Mt Aspiring National Park – Part 1…11a. Mt Aspiring National Park – Part 1
Mt Aspiring National Park – Part 1…11b. Mt Aspiring National Park – Part 2
Mt Aspiring National Park – Part 2…Nico Arrives!
WeyHey! They’re finally here!! :) Our hiking compadres have landed, and we’re off to have some crazy adventures in the mountains. It’s a holiday for us from the Te Araroa trail for a few days, and we’re swapping some boring road walking for some up-close mountain action!
This is Nico, our secret Swedish third team member who’s been coding this amazing blog for us. Thanks Nicoooo! Very sweet CSS skills. We love it. Yes!
Whoa! This trip was booked back in November, but still felt a bit unreal when the D-day was fast approching during February. But now I’m here and it feels absolutely great!! Behind me I left cold winter and a desk job, ahead awaits; warm weather, long walks, epic mountain views, good company and challenging passes and climbs.Ollie Arrives!
WooHooo! Another one!We managed to hook in two extra buddies for this bit of the trek. And so today we are receiving a parcel of two. This is Ollie! Another ex-Poker. He will be gracing the mountains with his lion-like hair for a couple of weeks too….. And so, we were four!
Hi-di-hi campers! Well, after 34 hours flying at 34,000 feet to the other side of the world Nico and I couldn’t wait to use our jet-lagged feet to clamber 34,000 steps (approx ;-) back up into the clouds through the golden grass, mushy moss, random roots, and wind-swepted-waterfall-laden vallies of mountains (we even got a rainbow horizon) that are New Zealand. Kia-ora Mount Aspiring National Park! We salute you (and your 34,000 (to be very precise) sand-fly bites??!! Ouch. That’s why i am pictured here jumping for, er, joy ;-) !Ollie & Nico go crazy at the Duty Free
Cookie asked Ollie and I to buy some booze at duty free on the way over; “rum has become our trail drink of choice”, he sent. Ollie and I didn’t want to disappoint so we bought 3 bottles each.
Surely the pirate in Captain Cook would have done the same?
Yep you’re damn right Nico. I always thought the duty free limit was one bottle, I would of asked for 6 had I of known ;) In the end 6 bottles was ‘just enough’ to get us through the next section!
Our two crack SAS hikers know us well….. Ollie has selected some special vintages of Appleton Rum… The good stuff! This section is going to be a good one ;)
600g of Blue Steak, much to Nico’s Delight
For the last evening meal, before heading to Gillespie Pass, Cookie booked a table at steak house called Flame Bar & Grill – Great steak. Great Fun. I was delighted to find that they served meat dishes exceeding half a kg! And you could order it ‘blue’ (that’s raw’er than raw my friends). Blue – for the real meat connoisseur. Yes please.
Mixed Grill Platter, much to Cookie & Ollie’s Delight
Me and Ollie decided to go for quantity over quality and the flame mixed grill didn’t disappoint. Although the ribs, chops and boerewors sausage were no match for the sirloin steak and I found myself jealously looking over at Nico much larger hunk of meat (and dribbling slightly). Good job they provided us with bibs to wear!Just in case our rabbit snaring skills were a bit rusty when we made it fully into the wilds, we decided to topup in Queenstown on 1.4kg or so of ribs and rib eyes all bbq’d into a mouth-watering melt-in-your-mouth-mountain of carniverous delight to make Fred Flinstone proud. And maybe even full! Oh, and not to forget the lashings of local dairy ice cream covered in a flowing choco-river for afters of course. Gotta familiarise ourselves with the NZ rivers out here before setting-off, right? ;-)Bus to Makarora, Setting off in the drizzle
“Heeey Makarora.. uuUhii!”. This village is hence forth dubbed The Macarena.We caught the bus from Queenstown to Makarora (at the far end of Lake Wanaka) then walked a few miles up the road to the start of track. Well not really, the track started on the other side of the river, we could see from the road that it was flooding but Nico & Ollie wanted an adventure so we went to have a look if we could ford it anyhow.My Verdict – Makarora River is Un-Crossable Today!
It wasn’t looking good! Deep grey rushing water. If you can’t see the bottom it’s not a great idea to stride out into the middle of the river. Cookie had a little ‘tester’ to assess the strength. “No go!”
It was a road walk around for us.
We couldn’t cross, it was clear to see, but since we were here I went in anyhow just make an amusing clip for the video!Finally on the other side of the Makarora River
Day one was a warm up day in the end. Up the road and back down the forest several km’s to get back to the other side of the river :)Back to the road we tramped then a further 3 miles in the wrong direction to the nearest bridge, once over the river at Blue Pools we tramped back down the valley on the other side un-doing the road walk..