west coast

the first monday in june is the queen's birthday here in new zealand (well the day it's celebrated). it was also the weekend right after the end of lecture and right before exams began. it could be viewed as an extra study day, but it also offered a three-day weekend, so david, laura, and i decided to go tramping.

while looking through a book of tramps around the south island, i read about a place called "castle rocks hut", which you access by crossing the franz josef glacier on the west coast. the hut, literally, looks out over the glacier. we called DoC, who said you could still access the hut and a guy in the tramping club who went last year and said it was a good introduction to glacier crossings, so we decided to do it. it didn't require three-days, so the plan was to go to castle rocks saturday night, then up mt. armstrong in mt. aspiring national park on sunday and monday.

the drive took something horrendous like eight hours, but we managed to make it to the village of franz josef, where basically everywhere had "no camping signs" - so we drove to the glacier parking lot, set up our fly a few meters down from the "no camping" sign inbetween two handicap parking spots and got up early enough to take it down so no one would know. we weren't the only ones doing it either - there was a tent nearby. my sleeping bag is not very warm, at least definitely not made for near freezing temperatures, so i brought my fleece blanket from my flat along. definitely the best idea i had for the weekend - it kept me so, so warm. fleece is a wonderful thing.

we checked at the DoC office in the morning about conditions to get to castle rocks - and again, we were told it'd be fine. and so we packed up all our stuff and gear and headed out.



[franz josef glacier moraine]


new zealand is unique in that it is the only place in the world where glaciers exist in temperate rainforests. this glacier used to extend far beyond its current position - a great (can such a thing be great?) example of global warming.

to get to the glacier, we had to pass a bunch of "guided tours or experienced individuals only" signs - kind of intimidating really ... seeing as how we are neither. we had been assured, though, multiple times that it was a great place to learn, so we continued on anyways.

as we were putting on our crampons at the base of the glacier, a tour approached. the guide asked us where we were off to:
"castle rocks hut"

he laughed. "no you're not"

we stared at him - surprised.

"no one's been there for a year. there's a 30 foot wall to get off the glacier"

"well," i said "we'll at least go have a look"

and so off we went, up the stairs cut into the glacier





and we went for a wander, following the trails that all the guides take. the crevices are filled in, there are bridges, ropes to hold onto, steps for goodness sake. but, despite these things, it is ... beautiful and incredible. even though it was pouring down rain and cold and even though every single guide we passed laughed at us when we told them we were going to castle rocks hut. it was one of those giddy ohmygod-i-can't-believe-i'm-doing-this-i'm-walking-on-a-glacier-!!-:D feelings.





[waterfall]




due to our ... lack of experience, we didn't go very far (since we'd, obviously, decided not even to attempt this castle rocks hut thing). just wandered around for a few hours and then went back to the car to try to figure out what to do for the night.

we stopped by the DoC office to try to find a hut about an hour off the road and to tell them that, you know, maybe they shouldn't be telling people that castle rocks hut is accessible when no one has been there for a year. and they're supposed to be taking care of this hut?

we decided to head down the road to the cattle track to blowfly hut. a really really adorable little hut that was nice and warm and we had a very relaxing night.



[did i mention that david let me drive? and that it was a manual? and that i only stalled once and managed to stay on the left side of the road the whole time (just a nice sweeping left turn out of the parking lot ... whoops. it just feels so natural to swing out]


[swing bridges are so fun]


the next morning, we drove to the wonderful town of haast (where everyone we met and spoke to was absolutely crazy) to pay for the hut and buy tickets for brewster hut. laura decided to take a bus to wanaka and have david and i pick her up on monday on our way out because her knee was really bothering her.

david and i headed off to brewster hut - an absolutely tiny hut with no heating (i have never been so thankful for a fleece blanket). it was cloudy and half raining the whole way up, but right as we arrived at the hut, all the clouds lifted.



[i also saw my first kea - an alpine parrot notorious for following trampers around and screeching/bothering them. and just being parrots. this one left david and i alone though.]


[brewster hut with mt. brewster behind it]


the hut is literally tied to the ground, and we discovered why that night, as the wind absolutely howled past the hut - it really sounded like the thing was going to blow off the mountain. to keep warm, we lit tons of candles and got our stove going.





we had a really great time - made cards out of the visitor book's paper and played ers for a few hours and chatted and tried to stay warm.

in the morning, everything was frozen solid. including my socks (which were stiff as boards) and our boots:



[shoelaces aren't supposed to do that]


so we spent a good deal of the morning trying to thaw everything - mostly holding our boots and clothing as close to the stove as we could without accidentally lighting them on fire.

we just left all our stuff in the hut and headed up mt. armstrong.



[the snow covered bit is mt. armstrong, although that's a false peak. the peak is about 800 meters up from the hut]


we had an absolutely gorgeous, perfect, beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky (such a relief after the not-so-great weather we'd had thus far and since it was the west coast). it was great - gave us good practice with our crampons and ice axes and felt good to actually get to the top of a mountain. and the view was spectacular. you could see everything: the ocean, mt. cook, mt. aspring, mitre peak, sisyphus, just to name a few. absolutely incredible.



[frozen waterfall on the way up]


[david and i at the top]


[mt. brewster and glacier]




[coming back down]


[david and i with mt. armstrong in the background]


we picked up laura in wanaka and then i drove home. it turned out to be our last real trip (well, we did go away the next weekend, but it was a bit disappoint (more later)). laura and david have just been great to go tramping with. i love that we throw together these trips at happy hour on tuesday and figure out details friday afternoon, then jump in the car and go. that is what i will miss the most about this country - the spontaneity and the adventure.