New Zealand Weekly Update #65

15th of January until 21st of January 2024

Approximate reading time: 12 minutes

Lets get it started

Good day folks! Apologies for the late update for this weekly blog. I have been backcountry hiking and had no cell service for the last couple of days. And I was supposed to be back late afternoon today but since I finished the hike earlier, I am now able to send you this wee update about last week in New Zealand. And yikes, my legs are sore as guys. I just had a wee nap and now I am back to live, some food and coffee next to me and ready to write down all the thoughts, experiences and adventures from New Zealand. And what to say? It is epic. The country, the nature, the people. It is just epic. Lets dive into it fellas!

The week in a nutshell

Quick and dirty! Since my roster changed, I was back at work already on monday. Business as usual! Dispensing. Troubleshooting. Small talk with the customers. And from time to time some sleep, some rest and catching up with some friends. Monday after work I managed to bike the whole track from Wanaka Challenge, almost 90km. Up and down. Fast and slow. And with a short „accident“ since I had a Red Bull while being cycling with almost 30km/hr and I lost control. What to say… a pain in the ass, but I am all good :). Catching up with some friends (Laura, the person who gave me my personal Pounamu, Anna and Erina from work) for BBQ on Thursday and with my good friend Kat on friday have been some of the weekly highlights so far. DOing some small talk, some deep talk and also talks about plans, ideas and troubles is always a kind of a relief. And it is nice to feel the support and to give some support and motivating words as well. We are not alone with our troubles, we just have to get them out of our heads and talk about them. There is a solution for almost every problem and most of the times, the solution is way easier than we might think. Just a random thought fellas.
And another random thought to end this section: Thursday morning I had a wee bit like an upset moment. I felt quite alone that moment, it just came out of the sudden. So while I was sitting in the kitchen, drinking my morning coffee and thinking about how lonely you can feel from time to time, a message popped up on my phone from my very good friend Lea I have met here in New Zealand. And it was saying hey, I just thought about you and wanted to send you a short message. Love you, hugs, speak soon. Bye.

Wow! Moments like those are just amazing. They are special. Because in that very moment, I felt not alone anymore. Since even if people might not be around us, next to us, with us, they still think about us. The are still with us. In us. And you are still part of their (daily) life. Never doubt that. You might be alone in a physical way from time to time, but you are never alone in general. So whenever you feel like sending this message or making this call – do it! It might not change a whole life, but it can definitly change and make a moment. And this moment could change a whole day of a person. It can change a day starting with „this is gonna be a very hard and tough day, I feel pretty lonely“ to „I am gonna make it. There are people who think of me and who appreciate me. As I appreciate and think about them. Lets smash that day!“. You can change a lot with a few words, a voicemail of a few seconds. Words are very powerful. They can change emotions in a couple of seconds. They can change thoughts from good to bad and the way around. A simple „I think about you“ or a „Today I was thinking about you and it made me smile“ or just a „I appreciate having you in my life, even though we do not see each other very often“ is a gamechanger. We do it far too rarely. As we assume, our friends and family should know how much we asppreciate them. And deep inside, they might know. But sometimes, we need to hear it. So embrace those feelings and this knowledge. Sometimes we need a little reminder. Sometimes we need this emotional hug. Everyone of us needs this from time to time, no matter how strong or powerful we are (or how strong we appear to the outside). And be sure guys, I am thinkinga lot about you. All of you. While hiking. While running. While cycling. While sitting on the couch and writing those blogs. And most of the times, it makes me smile. Or even shaking my head and grin. As I have a lot of good memories and adventures in my mind with all of you guys. Love you fellas!

Motatapu Mission

And here we go! Three days off work. Time for a mission. Weather forecast – all good. Equipment ready. Motivation on. Groceries done! And action! Time for the Motatapu Track. Definitely a gem of a hike here in the south island. And part of the popular Te Araroa – the great hike all the way from north to south (or the way around) of New Zealand – 3000km. And indeed on my list – but this is a challenge for future Felix.
So back to Motatapu. Supposed to be a challenging, only for experienced parties, three to four day hike. 49km. Around 2500m of ascending (and of course descending as well). Three huts. And go! So I made my way to Glendhu Bay carpark at Saturday morning and started my first day at the track. The first hour is quite easy, flat, exposed and full of great views. Along a little creek. And you end up hiking in a little forest, sometimes up and down, partly slippery. Nature sounds. Birds. Water. Peaceful. Afterwards, up and down along a small ridgeline, into the valley. Sweating. But in a good way. And after two hours and a bit, the first hut. Fern Bern Hut. Beautiful views into the valley and up the mountains. First break. Lunchtime. Nuts. Water. And some sun and a little nap. And here we go, next stop, heaven (or just up the mountains so to say). From now on more challenging, all the way up, step by step into the backcountry. More wind. More exposed. More views. More landscape. And it was just stunning! All the way up to Jack Hill’s Saddle. More than 1200m above sea level. But like all the hills for Motatapu, you can enjoy just for a bit, since I had to hike down all the way again. Legs and knees are not happy with that, but that is part of the story. All the way down to a little creek. Time for refreshment and rest. Filling up those water bottles. Cold water in your face! Refreshing and motivating. And you name it, all the way up again. Even further into the valley. But soon, with an amazing reward. Highland Creek Hut ahead, my final stop for today. After Almost 5hrs of hiking, I arrived at my destination. Lunch number two. Talking to a couple of people at the hut. Germany. Denmark. New Zealand. USA. Some of them were hiking the Te Araroa . Some of them were just dayhiking. Nice chats. Some games to waste our time. A wee bit of reading. Early dinner. Time for bed. Results that day? 4hrs and 27 minutes hiking (without breaks). 13.13km of distance. 1301 meters of elevation gain. Not too bad hey?

