The Kepler Track

So this entry is going to skip Orientation and details about my current living situation in New Zealand to talk about a grand adventure in Fiordland National Park. I had been really wanting to go backpacking in New Zealand and knew that I was going to be quite disappointed in myself if I didn’t take the opportunity to go tramping in one of the prettiest areas of the world. The problem, though, was that I had a huge mental stigma against backpacking, stemming from the lack of fun I had had when I was a boy scout. There weren’t many trips that I particularly enjoyed, and backpacking itself was more of a hassle than a pleasant experience. So I hadn’t really done anything significant outdoors for a while and I felt like a lacked a lot of experience that would have been necessary to explore the wilderness.

However, a good friend of mine named Ryan George (a sophomore Math major at Rice University) has an intense passion for anything outdoors, and he brought up the names of famous New Zealand tracks that he wanted to do while he was here. He brought up the Milford Track (the most famous?), Routeburn, and Kepler as possibilities on the South Island. We explored all of our options, and Kepler seemed to fit the best. We would take about 4 days of hiking and we found that it was relatively easy to get to (there was a bus stop in the gateway town of Te Anau that was accessible via Intercity Bus from Dunedin). Everything sit to fit really well but there were still logistics to work out. Did we want to camp (and attempt to save money) or did we want to make it easier on ourselves by staying in huts (more expensive, but then we didn’t need to bring a tent or fuel or worry about water)? I would’ve gone either way, but we found out that the campsites were definitely cheaper (and we could even stay at one for free). We decided to go that route when we found out we could rent equipment (tents and a gas cooker) from the University’s gym for a pretty reasonable price. We then recruited more people to come on board—Liz was on from the beginning, and we got Leigh and our friend Gwen (junior Geology major from Dickinson College) to join too. Everyone was stoked for the possibility of spending some significant time outdoors, away from Dunedin. This prospect was brightened by the weather forecast—cold initially but warming up with lots of sunlight. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

We got everything organized (food wise and packing wise) and got to the bus station with not a whole lot of time to spare. However, when we all took our seats, we were incredibly pumped. I was really, really giddy on the way over, full of excitement and anticipation. I was definitely nervous but also felt like I was in good hands. Ryan had done some backpacking trips recently, Gwen had done a NOLS course for a month in the state of Washington, and Leigh was a COOT leader back at school. Liz was going to be able to push me when I needed to be pushed, and I could do the same for her if she needed me to. We work very similarly on the Frisbee field, and we have no problem challenging each other or getting the other to get past their mental blocks.

We arrived in Te Anau too late in the afternoon to get our journey started (I feel mostly to blame for that one), as I thought we’d be able to make it to our campsite. However, the Dep’t of Conservation was closed and we needed to get our tickets—it looked like we were going to be in for a longer day than anticipated since we weren’t going to be able to make it to the Brod Bay campsite. We camped out really close to the DOC so we could get started as soon as possible the next morning. We set up our tents and got ourselves familiarized with them, and then the ladies went out to take some pictures, explore town, and they wound up bringing back some cookies n’ cream for all of us to eat. One last little luxury, I suppose. Ryan and I hung back (I felt the need to watch our stuff) and chatted, delving into some really deep questions (the one that he got me on was “What does all this beauty mean to you?” and it would take a long time giving my complete answer. However, it was cool to hear how we differed in our opinions, as he is much more religious than I could ever be).

We got going the next morning as soon as we could—we got our tickets from the DOC and made our way to the Control Gates. Our first day of hiking was really successful. The day cleared up, we went at our own pace, met up with some friendly Australians (we started to play “tag” with them because each of the groups kept passing the other), and were driven by our adrenaline and excitement to get going. A couple of highlights included some humongous limestone bluffs (Gwen was quite happy about that) and making it past the tree line. We had a magnificent view of Te Anau and the Murchison Mountains (which we later learned held a specific type of flightless bird that had been rediscovered in 1948), and Luxmoore Hut was a welcome relief from the wind at the top of the mountain. Luxmoore had been described as the hut with the most beautiful view on all of the Great Walks tracks. I'd let you decide for yourself, but Blogger is being fussy. Check out my FB album (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034692&id=15403302&l=c1432)

The rest of the group went to explore the Luxmoore Caves. I was completely exhausted and needed to be re-hydrated. I took a quick nap and got prepared for dinner with Leigh, while Liz and Ryan almost got lost in the caves (I’ll let Liz tell that story). We ended up hanging around the dinner table in the hut, where we wound up meeting some Germans. Ryan and Liz had started to explore the caves with a German named Sebastian, and Sebastian had met three other Germans named Christian, Philip, and Kevin. We were all introduced, and we played Spoons together. It was clear that they were a wonderful group of guys, so we looked forward to seeing them the next day.

