well i’m on my way…

I have successfully completed the Routeburn and Greenstone tracks.  I’ve been in civilization one night since then, and boy am I not liking it.  I cannot see any stars, let alone the Milky Way, both of which I was able to for the last 5 nights.  The smell of cigarette smoke is more disgusting to me than ever, and I feel a little claustrophobic with all these people, buildings, and cars.  It’s scary.  I’m beginning to wonder how much of a city girl I still am?  I know I’m not cured completely, but…  Eh, let me start at the beginning:

Day 1, Routeburn:  We started by crossing over a bridge that spanned a rapidly running river.  I hoped this wasn’t foreshadowing of the fact that we’d have to cross many rivers on this walk.  It turned out to be OK.  We walked through more moss-carpeted areas before we started climbing.  The roar of waterfalls-near and far-were present the entire day.  Once we got near the tree line we had a great view of valleys with rivers running through them.  We were definately in mountain country.  Some of the mountains were just jagged masses of rock and groud, others were snow-capped, and some even had blue glaciers sitting on top of them.  The lodge was beautiful, well kept, and had a majestic view of the mountains and valley.  Looking out at all of this, it occured to me that I would like to see mountains being made.  We had a dinner of Uncle Ben’s rice, Mexican flavoured, mixed with El Paso refried beans.  God I miss Mexican.  And everyone wearing their Crocs in the hut made me miss my Crocs too.  (Please keep your anti-Croc comments to yourself!)

Day 2: Routeburn:  We had to scramble up some rocks to get to the actual path that skirts along the edge of a valley.  I’m surprised that this is a Great Walk, as most of the terrain isn’t boardwalked or stairs.  It’s cool though, more of what I thought a NZ tramp would be.  At the saddle we could climb some rocks to the top of Conical Hill, where there’s usually a view of mountains, glaciers, and even out to Tasman Sea.  We didnt’ really see all that, but the clouds certainly put on a show for us, one minute giving us a glimpse of the mountains, valley, and snow, the next, completely whitewashing everything out.  It was spectacular and we sat up there for a good hour, watching the scenery change so dramatically.  We climbed down in the middle of a cloud-visibility was only a few meters in front of us and we were feeling pretty damp, but it was cool.  We were in a cloud!  We walked some more and learned we were officially back in Fiordland, so I was even more happy.  The clouds started flowing therough the valley again, being really cool and dramatic, so Naomi and I sat on a massive rock, watching the clouds go by.  Amazing.  I walked some more, with an American doctor named Katie.  Naomi stayed back to write.  The track started descending, but we had no idea what we were descending into!  The clouds whitewashed everything next to us, so we could see in front of us, no problem, but we knew there was a valley, that’s it.  We had no idea what was on the other side of it.  Every once in a while, we’d stop and become mesmerized by the clouds.  It was disorienting to look at them.  We caught a glimpse of mountain through a hole in the cloud/fog and got excited.  We kept on walking, constantly looking to our right to see what the clouds would unveil for us.  The fog finally dissipated and what we saw was breathtaking:  mountains, of course, and in a valley a green lake surrounded by even more green trees and moss.  And the hut on the edge of this lake.  How spectacular!  We walked through the trees for about 45 minutes before we arrived at the hut.  It’s always an early night at huts, as we only have candles and our headlamps to see with once the sun goes down.  As a side note, not really about the tramp, but about my memory-it’s going.  Katie is from Ohio, lives in Oregon, has a sister who lived in Chicago.  When she asked “What part of Chicago”, and I told her “The south suburbs”, she replied with “The only suburb I’m familiar with is Naperville”.  I thought to myself: Naperville, Naperville, where is Naperville?  I know I should know this…  It took me a good few minutes to recall where and what Naperville is.  Naperville is a western suburb of Chicago.  I have a friend who lived out there, I wrecked my first car in Naperville, I’ve partied in Naperville.  Only time and distance would erase this place from my memory.  I wondered what other things I have almost forgotten since I’ve left home in December.  Crazy.

Routeburn, Day 3: The stars and the Milky Way were great last night.  Nothing like the Australian Outback, but definately a close second.  The walk today was half under, half above the  tree line, weaving in and out of it.  We sat by a waterfall and watched it-it created a permanent rainbow on the rock behind it.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky today, but it was chilly.  Winter’s coming!

Greenstone, Day 1, Day 4 of Walk:  We walked up to Key Summit before actually heading for the Greenstone, since the hut is only 2 hours away.  You could see a bunch of different mountain ranges from there, and the natural fauna…although I’m sure it would be better if we arrived in Spring or Summer to see all the flowers in bloom.  Oh well, next time.  The walk to the hut was different than what we’re used to.  The Greenstone isn’t a Great Walk, so it isn’t as well marked as the past walks we’ve done.  We followed the orange arrows on trees or orange metal poles stuck in the ground to tell us the way.  We also walked through a very wet field, a place I’m sure is underwater when it’s rained a lot.  The hut was overcrowded that night, and we slept 5 to a row, instead of the 4 the mattresses suggest for us. 

Greenstone, Day 2, Day 5 of Walk:  Today’s walk was very different from any other day we walked; we were in a valley the entire day.  We saw lots of sheep and “baa”-ed at them, much to our own entertainment.  We also walked over fallen rockslides which made my feet hurt, and made me think about my Crocs again.  Like most people, Naomi does nothing but rip on them, so she was doubly entertained when I’d try to “sell her” Crocs.  Crocs Rock!  When we got to the hut I opened up the Visitor Book like I usually do, to enter our names and smart-ass comments.  I busted up laughing when I got to the inside flap, laughed really hard back to the bunkroom to get my camera and started laughing even harder when I read what was there:  “Hi my name is Joe.  I work in a  button factory.  One day my boss came to me and said ‘Joe are you busy?’ I said ‘No’.  He said ‘Push this button with your left hand’.  I had disrupted everyone in the hut, so I had to explain why I was laughing, and even did the little skit that goes with it, pushing buttons with both my hands, then I sat down on the floor and used my feet.  I felt like an ass, but I was laughing the entire time.  I could also hear my sister using her old man voice saying it with me. 

Greenstone, Day 3, Last Day of Walk:  This track isnt’ only a tramper’s track, it’s a hunting track, as well as a hearding track.  It’s pretty cool.  Multi-functional.  We walked mostly up today, over more rock slips and over a river.  We finished the walk at 1130, but our ride back to Kinloch wasn’t until 2.  So we sat in the sun, both excited for our own things: Naomi-coffee, and me-a shower.

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