Leaving our comfortable and lazy environment from Dunedin we became travelers again, with a destiny, Christchurch, but without a plan so we started cruising up, or down if we see the South Pole as the top of the globe (for which there is no good reason not to do so). As a small side note, it is a very interesting exercise looking at world maps which put Oceania in the center of the East-West axis, as is regularly done here, which reminds us we only live in a relative pair of axis set by historic European geographers and which casts doubts on what is really The West and The East and even The Far West and The Far East. Anyways, we headed along the Pacific coast getting a bit closer to see the Northern star again.
Llego la hora de partir de Dunedin, con destino a Christchurch. Antes hicimos unas cuantas paradas en el camino en campings con playas increíbles, atardeceres con un sunset que solo te provocaba caminar por la orilla de la playa, disfrutar de la brisa del mar, sentir la arena en la planta de los pies, sentirte libre de disfrutar de la naturaleza sin estar apurados, o con un timming de regreso. Eso es lo más maravilloso de andar viajando sin tener un ticket de regreso, somos libres de estar el tiempo que queramos o creamos conveniente en los lugares que nos enamoran... Sin estar urgidos porque se nos acabe el tiempo. Disfrutamos de una caminata por el día, bordeando toda la costa... En la que estuvimos acompañados de un sol maravilloso y un viento que realmente nos dificultaba continuar caminando, teníamos que hacer fuerza para continuar caminando en las alturas de las montañas, pero las vistas que teníamos eran de pintura, por lo que valía la pena el esfuerzo.
Enjoying the Otago Coast camping and walking, we collected clams on one of the intertidal flats. The flats had a few concessions where commercial harvesting was done, all for export market, but we had our go through the incredible amount of shells lying in the mud, which went into a delicious afternoon snack. Leaving the place, having driven 8000 km through New Zealand now, without a flat tire, I managed cutting a hole in the spare tire and ripping it out of its place underneath the car by driving through a bit of bush. Getting a flat spare tire which is not even on the wheels is quite an achievement but let's hope that our tire angel follows us on the rest of our journey through NZ.
Una de las cosas que más me maravillan de NZ, son las posibilidades que uno tiene de apreciar la vida silvestre en su propio hábitat... Y muchas de estas veces que lo hemos hecho han sido a costo cero. Solo tienes que estar atento a las señales en el camino que te van indicando si hay colonias de pingüinos cerca, o reservas protegidas con fauna marina, o avistamiento de Albatros, ballenas...etc. Si uno toma uno de esos tours para avistamiento de Pinguinos o ballenas, por lo menos te sale entre 90 y 150 dólares por persona... Pero si vas por tu cuenta, y tienes paciencia para esperar un poco en el punto de avistamiento, es un 90% de seguridad que veras algo. Nosotros paramos en una reserva protegida de Pinguinos, donde podías caminar por un sendero que te llevaba directo al área donde estaban los pingüinos de ojos amarillos descansando y tomando sol, podías verlos a menos de 5 metros.
Good fishing, relaxed camping, strange geological features and close up glimpses of the moulting yellow eyed penguins took us to the once glorious town of Oamaru. Built on cattle and sheep export, in its time considered one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in the Southern Hemisphere, with Victorian buildings in the local lime stone, banks, hotels, exchanges and infamously brothels, grog shops, bars etc. suffered a steep and hard fall once the road transport was opened up taking cattle much faster towards their destiny and disastrously, under religious pressure, the city was laid dry. Today, the city hosts an arty scene, with antique shops, good restaurants, local art galleries and a local brewery (approved by the way).
Nuestra siguiente parada fue Omaru, pueblo porteño que antiguamente había sido un lugar industrial de exportaciones, por lo que el día de hoy vemos esas construcciones tipo grandes almacenes donde hoy hay galerías de arte, tiendas de antigüedades y libros, cafés, cervecerías, y restaurantes. Hicimos un recorrido por el pueblo, paramos a degustar una de las cervezas artesanales, y continuamos hacia nuestra próxima parada que fue en una reserva nacional, donde éramos nosotros, las montañas y un río con agua color turquesa al lado de todo el camino. Johan salió a dar un paseo en Kayak y yo fui a buscarlo unos cuantos kilómetros más allá para luego volver juntos al lugar donde acamparíamos, con una vista impresionante de las montañas, y el cielo con millones de estrellas acompañándonos.
