding will set you back about $100 US. Bungee jumping costs about $85 US for a single jump (hmmm. 85 bucks for 4 seconds of free fall). After hiking the Routeburn, it was a nice place to rest and relax before heading off to Australia.

I had tacked on a sea kayaking excursion in Milford Sound right after the hike. There were nine of us including team France, a Canadian couple, and a couple of English girls. The weather was a mix of rain and sun, but mostly rain. Milford Sound (or the MILF as the guides called it) was carved from glaciers thousands of years ago. The surrounding rock faces were steep and covered with trees and bushes. It has been raining for the past two days, so there were multiple cascades along the sides of the rock as far as the eyes could see. I liked the rain and clouds because it gave the sound a nice backdrop for pictures. We paddled in tandem boats out into the water. Although we were given neoprene and fleece outfits, I was still cold. The water was a bit choppy as we headed out, so I was soaked immediately. To keep myself warm, I paddled constantly to keep my temperature up. Along the way, we spotted a few seals playing around in the water. The group was strong, so we covered a lot of water that afternoon. My arms nearly fell off when I finished. I was tired due to all the paddling I was doing. Since I was the only one who needed a ride back to Queenstown, I got a little tour from the guides on the way back. In hindsight, I should have done the overnight sea kayaking trip in Doubtful Sound, but I will save it for another time (maybe in BC this summer).

I'm off to Oz tomorrow. It's going to be warm, so I'm sending all my cold weather clothes back to the US this afternoon. Nothing but t-shirts and swimmers for the rest of this trip!

Routeburn Track

As with everything else here in New Zealand, the hiking trails for the great walks are so well maintained that it doesn't even feel that you are out in the wild. The trails are groomed with fresh gravel where possible. Bridges are rock solid. The toilets are built in such a way that if the waste tank is full, it can be replaced with an empty one and the the full tank air lifted out by helicopter. The huts along the great walks have multiple stoves with gas, so no need to pack in extra stuff. You can definitely see where the money for the hut fees go.

I took the late bus out to the start of the trail and was accompanied by an American couple from Brooklyn and an Aussie. The weather forecast was for sun the first two days, then turning into rain for the next two. Steve (the Aussie) and I took of for the first hut at a relatively good pace. We decided to try climbing Conical Hill if time permitted. Since Patagonia, I've noticed that my pack carrying endurance has improved dramatically (thanks to HP). We arrived at Routeburn Falls hut at 5PM which was much faster than the estimated time. The clouds started to move in so we loaded a day pack and headed out for the pass. We had about 3 hours of daylight remaining, so I started a mix of running and walking to the approach. For this trip I decided to wear running shoes and packed my boots just in case. The shoes really allowed me to spring up the ascent to the climb. Unfortunately, the pace was too much for Steve and I ended up waiting at the emergency hut for him. From the hut we could see that the clouds had covered the peak. No views this evening.

When we returned, there were a group of people who were already in bed by 8:00! Why? It turns out that these same people woke up at 6 AM. Not to start hiking, but to eat their three course breakfast. And they had no regard for the people still trying to sleep at that time in the morning (fuckers!). Anyways, Steve and I made another attempt at Conical Hill the next morning. This time, the views into the adjacent valley were spectacular. There were low lying clouds swimming past snow covered peaks giving the views a mystical feel. From there, the trail hugged the side of the mountains up and over a pass, then down into Mackenzie Lake hut. The descent down to the hut was through the beech tree woods. Everything was so green and lush that you could tell this place received lots of rain every year. All of the trees were covered with moss as if they all wore wooly green jumpers. The sun was beaming down into the valley when we all arrived. Steve and I met up with the American couple and two German sisters on the way down to the hut. We all hung out by the lake stretching out our tired legs. The Germans actually jumped in the lake which was friggin freezing! Everyone started to get to know each other as the trek progressed. It was great fun meeting new people along the way.

As predicted, I woke up to rain the third day. By NZ standards, when they predict clouds, you have drizzle. When they predict drizzle, it is what we call rain. When they predict rain, it is like walking through a friggin' shower. Unlike Patagonia, when the weather changes, it normally sticks around for a while. I was well equipped for the rain this time (more than at Fitz Roy at least). It was only two hours to the last hut. With the clouds and the rain killing the views, I just put my head down and walked. It is amazing how many water falls appear when it rains. At times, it looks like there is one every 20 meters. The last stop was Howden Lake hut where we dried our things and gorged on the remaining food. Some people packed so much food that there was literally a buffet line in the evening.

Overall, the walk was good. I wish that I had time to do another one in another part of the South Island (maybe next time). I would wake up the next morning at 6 AM and walk to the divide in the dark to catch the bus for my sea kayaking trip in Milford Sound.

Final conclusion for the shoes on the trail. Running shoes are kind of soft, but trail running shoes may be a good option. Need to look for some approach shoes when I get home.

The South Island

I breezed through Christchurch and took the Tranzalpine to the west coast of New Zealand. The route passed through the Canterbury plains following the Waimakariri river up to Arthur's Pass. From there, you can see the mountains which make the south island look a lot like Patagonia. I'm currently in Franz Josef which is a small town and home to one of two well known glaciers in NZ. I refrained from doing any glacier walks in Patagonia thinking that I could do one here. I booked a half day on the ice which was just enough for me. The FJ glacier is nice, but it pales in comparison to the Moreno glacier in Argentina. The unique thing about the FJ is that it ends in a sub-tropical rain forest. It is strange seeing the ice and thick trees and ferns all in one place. I was blessed with great weather today. No clouds and you could see for miles. In Switzerland, if you heard helicopters during the day, it meant that some one was hurt or missing. In Franz Josef, helicopters in the air means good weather and visibility for aerial tours. There were heli tours leaving every 15 minutes from the town. It was a good day to be out.

One thing I've noticed is how good the hostels are down here. I have never been to a place where the facilities are consistently good. My YHA hostel in FJ has an awesome kitchen. You should see some of the meals people are cooking here. Friggin' Gourmet!!! From my perspective, travelling is too easy here. No one is paranoid about losing their belongings. Shit such as ipods, passports, cameras, etc. are just scattered everywhere in these dorm rooms. The hostels are top notch, transportation is well orchestrated so connections are always on time, and there is no language issue (for me at least). This has not been adventure I was looking for, but more of a vacation.

Technical Issues!!!!!!
I'm going to euthanize my ipod after this trip. I've had that thing for at least 5 years and the battery only lasts 3-4 hours. I have also decided that my pictures are quite limited compared to the live view. Maybe I'll buy an SLR camera once I return to the states. I just can't fully capture the scenery the way I want with my current camera.

FJ is only a two night stop. I'm off to Queenstown tomorrow.