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I am now in Te Anau, right down in the south of the south island in Fiordland - am yet to pay a penny to get here....
After my last update I climbed Mt Edward 1916m near Lake Tekapo with the couple from Manchester I met. We set off about 8:30am and got back in the dark about 6pm - lucky I had my torch! It was a really good climb with a few miles approach over fields then straight up the side to a ridge and then just a steady climb along the ridge with a final rocky scramble to the top - couldn't stand up as it was so windy I would have been blown over! At one point we had a great view of Mt Cook right on the horizon standing out as being so much bigger than anything else.
That evening (last Thurs) we drove to Mt Cook village, arriving about 9pm with the snow coming down. On the Friday I had a much needed day with the feet up in front of the fire, had some great views of mount cook lit up at sunset. On the Sat I did a big walk up to the Hook glacier. There is a big lake at the end of it, really murky water with all the rock particles that get washed down. On the Sunday I climbed almost up to the Mueller Hut, got to about 1500m but by then it was too icy to get much further and then back down. Absolutely amazing views though and I'm sure all my photos get a bit repetive of views of snow capped mountains, but I don't tire of climbing up a mountain for a few hours to enjoy them! That evening I met a chap who offered to give me a lift to queenstown so I stayed an extra day, did yet another walk up a mountain and then got a lift with him to Queenstown on Tuesday.
The drive down was fantastic, amazing scenery, road winding through the mountains, lakes like mirrors as it was so calm. Spent the afternoon looking round Queenstown and got a camping stove so I can do some overnight walks staying in the huge network of huts they have over here. That night it was time to get on it, having been in tiny towns, villages really, for 2 weeks with no nightlife! The next day was a bit of a slack one not getting up till 11am.... Back out again that night, had the world famous FergBurger on the way home. Awesome. Got up earlier the next day and walked up Ben Lomond 1750m, took a long day as Queenstown is at 300m I think! yet again more amazing views of the surrounding mountains and lakes, this time with a cuppa at the top of the mountain. Back down and back out again... Queenstown has the perfect combination of amazing scenery, nightlife and various sports going on! sadly can't afford to go bungee jumping/snowboarding/paragliding/skydiving etc.
On Friday I hitched to Te Anau where I am now, took me about 3.5 hours to do what would take 2.5 in the car anyway. Aswell as being free, hitching also means as soon as you're ready to leave you can get going - I would have had to wait till 2pm for a bus to leave Queenstown. I was planning to walk the Kepler Track, 4 days 3 nights, but the woman in the DOC (Dept of Conservation) office was very off putting suggesting I would need ice axe and crampons for it! So I decided to just go up to the Luxmore Hut for Sat night, up to Mt Luxmore early Sunday (today) then back down. Met a Swiss girl who was doing it so walked up with her, took us about 5 hours to get to the hut. Had a look at some caves nearby in the afternoon. there was about 20 people staying at the hut(has 55 beds for when it is busy in summer) so was a good atmosphere with the stove going. Fantastic sunset and then superb clear skies for star gazing - couldn't see any artifical lighting anywhere. Was in bed for about 9pm as there is no lighting so not much else to do! Pretty cold night, down to freezing inside I think, but was fully clothed in my sleeping bag so nice and warm! Got up about 7am and then watched the sunrise - best I've ever seen I think, fog on the lake 800m down below, sun lighting up all the mountain tops around. Walked up to Mt Luxmore as the sun was coming up, got to the top about 9:30am (sunrise is about 8am here) and then back down to the hut and back to Te Anau for 3pm. bit annoyed with the DOC as it was absolutely fine up there with no specialist equipment and I could have done the whole route. but they do get people underequipped dying up here so I guess they have to be cautious. I think aslong as you are sensible with plenty of clothing and food and turn back if it does get tricky, you'll be fine. Need to plan the next one!
Off to Milford Sound tomorrow, then the next day hitching back up north to Wanaka.
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