From Oamaru, we turned inland through Central Otago, for a journey through time along a set out geological route, showing evidence that the land was once an ocean through fossils of all kind of marine fauna, with the crown jewel being a toothed dolphin, and proving once again that Darwin was right. A few glimpses of Maori rock art as a testimony of the long gone but not less impressive trade missions from East to West along inhospitable terrain and through the heartland of sheep farming, apricot trees and cider breweries. We got off the road on one of the sheep station roads which took us to one of the many conservation areas, as there is hundreds in New Zealand, and of which only few are mentioned in tour guides. The beautiful rough scenery accompanied us for a lonely picnic, the fast flowing but meandering river took me for a kayak ride and the peace and desolate space convinced us to spend the night in the place, so we drove into the bushes and set up camp for a cold night watched over by millions of stars.
Llegamos a Wanaka (segunda vez que estábamos en este lugar y a ambos nos encanta) Decidimos hacer una caminata por el día (17 km) bordeando el río, desde las afueras de Wanaka hacia el centro de la ciudad. Hicimos varias paradas en el camino para descansar, comer algún snack e hidratarnos, el día era caluroso, seco y con pocos árboles en el sendero que nos den un poco de sombra. Lo bueno y motivante de todas las caminatas que hacemos, es que al finalizar una caminata larga, nos premiamos con una cena en algún restaurante... Por lo que llegando al punto final, decidimos premiarnos inmediatamente y fuimos a cenar a un restaurante de comida Hindu Kashmiri, la comida estuvo deliciosa por lo que el esfuerzo y deshidratación de la caminata, valió la pena.
As papers and processes, ranging from tax collectors to banks to immigration departments to telephone companies, are a burden on civilization's shoulders and mankind is doomed to spend useless hours filling out forms, making calls and trying to understand the small letters instead of enjoying life, we were driven into Queenstown again but not without making a small stop in our dear Wanaka. While dehydration and heat exhaustion are associated with Australia, rather than with the green and wet New Zealand, we got confused on our day walk along the Wanaka rivers dragging ourselves into the city after a long walk in the blistering sun just in time to remediate with ice cold beer on the lake front and a delicious Kashmiri Indian dinner. Again, we bet on a ride back to our car from some benevolent individual and again New Zealand hitch hiking appeared to be fast and efficient. Touch base with administration in Queenstown and then towards the crown of New Zealand, the mighty Mount Cook.
Nos dirigimos camino a Mount Cook Parque Nacional, parando antes en Pukaki Lake. El lago tiene un color turquesa espectacular, pero este color proviene de todos los minerales de los glaciares de alrededor y que quedan suspendidos en el agua, por lo que el agua era tan helada que te hacía doler los huesos de los dedos del pie, apenas ponías un pie adentro. Habíamos estado recorriendo en auto y parando en algunos puntos turísticos, hacía demasiado calor, por lo que me arme de valor (una vez más, como otras veces he tenido que hacerlo en este viaje) me puse el traje de baño y me lancé a nadar en el lago con agua de glaciar (Una vez más, un check en mi bucket list).
The drive towards Mount Cook national park starts with glimpses of turquoise blue rivers, shaking you awake from the gently rolling golden hills of Central Otago and if your lucky you see the Island's sentinel from hundred miles away through the clouds. Then, the incredible colors of the Pukaki lake and finally the horrible buzz of a mountain village, with 90% of the movement being bussed in for the odd picture of the mountain. We got some splendid views on our short afternoon hike and then Belen pronounced one of those legendary phrases to be recorded officially, "to really appreciate the beauty of some places you can only access them walking". Registered, written down and ready to be used when suitable. Again, a good word for the DOC or Department of Conservation here, where they accommodated hundreds of campers in tents, vans and caravans on the foot of the mountain, with clean and good infrastructure and without spoiling the magic of the place for 6 dollars per person.
Llegamos al parque Nacional de Mount Cook, es realmente mágico este lugar, rodeados de glaciares, Ríos, témpanos de hielo flotando en los lagos... Hicimos varias cortas caminatas, aprovechando que nos tocaron días despejados, y logramos ver la montaña de Mount Cook en todo su esplendor. El último día en el parque nacional, hicimos una caminata hacia el lago donde habían los bloques de hielo (Icebergs) que se desprendían de los glaciares y quedaban flotando en el lago, era de película, estaba fascinada... Y es cuando entre en cuenta de que para apreciar realmente la belleza de algunos lugares, algunas veces solo puedes hacerlo a través de caminatas... Mi error fue, pensar en voz alta, pues ahora Johan ha tomado esta frase para recordármela cada vez que se apodera de mí la flojera y no quiero caminar más.
