New Zealand Weekly Update #30

15th of May until 21st of May 2023

Approximate reading time: 15 minutes

Lets get it started

Good Morning Fellas, good morning friends and followers od your weekly newspaper :). What an intense week – I’ve mad my way along the westcoast, along Arthurs Pass in the middle of the south island and I am now I am in Christchurch – finally big city life feeling at the end of the world. This week did not worked out as planned since the weather was pretty shitty in the middle of the week – so I had to skip some nice hikes. But I have been so lucky the last couple of months – so I reckon it is fair enough if there is some rain – and I will definitely come back and do some more hikes here 🙂
Well, lets talk about the last week and about what happened in gorgeous New Zealand… 🙂

Along the Westcoast

I started monday morning to make my way along the westcoast, since I had no plans, no work and I wanted to explore a little bit more of the south island as well – so I started my trip with my matress in the car, a lot of stuff, food and gear. And I made my way to Haast, my first stop on the roadtrip. And what to say, pretty remote, pretty flat, pretty boring… don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be offensive, but not really busy in here. So I just stopped for a coffee and met a friend by accident in the restaurant, he was just here for one night to enjoy the sunset at the beach – small island…

Afterwards, I made my way to Jackson Bay, pretty famous area to go fishing. Since I am not able to handle a fishing rod (and obviously I did not have one with me as well), I just talk a walk along the coastline and enjoyed the silence and the view. Closeby, there is a kiwi sanctury, where I also stopped for a short walk. Unfortunatelly, no kiwis at all, they must have been hiding from me 🙂 . So back to the car, back on track, along the coast. All the way to the carpark of the copeland track, where I stayed for the first night. And since I knew that the carpark is not directly at the coast, I decided to have dinner at about 4.30pm at the coast with a stunning view, a cold beer and some nice food out of the hot pot.

And since it was already dark by 7pm, I just stayed in the car on my matress, watched some documentaries and fell asleep pretty soon. And to be honest, it was pretty cozy and warm in the car with my blanket. I was afraid that it might be much more colder – but is was all good 🙂

Copeland Track – Rewarding finish

Tuesday, time for another hike, which was just recommended by a friend of mine. And she told me, that thsi one is a MUST, since you will end up at the Welcome Flat Hut, with hot pools just 2 minutes away from the hut. Well, fair enough, you got me – I go for it. Weather check. Gear check. Food check. Felix check. Go!

And directly at the beginning you have to cross a little river (and propably not that little when there is heavy rain and it can be dangerous to cross it, signs everywhere…). And afterwards, you hike in the middle of the forest, sometimes it feels like being in the rain forest, the karangarua river on your right side, sometimes visible and with an amzing blue color. So I walked kilometer and kilometers and made my way, sometimes up and down, but slightly up with some elevation. Sometimes I had to cross different creeks, fortunatelly all the time on bridges. Some of them have been pretty long and if you are afraid of heights or afraid of kinda swinging bridges, you should be prepared for some fun :). On my way up, I sometiems met some people who just came back from the hut, with big smiles in their faces – hot pools man!
Even though this hike is not steep or with a mass of elevation, it was still demanding from time to time and from time to time I took a break and just enjoyed the nature and the landscape.

And after 5 hours (and a litte more), I arrived at the hut, what a view. This hut has two floors, a fireplace and can host up to 32 people. And there have been even hud wardens who take care of the hut and gove you important information – pretty amazing in the middle of nowhere. For most of the wardens, it is their holiday, they come with their children, go hunting, enjoy the nature and life the remote life for 2 weeks or a little more. And the kids have been really confident as well, with an age of 9 and 11!
I was the first who arrived at the hut, backback on the matress, towel in my hand, beer in the other hand, and go for hot pools!
And what to say, you are remote. You are alone. You have a cold beer. And you sit in a fu**ing nice natural hotpool with an amazing view to the mountains, even though there was slightly rain. And what to say, I just fell aslepp for about 60 minutes, laying on my belly, my face on my hands, my hands on a big stone :). Living the best life!

Back to the hut, some more people arrived, some of them even at 9pm in the dark, crazy guys! And we had some talks, some dinner, some tea (yeah I know, but I was out of beer – you just don’t carry loads of cans all the way up…well…you normally don’t do it 🙂 ) and just sat by the fire. The morning after, I left pretty soon since the weather forecast was not too got for the day and I tried to escape the rain – and I managed it pretty well.

