Hitchhiker's Guide to the South Island

Just getting back into the swing of things here in Auckland, since I just got back from my inter-semester break. I had so much fun, and got to see a pretty good amount of the South Island, but I definitely need to go back again! I'll try to break down my travels day-by-day here, sorry if it gets a little long!

Day One

Lina and I left the Unilodge at 6am (after having to wake her up at 5:50am) and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Christchurch. We were so tired that we pretty much slept the whole way, but the view just before landing was SO amazing, mountains everywhere!

After landing in Christchurch we milled around for a little bit then started walking out of town, figuring that we'd catch a ride from there and get our trip going. 

Relaxing with a latte in Christchurch

Unfortunately we made the mistake of walking towards Lyttelton, which is southeast and out by the coast, instead of going southwest towards Queenstown. When someone stopped to asked where we were headed, he told us we were going completely in the wrong direction, but he gave us a ride out to Sumner, which is just outside Lyttelton and had some amazing views from the hills.

View over Diamond Harbor

Amazing view of the coastline from a hill in Sumner

He ended up dropping us off where he picked us up, and we walked back towards Christchurch. Luckily our friend Tori was in town for the night with her parents, so we spent the night with her before starting again the next day.

Day Two

This time we headed in the right direction! We decided to walk to a little bit before trying to catch a ride, and when we finally did start trying, two girls picked us up and told us that a better place to hitch was just outside town a little further down the road, so they dropped us off there. They were right because almost as soon as we stuck our thumbs out, someone pulled over for us! It turned out to be a girl (Jenny) who was on her way down to Dunedin to visit her boyfriend, so we hopped a ride with her for a couple hours.

Lina demonstrating her hitchhiking prowess

Jenny dropped us off a little outside of Geraldine, which is about a third of the way down to Queenstown, our final destination. We stopped in a little shop for a while and the lady who ran it said that if she got off work and we were still walking, she'd give us a ride into town. Lina and I decided to keep walking and not hitch, and eventually Rhonda drove by and picked us up. She even took us on an apple picking detour! She dropped us off at the other end of Geraldine so we could move on from there.

On the road again...

After walking for a little bit we got a ride from a man and his son Henry, who couldn't have been more than about 12ish. Henry was super talkative and pretty knowledgeable, so it was fun to talk to them. They dropped us off in Fairlie, where Lina and I ended up spending the night (after lots of debate, walking, and another ride back to a campsite).

Day Three

We left the campsite pretty early and started our walk out of Fairlie. It wasn't too long before someone pulled over for us, and he turned out to be a chef looking for work in the next town over, Tekapo. As we talked to him we found out that he had worked all over New Zealand and knew about a lot of different places, and he really supported our choice to do the Routeburn Track, saying it was one of his favorites. On the way to Tekapo he pointed out where Mount Cook would have been if the clouds weren't in the way; it was a shame it wasn't a little clearer that day. 

Walking out to Lake Tekapo

Casual lounging on the rock

After he dropped us off in Tekapo we took a break to walk down by the lake, which was gorgeous and a really unique light blue color. We started hitching again just before the edge of town, and got picked up pretty quickly by Mikaela, a German woman who lived in Sydney and was in New Zealand for work and a little sightseeing. 

View somewhere between Queenstown and Wanaka

Driving with her was pretty cool since she wanted to stop at a lot of vista points, so it was nice to see those along the way as well. We stopped in Wanaka, the town over from Queenstown, then finally made it!!

Nothing really compares to the feeling of knowing that we got from Christchurch to Queenstown (about 300 miles!) based on the goodwill of other people. Stepping out of the car in Queenstown I felt so accomplished, and proud of us for making it there not really knowing what would happen. At first we were a little nervous about sticking our thumbs out, not knowing who would stop to pick us up. By the middle/end though it was pretty natural and we weren't really too worried about who would stop, since everyone was so nice. Obviously we would have turned down any creepy-looking people, though. Sorry for not telling you earlier, Mom and Dad, but I'm alive! :D

This is how far we hitchhiked!!

Day Four

Map of the Routeburn, Greenstone, and Caples tracks

We set off early from Queenstown to head down to the head of the Routeburn track (Routeburn Shelter, up at the top of the map) with our friends Lydia and Sarah. When we started it was a gorgeous day and so hot, but by the time we got to the top it was pretty rainy. 

Out on the Routeburn!

We kept pushing on though, and still got some cool views out of it. Our first day was a doozy, about 8-9ish hours of hiking up and down mountains. By the time we got to Lake Mackenzie, our stop for the night, we were soaking wet and ready to crash.

View from the top!

