Anyway, the week
before break was kind of stressful and packed with a million things both fun
and not so exciting. I had two research
papers due the Friday before I left so there was minimal sleep that Thursday
night. But aside from working on those,
we celebrated Audrey’s 21st birthday on Wednesday night. She's the one wearing the cowboy hat (her birthday present)! We went out to dinner at Tokyo Garden for a
BYO and then went to a bar downtown called the Cook. There was literally nobody in the bar because
it was a Wednesday night, but there was a cute little old Irish band there that
we danced to and they seven ang Happy Birthday to Audrey. We also asked them to play Wagon Wheel for
us, and they did twice J Friday was
super busy turning in my essays, attempting to skype Courtney (sorry it didn’t
work), and grocery shopping. Sophie also
pulled her Red Card that night, which is essentially a game night where she
invents all kinds of games and everybody has to go along with it. The theme of the night was Game of
Thrones/Harry Potter/Olympics and included races around the block and eating
competitions. It sounds weird, but it’s
very popular in Dunedin and lots of fun!
And finally, Saturday
morning I set off on spring break. After
a minor panic that morning because the tent that we were borrowing was locked
in somebody else’s flat (props to Campus watch for being understanding and
letting me into Jordan’s flat), we hit the road in a pretty run-down rental
car. There were four of us: me, Liz,
Sammy, and Matt (all Americans this time).
So many of you know
for my first spring break of this year I traveled to Honduras where I was hot
and sweaty most of the time. Well, you
could say this spring break was a little different! Saturday morning we drove to Te Anua, which
is a small town 4 hours from Dunedin.
Our plan was to start the Kepler Track, a four day backpacking trip that
is considered one of the “Great Walks” in NZ.
Unfortunately it decided to start pouring so we stopped by the
Department of Conservation (DOC) to check out the weather. One look at the forecast and we started to
consider our other options as the weather called for rain and snow up on the
ridge all four days. They even warned us
that the avalanche danger would very possibly change from low to moderate if
any more snow fell on the mountains. So
we went to find a camp ground in town for the night. But as soon as we started setting up the
tent, it decided to pour and we ended up upgrading to a bunk room. That night we fell asleep, still undecided
about what to do, to Sammy and Matt playing the ukulele, which is amazing!
The next morning we
woke up to more pouring rain and still had no clue what to do. But after checking the forecast online and
seeing a beautiful full rainbow that gave us a little hope, we decided to go
for it! So we picked up a few last
minute items needed in town and drove to the trail head around noon. And off we went! The first hour of that track was super flat
and we made great timing, but after that it was a 5 hour climb uphill for the
next 3000 meters. On our way up we ran
into Xavier (from Belgian) and Meagan (from Canada) who were on their way back
down. In the final stretch we emerged
from the bush line, and through our huffing and puffing, our jaws dropped at
the view that surrounded us. Snow
covered mountains to one side and the lake thousands of meters below us to the
other. The forecasted rain never really
came the first day and although there was minimal fog, the views were still
surreal. So we hiked the last 30 minutes
to Mt. Luxmore Hut in good spirits.
After arriving at the hut and relaxing for a bit, we decided to head out
and do a little spelunking at a cave near the hut. This was a giant cave and we went pretty far down
in it, squeezing through crevices and tiny holes. But once inside, there were a lot of cool
stalagmites and stalactites! Once back
to the hut, we cooked up some pasta and lentils, built a fire, hung out for a
little while, and went to bed after a pretty exhausting first day!
Now the next morning,
was quite a surprise. As most of you
know, I am not the normal person who likes to hide away in the winter. I normally don’t mind the cold and winter and
LOVE snow. So that morning, I was the
first to wake up to the sun coming through the window and as I turned over to
look outside, all I saw was white. I
instantly grabbed my glasses and literally jumped off the ground and sprinted
toward the window! I may have been a little excited J And indeed the ground was covered with a
couple inches of perfect snowball powder.
I snapped some pictures of the snowy mountains and seeing that it was
still pretty early and everybody else was asleep, I went back to bed for
another hour. The funny thing was, I think
I had the exact same crazy reaction to the snow the second time I woke up as
the first.
Anyway, once we were ready to
leave the hut midmorning, the sky was blue, which made for a beautiful couple
of hours or so climb in the snow.
However, as we got higher, the snow began to fall again and once we
reached the sign where we could make a detour to Mt. Luxmore peak, we decided
to drop our bags to make the extra 400 meter climb. At this point there was not much to see due
to the snow storm, but we wanted to say we made it to the top anyway. As we climbed this part of the track, I
instantly noticed the weather worsening as the wind picked up to the point of
blowing us off balance on the ridge and the snow pelted down on us. But I figured this was just at the peak, so
we made it to the top after a little slipping and sliding on the icy surface
that probably is covered in snow most of the year. And after a few quick pictures, we decided to
get back to the trail and better weather, so we hoped. 
But once back down, I noticed that our bags
were covered entirely in snow and we were almost blown over when tried to put
them on. That’s when things clicked in
my head that we were in some bad weather and needed to keep moving to make it
to the emergency shelter hut along the ridge about an hour and a half away. We started booking it, but it was still very
slow going as we had to shield our faces from the pelting snow and walk through
up to a couple feet of snow at times.
But we eventually made it a little cold, but we had come prepared with
plenty of thermals and our bag liners even serve as hypothermia bags in case of
emergency. Once inside the shelter, we
decided to have lunch and watch the weather.