Dining under the Southern Hemisphere star filled sky and listening to the casual ice block breaking from the glaciers several hundred meters above we slept below what the Maori call Mount Aoraki. Considering Belen's legendary phrase too fresh to be abused, I sneaked away with first daylight for a solitary walk to some nearby tarns, more glacier views and the pink transition of first daylight on mighty Mount Aoraki and its neighboring peaks. Eating my breakfast I got company from an American, a German and the inquisitive kea, hoping for a human diet sugar boost in his tough and hard to get alpine diet. Except being recorded for eternity in this blog, he got nothing.
Pasamos por Lake Tekapo, donde el clima no estaba a favor para iniciar caminatas, estaba totalmente nublado ... Nubes oscuras y viento, aún así... Johan insistió en empezar una caminata, la cual tuvimos que abandonar a los 10 minutos de iniciada, ya que nos vimos en plena montaña en medio de un ventarrón que traía además de polvo (que no nos permitía ver más allá de 1 metro), ...piedras que venían con el viento a velocidad y nos golpeaban las piernas, impidiéndonos continuar con la caminata y en su lugar, empezar a correr camino hacia el estacionamiento donde estaba nuestra camper van.
Up till this moment approved campsites, paid or free, had always been sufficient, abundant and of good standards, but having a small and hidden car park on the lake's edge with views on Mount Cook we decided to take the 200 NZD fine risk and settled to admire the Mighty Mountain through sunset and starlight. At night strong winds made us abandon our hidden spot, in case a tree falls down, and get to the open flats. Waking up in the morning the mountain was gone again in its veil of clouds. Again one of those places where one is drawn to rather by the name then by any other thing we got to lake Tekapo, which proved to be a disappointing village. To make the stop worthwhile we went for a walk around a peninsula in the lake. Warned by Mount Cook which was sending us big black clouds from far away, we got out of the car and started walking with a strong breeze. The farther we got up the peninsulas ridge, the more exposed we got and the wind seemed to be picking up, first funnily to take the odd picture leaning in an as big as possible angle against the wind, until we had to sit down for moments and finally when the gale started picking up debris and showering our legs and faces with small stones. Arms locked together, sunglasses to protect our eyes and enduring the stinging in our legs we almost crawled back to the car just in time not to get completely soaked. A good adventure to remember but also a good reminder on how treacherous New Zealand and mountain weather can be and making sense to the monument with the endless list of mountaineers that perished on Mount Cook and surroundings.
Finalmente llegamos a ChCh, a casa de nuestra amiga Suzie... Por segunda vez llegamos a invadir su lindo y acogedor hogar, una linda casa en el tope de una colina, desde donde podíamos disfrutar de una taza de café en la terraza, con una linda vista de los campos ovejas alrededor. Gracias una vez más Suzie, por abrirnos las puertas de tu casa, haciéndonos sentir como parte de la familia, compartiendo con nosotros tu tiempo y compañía de tus lindos niños James y Sophie. Gracias por las cenas, por las copas de vino que compartimos, por las conversaciones sobre la vida, por la parrilla, por los mashmellows a la parrilla, y poder apreciar de la noche llena de estrellas desde tu terraza, sentados al lado del fuego.
To the mountains and the coast and the mountain and back to the coast, this is definitely one of the virtues of New Zealand, depending on the weather and your mood you are never far from either of those. Surrounded by dairy farms and on a dead end squeezed in between river and sea, we met 2 German fellows, one cycling around NZ and testing all his gear, another one who joined me for a ride down the river on the kayak and arriving back at the camp casually invited us for a few beers to celebrate his 50th birthday. It is very interesting hearing the story of all these fellow travelers. Is it because NZ is so far away from everything, because it is wild and free but accessible? Each individual has his story, why he travelled and what he left behind, whether he ran away or just took a break, his future plans, ambitions and uncertainties, what he hopes to find. Sometimes just a long holiday, sometimes a quest for the meaning of life. Some people you forget the moment you walk on, some people's small stories you will always remember. Anyway, back to meet up again with one of the latter ones, Suzie and the kids in Amberley.
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