One of many streams on the Routeburn track

The campground at Lake Mackenzie proved to be slightly problematic, as it was basically just gravel and patches of turf, so you couldn't put stakes into it. This wasn't too bad for my and Lina's tent, but unfortunately Lydia and Sarah's was the kind that needed to be staked in to stay up. We put heavy rocks in the ropes, but the tent ended up collapsing in the night and Lydia and Sarah had to sleep under the shelter! They ended up leaving early in the morning to try and catch the bus back to Queenstown.

So excited to be on the track!

Day Five

When Lina and I left Lake Mackenzie it was still raining, but we trekked on towards the McKellar hut on the Greenstone track. On the way there we had to pass through some pretty muddy/marshy areas, which were difficult to navigate. Lina found out the hard way when we tried to go around a muddy area of the track and she stepped into what she thought was a puddle...but turned out to be a waist-deep, Lina-sized swamp! 

After the swamp...doesn't really do it justice though

A pretty rude awakening, but we were revived by our laughing fit and finally made it to the warm, dry McKellar Hut.

That afternoon/night I laid all my wet belongings out by the furnace in the hut, and finally got everything dried out. Such a nice change after having perpetually damp clothing and boots! That evening it was even so hot that I woke up sweating, a far cry from the night before when Lina and I were huddling for warmth.

Day Six

In the morning we headed out towards the Greenstone Hut, 18 km and about 5ish hours away. It was a pretty easy day, since we were walking along the valley floor and everything was flat. 

Out on the Greenstone Valley

The view was so gorgeous, and we made quite a few cow friends along the way. When we got to Greenstone we were surprised by how nice it was (flushing toilets, what a luxury!). We were trying to decide where to go from there though, since Lina's knee had started hurting and she didn't know if she could do our original route. We had planned to to the Greenstone-Caples loop, but the last day would have been a pretty brutal uphill climb and a race out to the Divide to get picked up. We spent the night weighing our options (with the help of the hut warden, Manu) and decided to pick it up and decide the next morning.

Later that evening Manu came into the hut with some pretty big news: the earthquake in Christchurch. It was so weird to hear that Lyttelton had been flattened, and that Christchurch had suffered so much damage, since we had been there only a few days before. One of the ladies in the hut had a son who lived there, which must have been terrifying because there was no way to reach people on mobile phones. The first earthquake in the city last year didn't have any casualties, since it was at night, but it's pretty sobering to hear that the body count is still rising for this one. 

Day Seven

Lina and I headed further along the Greenstone track for about an hour before her knee really started hurting, so we decided to turn around and go back the way we came, staying at McKellar for another night and then catching the shuttle back the next day. Even though we were going back along the same track, we ran into a lot more cows that day, stumbling upon some in the woods and quite a few right in our path. We were a little nervous since there were babies everywhere and we had heard a story the day before about a guy who was charged by a cow when he got in between her and her baby, so we gave them a pretty wide berth.

Cows in the beech forest...two babies!

We made it to McKellar for a second night, and relaxed since we knew the next day would be easy, with only about 3 hours of hiking.

Day Eight

We got a really late start, lounging around the hut for a little after most people left. We headed back up towards Lake Howden (luckily avoiding more swamp diving) and took a little break there before heading on to the Divide to get picked up.

We ended up getting back into Queenstown around 7 or 8, and actually ended up running into some other people from our program who were staying in the same hostel. We all hung out for a little before calling it a night and heading to bed.

Day Nine

The next morning we had some time to kill before our bus to Christchurch, so Lina, Lydia and I walked around Queenstown for a while. It was a gorgeous day, so we took advantage of that as best we could. 

Sunny day in Queenstown

Around 3 we got on the bus, which was pretty much the longest bus ride I've ever taken. Luckily there were only about 10 people on it, so Lina and I spread out over the last row. We didn't really have any plans regarding where we were going to stay that night, and figured we'd just wing it when we got into town. As we approached Christchurch, however, every single hotel and motel had their "No Vacancy" signs lit up, since everyone was trying to get out of the city. We decided to avoid the city centre entirely and spend the night in the Christchurch Airport. When we got there around 1030pm there were people everywhere camped out in sleeping bags, so we decided to follow suit and set up beds out of airport benches, then called it a night.

Lina in her airport bed

Making myself at home

Day Ten

When we woke up around 8am the next morning it was a little awkward to see the airport functioning as normal while we were sleeping in our airport bench cribs. Our flight to Auckland had so many babies on it, I'm assuming because parents just wanted to get their families out of Christchurch. We made it back to the Unilodge safe and sound, and grabbed some delicious Chinese food for dinner from a nearby food court. It was so nice to have some real food after 6 days of living off of PB&J and canned tuna and chicken!!

Whew! So that's my break summed up in one blog post, hopefully it wasn't too boring. If I forgot anything I'll be sure to add it in another post later :) Right now I have a towering pile of laundry waiting for me, so I should probably get to that...