Luckily, once we finished eating, we opened the door to joyfully see
that the snow storm had cleared and that it appeared safe to continue. 
The next morning,
after sleeping in a little and packing up our gear, we made a quick side stop
to a waterfall and then hit the trail.
This day was mostly downhill and the weather was very clear as we were
able to look up and see the gorgeous mountains were had climbed. The day was not too eventful as we walked
along the lake and soaked in the fairly warm weather in our t-shirts. Once we arrived at the hut, we were warm
enough (and sore enough) that Sammy, Matt, and I decided to go for a swim…well,
more like a freezing dip! Don't let the picture fool you, it was very chilly outside and inside the water! But it was quite refreshing,
the whole minute I stayed in there! And
the only “shower” I had in 5 days. Unfortunately
as soon as we jumped out onto the beach, the sandflies attacked. Sandflies look like gnats, but act WAY worse
than mosquitos in my opinion. They hurt
when they bite you and are everywhere! I
quickly ran inside to escape.
Afterwards, we cooked dinner, played some cards, and watched the sunset
over the lake. 
The next morning we
got ready swatting the sandflies as we packed up our gear and headed out. It was the last day of the trail and we were
all pretty exhausted, but still in good spirits! The day was very easy and
mostly downhill or flat through forest.
Somehow we really lucked up because the only form of precipitation we
ever saw was the snowstorm! The last day
was about 5 hours and we were so happy to see our car! After changing out of our smelly clothes, we went
and grabbed some fish ‘n’ chips, realizing it was probably okay to eat
something a little fried and unhealthy after so much hiking. And after rearranging the car (this car was
very small and had to be carefully packed to fit everything in it and even then
Liz and I had to hold stuff on our laps in the backseat) and set off on the next
phase of break: Fiordland National Park!
We woke up early the next morning to catch a
cruise out onto the sound. And
considering it rains most of the time in Fiorldland, we could not have asked
for better weather! The sun was shining and the mountains created a perfect
reflection in the clear blue water. We
even saw some dolphins and lots of seals on the cruise! We also realized that Xavier and Meagan did
not have a ride to see anything else because they had taken a tour bus, so we
decided to squeeze them into our car and head to Lake Marian. It was a difficult climb to the lake within
the mountains, but totally worth it as we enjoyed our packed lunches in the
sunshine! Afterwards, we drove them back
to the lodge, grabbed all of our gear from the drying room (we may have used
their facilities after checking out without them knowing), and headed back up
Milford road to a campground literally out in the middle of nowhere. 
The next day we drove
down to Lake Manapouri and enjoyed some pancakes on the shore and after a
little stressful deliberation over whether or not we should continue south to
complete the Hump Ridge track as we initially planned, we decided to head north
to Mt. Aspiring National Park due to weather concerns. So we drove through Queenstown, ate at the famous
Ferg Burger, and then drove on into Wanacka.
We stayed in a hostel called Base-X and although they were having a huge
night at the bar with lots of NZ bands, we decided to go to bed after a long
days travel. The next day, we got up and
drove into Mt. Aspiring and hiked out to Colloquians beach along the Mineret
Burns track. After the hike, Matt
decided to take our car out onto the lake’s beach, even after we all said that
might not be the best idea. Well we
ended up getting out rental car stuck, not once, but three times! Each time,
Matt had to get out and push the car!
After that, we visited a set of twin waterfalls and then Liz and I
dropped Matt and Sammy off. They decided
to hike into a hut, but since it had started pouring, Liz and I chose to head
back and stay at Base-X. We met a couple
other international students at other universities around NZ that night, which
was pretty cool!
The next morning, Liz
and I hopped in the car to pick up the other 2.
The day before, there were about half a dozen small rivers to ford in
the car, but considering the heavy downpour for 24 hours, these rivers rose a
good bit and I was nervous to drive the car into the first one as I couldn’t
see the bottom. So we pulled over and
tried to figure out what to do. Sammy
and Matt were another couple hours of walking down the road and we had no clue
if they would even decide to walk back towards us and we had no way of
contacting them with no phone reception.
Luckily, a couple headed out for a little exercise (in the pouring
rain???) drove by and I flagged them down.
I explained the situation to them and they offered to go through the
river in their Land Rover to see how deep it was. They made it through fine, but we determined
it was still too deep and fast for me to take a much smaller and low 2-wheel
drive vehicle through it. Luckily, they
were awesome people and super nice, even determined “not to abandon our mates”
as they said and offered to pick them up for us. So about an hour later they arrived back (at
this point it has started snowing a little) with a very soaking Matt and Sammy. The funny thing was, they were going back to
get another group who were stuck because their car wouldn’t start! Liz and I were so grateful for them! But anyway, we found a place to dry off and
finally headed back to Dunedin!
Today, we took the car
out to Moeraki Boulders, an hour north of Dunedin. These giant rocks along the beach are quite
the sight! They form through mineral
precipitation from the ground water which cements loose sediment together. Many of them even contain fossils! They are pretty large and climbing on them
can be difficult when wet, as I even have a photo of me wiping out trying to
hop on one (sorry that one didn’t make the cut to actually be displayed in this
blog)!
Overall, break was one
heck of a crazy and exciting adventure with heaps of fun!!! Now it’s back to the real world with school
work and a test coming up this week!
Hope everybody is great stateside!
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