Franz Josef, Hokitika and Greymouth

Back from track, into the car since the sandflys in the area just tried to eat my, shitty annoying beasts! And way up along the coast, to the area of Fox Glacier and Frany Josef Glacier. With a hort stop at Lake Matheson, a pretty nice area. This lake is pretty popular since on good days, there is no wave, no movement at all at the lake. And you can see the clouds at the surfcace of the lake as well. I was quite lucky even though the weather was not perfect – and you can walk around the lake – I’d say in about 1 hour 🙂
And afterwards I made my way to the area of Franz Josef since I planne to go for another hike the next day and I wanted to start pretty early. And to be honest, I decided to stay in a hostel – roastrip or not, I was keen for a kitchen, a nice matress, a hot shower and a free sauna session (because the YHA hostel here offers a free sauna as well… 🙂 )

Next day, next adventure. Unfortunatelly, the weather was pretty shitty and rainy. And Roberts Point Track is a 5h hike and you should not do that on rainy days since it can be dangerous. Well, I decided to not do it and just went for some small walks along the area (Franz Josef Glacier View walk for example) and made my way up to Hokitika, where I planned to stay for the next night. Hokitika is a pretty flat town on the westcoast, lots of shopping options, a New World, Mitre Ten, and a lot of strange people. As I had a look for an option to stay overnight, a guy just sat next to me and started to talk with my about the war, the nazis and every minute he came a little closer. And he seemed pretty absent and not quite in his right mind. Well, it was raining the whole day, I found no good option to stsay at. So I decided to have a little walk at the Hokitika Gorge. This easy walk is a stunning one with good weather conditions since the water appears really blue and amazing. Unfortunatelly, for me this day it was more like a brown broth full of moving mud and stones. Well, you can’t be lucky every day and all the time 🙂

After some research, I’ve found a nice hostel in Greymouth, so I made my way up to the city. And as I arrived and had a little walk in town, I reckognized why they might call it Greymouth. It looks a little bit like an old industry city, no charme to me, pretty flat, but by the ocean and with a lot of wave sounds. And I ended up in a really nice hostel, the Global Village Accommodation, with a nice living room and a lot of soul and energy. And I just met a guy from Jena, where I lived for more than 8 years – this world is sometimes way too small 🙂
We ended up having some beers and some good talks. And since I planned to go for a big hike the next day (Avalanche Peak), I moved to bet pretty early to be fit enough for the next day.

Arthur’s Pass – along highway 73

I started quite early in the morning of Friday, to go for a big hike in the middle of Arthur’s Pass. You can find this area between the Westcoast (area of Hokitika and Greymouth) and the eastcoast (area of Christchurch). And between both areas you can find railroad tracks, which connects the westcoast and the eastcoast with each other. So I made my way to Arthur’s Pass at about 8am, just to reckognise that there will be no hike for me this day. Rain again all day long. And the hike I was supposed to do is way too dangerous in heavy rain. So I ended up doing some small walks around the area of Arthur’s Pass, to see a really nice big waterfall (Devils Punchbowl Waterfall), did a little nice walk along the Arthus’s Pass Walkway Track to Jacks Hut and found myself in the Hawden Valley, an area outside of Arthur’s Pass.

And since I did not want to stay in my car just to be already sleeping at 7 (since it is dark by this time already), I booked a bed in a nice little backpacker hostel in the village. Pretty cozy, quite affordable and comfortable. The next morning I started pretty early at 7 having some breakfast and checking the weather again – looks fine for me. A little rain, some clouds, go for Avalanche Peak. The weather check and the right gear is pretty important for that one since it can be really dangerous especially at the last part. There is a reason why they call it Avalanche Peak and some people already died here…
Well, you have two options to make your way up to the peak – Avalanche Track or Scotts Track. Well, I decided for the last one. And it’s „just“ about 3km all the way up, but with an elevation of 1100m. The first two kilometers have been pretty easy going, in the middle of forest, a little wet, steep but still really enjoyable. So I took my time and just stopped sometimes to look back into the valley, the clouds and the waterfalls. And then, out of the sudden, no trees anymore, everything exposed and to my right side, a steep valley. If you slip here, it’s over. Game over. So watch your feet, take your time and the hell, don’t slip!