Day 2 – and I did not know that this one gonna be a mission – a hell of a mission guys! I woke up around 7AM, ready for breakfast and some coffee. I was never a big friend of milk powder. It just felt wrong. But for multiday hikes like this one this powder is not too bad fellas. Not as good as a real glass of milk though, but good enough for my coffee. Todays destination is Roses Hut. And this one will be a challenging route to this hut. Twice up and down the mountains. So I started my walk around 7.45 after saying goodbye to all them hikers. First meters flat along a small creek and then up. Up up up the mountain. Sweating my ass of. Exposed to the sun. And with some amazing views to the mountains around me. But try not to be too happy, since you have to go down again. Thats Motatapu. Up and down all the time. There are no real flat sections at all (except the last kilomters). So I made my way down to a little river, time for a refreshment, some water and a snack. Just to hike aaaall the way up again, first in between thick bushes and later exposed again. Very steep. Step by step. Humbling. Suffering. And complaing 🙂 (Of course you complain from time to time, that is part of the hike hehe). Lunchtime at the peak of the second hill. Around 11AM. And already more than 1000 meters in height done. Way to go. Now along a narrow ridgeline with some amazing views to the valley where I was running in March 2022 the Motatapu Off Road Marathon (important to note, people would trailrun the track I am hiking at the moment as well on the day of the Motatapu Marathin, this would be the Ultra Marathon – I still can not believe how people would be able to do that – that is insane). So back to the hike, I could spot the Roses Hut, my destination for today. All the way down, sore legs and muscles. Some refreshing water again and along flat track all the way to the hut. Talking to some people, lunch and it is only 12.30PM. Well… Dingytime! Lets have some fun. Another mountain to climb. 1PM, and action. So I made it all the way up the last mountain and the sun almost knocked me out. Some breaks while hiking up. Some complaints. Heaps of water. And one hour later I was standing on top of the mountain and had a look back. Insance views fellas! Silence. Huge mountains around me. And way to go. And guess what. All the way down again, on trail. All the way down to the Arrow River. And if you are lucky, you can walk along the river if the water level isn ot too high. And so I did. First quite a bit of fun. But after a while and with sore legs, you have to pay attention not to slip and to twist your ankles. A couple of kilometers along the river and all the way to Macetown, an old goldmining area. This should be my stop for today. But without tent, it would be quite a night. And to Arrowtown there are still 15km to go. Well. Dingytime again. Along a flat four wheel track. Kilometer after kilometer I made my way to Arrowtown. With great nature around me. No one behind me. No one in front of me. Just me, by boots, my bagpack and the Motatapu. And after 35km this day, more than 10 hours of hiking and more than 1800meters of elevation gain, I arrived in Arrowtown just before 8PM. Beertime! And I was lucky that day. Since my good friend Cinnita picked me up (coming all the way from Queenstown) and we had great pizza and talks afterwards and I was able to stay in Queenstown and get a wee rest.
What to say about Motatapu? This one is insane. Probably the hardes hike I have done so far. It is challenging. It is hard. It is full of beautiful nature. Full of great views. Full of ups and downs (literally). Full of changing conditions. It is full on! It is great!

What else to say?

What to say. This hike was amazing. And my legs are sore as! But it was worth it. This morning I went for breakfast with my lovely collegue Anna and then we made our way back to Wanaka. Tired. But very happy. And she was so kind to drive me to Glendhu Bay Carpark to pick up my car. And what to say. It is just a 15km drive back to Wanaka. And this little stubborn car overheated three! times. So it took me a while to drive back to Wanaka – but for now all good and whenever I can afford it, I might bring this one back to the garage for some repairs. New Zealand might not get cheaper fellas :)Have a good one and speak soon.

Your DingyInternational
Felix