The second morning was about a 17 km hike from (Lucky) Luxmoore Hut down into the Iris Burn Valley to our campsite. It was the most beautiful day, in terms of scenery. We left the hut and started making our way up to the top of Mt. Luxmoore (about 1400 meters). The weather wasn’t initially cooperative (as it was cold and foggy) and when we made a side trip to the summit of Luxmoore it hadn’t really improved. However, Ryan went back up and hung out for a bit longer, and the day cleared up, leaving absolutely beautiful views. We then made our way to the Forest Burn Emergency Shelter (it was very scenic) and stopped for lunch. We met up with a Quebecois we had met on our busride over (also named Phillip). We took off and were met with better views as we went along. We walked along a ridgeline and had great views of the Murchisons and various fiords and sounds. I took my first naked-in-nature shot, with Leigh, and it was fairly harmless (though I got teased, for sure). I wouldn’t have done it with other people or if I weren’t in New Zealand. Plus, the picture had a great background!. The next stop was the Hanging Valley Shelter, where I tended to my first couple of hotspots. 91 switchbacks later, we had made it to the Iris Burn campground, where we were molested by sandflies the whole goddman time. They were so annoying. Leigh and I could barely stand them (on top of being hungry for some dinner), which left me in a very foul mood. Fortunately, that was alleviated by food, Leigh’s humor and my subsequent laughter, and playing spoons with the Germans again, keeping everybody else up in the hut.

The third day was a long day on the Track (another 17+ km) from Iris Burn to Shallow Bay. We started late in the morning, not really making breakfast because of the sandflies again. We made a side trip to the Iris Burn Falls (which we had failed to wander to the day before). It was a short hike, but very cool, and it felt great because I could finally dunk my head into some water. We sang camp songs to keep us entertained and to get the day started. We walked past the Big Slide (a landslide that occurred in the 1980s) and alongside the Iris Burn for most of the day, walking through many different types of landscapes and at a downhill gradient. My feet hurt, though, my only really bad day with my relatively new boots, and was relieved to arrive at the Moturau hut. We waded in Lake Manapouri and tended to the right foot. We had to say goodbye to Chris and Marcie, a couple from UCLA who had spent the past couple of years on a working holiday visa in both Scotland and New Zealand. We had originally met them at Luxmoore, where they noticed my Berkeley tee (Marcie gave me some shit about that). Chris explained that they had managed a lodge for 10 months before using their remaining time to travel and tramp through NZ. They had gone on Milford Track, a track I’d love to do, but they had to book it in June in order to make it. Unfortunately, though, we had to walk another half hour or so to get to our (free) campsite; however, there was no water at Shallow Bay and Ryan, Gwen and I filled up all of our water containers. The Shallow Bay campsite wasn’t really a campsite (or maybe we didn’t actually make it to the official campsite), we just used some space on a beach by Lake Manapouri. We were all grateful for the relative lack of sandflies, getting into the crystal clear water, and cooking. We were joined by Ben (UVM) and Eli (Skidmore), who were on a weeklong vactation from their Rethinking Globalization International Honors Study Abroad program. These two were absolutely amazing; they were wandering free spirits that weren’t really tied down, had seen and experienced the world in ways that I couldn’t even imagine (they had seen all the stuff I had read about in ES297), and seemed so much older and wiser than all of us. It made me really self-conscious, but they made for great conversation. It was clear that they were in the middle of having their minds blown, and seemed genuinely frustrated with how the world was currently functioning (much as I see it). But they had taken active steps to fight it, it seemed, and it was worthwhile talking with them. We made a campfire, and were joined by a Kiwi named Theresa who had just graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and seemed as if she were trying to find herself and where she wanted to be situated in NZ. All 3 were vagabond-esque, staying at places for free and taking things/life as they/it came. It was sweet to see, and made for awesome conversation.

The fourth day started with an attempt to try to make a shuttle from Rainbow Reach back to Te Anau (all of us were aching for some civilization), and we spent the morning trying to find a place to spend the night (relatively cheaply). We ended up going back to the place we stayed the first night, but we wanted to be indoors. For lunch, we went to the “perfect” restaurant, the Naturally Fiordland Pizzeria, which had pizza, wine, coffee, internet, etc. We spent our afternoon there, where we reunited with the Germans (to our wonderful surprise—we hadn’t gotten their pictures or said goodbye). The group celebrated with a bottle of wine, and it was a great way to unwind from our tramping. We prepped dinner, ate way too much ice cream (again), and topped it off with some champagne. We caught a bus the next morning, in which I detailed some of the lessons that I learned while tramping:

1) I really like backpacking and will actively look to do more of it, both at home and at Colby.

2) The best part of traveling were the people that we met along the way. We ended up running into the same people at our daily destination, and everyone was willing to meet each other.

3) I’m pretty good at perceiving the people I want to surround myself with (I knew during orientation I wanted to hang with Gwen and Ryan, and they’re absolute gems).

4) More traveling needs to occur and it will occur.

5) Our concepts of home were challenged by Ben and Eli, who had been relatively homeless. I’ll call home a place where I feel comfortable and I’m surrounded by loved ones, which is why Foster City, Sequoia Lake, and Colby are homes to me.

6) There is not enough time in life to remain unhappy. I’m going to make the most of New Zealand. I’m going to do what I love and not be constrained by what I think everyone else wants me to do.

Yeah! New Zealand!!!