More fog, more clouds, snow. It became colder, more slippery and more uncomfortable. My guts still have been good so I moved on, all the way almost up to the peak. 200m before the peak, my guts feeling changed. And I decided to turn around, since the last part is also really exposed and it was way too foggy and too slippery to move on. And there would not have been any reward regarding a nice view to the valleys, so it is not a lost at all. On my way down, there have been three guys coming up the other track and they made it to the peak and back safe down – well down guys!
What to say about this hike? It would be best to do it with perfect weather conditions, with sun and blue sky. Since you will have your reward. The track is steep. It can be slippery. And yes, it can be dangerous. So watch out, enjoy the movie I’ve still made and loose your mind 🙂

After the track, I went back to Arthur’s Pass for a coffee and moved on. To Cave Stream Scenic Reserve, a little tunnel which was formed by the Broken River and which you could walk (about 500-600m). The water in the tunnel is about waist high and you need good torches. I decided to just have a walk to the entrance and the exit of the tunnel without crossing it. And the nature around is just stunning and scenically very appealing. Maori crossed this area in former times since it was part of the pounamu (Jade) trade walk. And they did this without cars, horses or other vehicles, just by foot – crazy guys!

Before I’ve made my way to my next hostel in Springfield (yes, I am finally in Springfield hehe), I had a walk at the Kura Tawhiti (Castle Hill conservation area). Definitly a must have since this area is really impressive. 30 million years ago, all of that area was covered with water and sharks were swimming here. Then tectonic plates collided and formed the mountains and the area. And all the big limestone outcrops (and hell they are big as fu**) were formed from shells and were compressed over many years. Also really popular for bouldering, this area has has Tōpuni status, which is a legal recognition of the site’s importance to the Ngāi Tahu tribe. The term comes from the traditional custom of chiefs extending power and authority over areas or people by placing a cloak over them. And call me crazy, but there was a certain energy in this area, silent, peaceful and impressing 🙂

Christchurch – big city life

Sunday Morning, I’ve made me way to the big city – christchurch. And you can tell now that you are in a big city since you have plenty of traffic lights and you have to wait a long time to keep going. And there are motels everywhere. And at 10am, I met Sophie again and we went for a citytrip through the large city. We had some coffee at a nice little cafe called „Table at Monks“ and then walked to a little art exhibition in town for free with some really impressive paintings and designs as well. After that we had a little walk into the big library and went to the riverside market, where you can have lots of foods, get some delicious jam, have a good beer (or two 🙂 ) and get stunned by some really good live music for free as well.
After some relaxing time at the market, we moved on along of one of the earthquake memorials. Since there has been a major earthquake in Christchurch in 2011, where 185 people lost their lives. There is even another memorial with 185 white chairs to remember all those deceased. After that, we had a long walk in botanic garden, where you can visit greenhouses, walk along the small river where you can also have a ride with one of the boats. And you can have a look at a gigantic alpine ash eucalyptus tree, which has a diameter of more than 3 meters!

Well, after the long day in Christchurch we went back to my hostel and had some good dinner with the host, Jay (I hope it is written the right way) and I decided to stay for one more night from Monday to Tuesday since I recently received a message from the immigration to getting done a chest x-Ray and a mecidal examination as well to receive my new visa (part of the visa process if you want to stay in New Zealand for more than 12 months). And since there are just a few physicians around New Zealand who have the permition to determine these examinations for the immigration this is now the right time to do that as well 🙂
Well, big city life today was really exciting, full of new impressions, full of cty sounds, full of traffic lights. But I really enjoyed it and it was great to share this day with someone in person rather than sharing all just with social media 🙂

What else to say?

Well, it has been a really exciting week full of travelling. Full of adventures. Full of changed plans since the weather was not my best friend and I really enjoyed the sunny day today in Christchurch. And I recognized again, that sharing adventures, experiences and events with friends or people who we love to spend time with is much more worth than spending time alone and just sharing those experiences through social media. Of course, it is important and sometimes really enjoyable to spend time on your own. Enjoy a hike just by yourself. Be with yourself. And to don’t need company at all. But on the other handside, sharing experiences in person is sometimes that what matters and what makes the experience special and unique.

See you next week guys!

Your DingyInternational
Felix