Diary
Monday, 22.03.04
Drove to Glenorchy and from there towards Kinloch and from there then towards Greenstone car park.
The road was at the best a gravel field of humps. Two times after Kinloch I had to drive through water pools almost deep enough to be reaching the bottom of my door. The electronics behind the steering-wheel did not like that too much and went on saying that the battery is flat and that I’m driving with the handbrake fastened. But only for a short while. Met the German woman from the Kaueranga Kauri Trail again.
Now I’m sitting in the Upper Caples Hut which is far too full for my taste. Well, others have the right to be tramping as well. Smoking outside of the hut gives the slogan “smoking kills” a whole new perspective. You’d probably die because of the loss of blood. Yes there was the “occasional” sand fly out there. Smoking while running up and down the veranda with the people inside laughing at me didn’t feel too good, so I only smoked twice here.
Tuesday, 23.03.04
What a day! Started off at 8 a.m. in the morning from Upper Caples Hut. After some hours of walking through the bush and gradually going up I eventually reached the Mc Keller Saddle. Little to no view and strengthening rain made me change in my full Gortex-armor and move on without marvelling at the not-existing views. Going down from the saddle proved to be some bitchy thing. It’s very steep with lots of roots and the rain made it a very demanding thing to do. At one point the ground underneath my feet started to move and I took a non-voluntary express ride 2 or 3 meters downhill. I seem to have a sort of an issue with this slipping business.
It’s 4 p.m. now and Mc Keller Hut is already full. People will have to sleep on the benches.
Stupid that I didn’t pack a second pair of trousers. My only pair plus the rain-trousers are wet. I’m sitting here with just my pants on and my sleeping bag. Decided against doing the Keplar-Track. It’s supposed to be even more crowded than this one.
Thanx but no thanx.
Wednesday, 24.03.04
People started to be walking around quite early, so by 7 a.m. I was more than awake. Being ready to go I got to learn that Lea (Canadian girl from Vancouver Island) goes for the side trip to Peak 1538. She said I’d be welcome to join her and I said I’ll think about it. 10 minutes after she left I thought about this side trip. With the weather being just great, having had no views the day before and it barely being a 4-5 hour trip to the next hut I quickly packed my top- compartment of my bag and went after her. Going up there took me about 45 minutes and was quite steep at times. We didn’t actually go all the way up to Peak 1538, just up to that point when you have to descent a couple of meters again because the views here were already marvellous and it would have been a harder climb up the rest.
The moment I was on the top of this hill I just had to laugh and to shout. This view paid off for all the hassle the day before. Surrounded by mountains, the ones to the north even snow covered, and the Greenstone valley to our feet. Gorgeous.
Lea and me made our way down again to Mc Keller Hut and shared our supplies for a short early lunch brake. Me supplying nutella and her supplying cucumber and cheese. Very nice.
The way to Greenstone Hut took us 4 hours and it was great walking with someone else. Especially because we were walking about the same pace. I learned a lot about Canada and the more I learned the more I wanted to go there. Well, that’s something to be looking forward to. A new adventure. Next year in the summer maybe.
The new Greenstone Hut is very nice. Had plenty of pasta and shared potatoes and broccoli with Lea. Although one of the two potatoes we put in the coals turned out to be a coal itself, having been in there for too long.
A nice day, a great side-trip and a very pleasant company on the way. Got an open invitation to be showed around Vancouver Island now. Very nice.
Thursday, 25.03.04
Took Lea and me 3 hours to reach the car park from Greenstone Hut. We ran into a group of Keas on the way. Very nice. I was hoping to see those famous birds at one point. They were not afraid of us at all. Truly beautiful parrots, though bigger and more fearsome looking than I thought. On the way out with the car we had to ford this river again. Took it too fast and the last thing I noticed before the engine died was a lot of steam coming from the front. Thought I just flooded the engine so we waited for an hour to try to restart the car but it wouldn’t work.
