Lets face it, the general sanitation of a hiker isn't great. We operate to efficiency and convenience above all. From the overpriced travel soaps in mega heavy bottles to sanitary products that just don't cut it, I travelled the length of New Zealand battling with the laws of sanitation and having a period in the wild.
Before I went away, it was the problem that bothered me most; what would I do if I had a period? It was my first long hike so I hadn't any friends to ask, and it was hardly the question I wanted to ask on a Facebook page. I did the research I could in private, spoke to my doctor about possible solutions and watched some rather precarious YouTube videos before making my first and last purchase of a menstrual cup.
The big rule for anyone in the outdoors is to carry out what you carry in so the idea was to reduce weight, minimise rubbish, and make my experience as pleasant as it could possible be. The menstrual cup is essentially, as you'd assume, a cup that fits up inside and catches any blood throughout the day. It is removed, emptied, and reinserted with zero rubbish or extra weight so its a win, win.
I had a trial run before committing fully. I sat on the toilet with the cup in one hand and the instruction manual in the other. Okay, I thought, I do not like the word 'suction.'
I proceeded to pinch the sides together, in the hope the word was not as literal as it was technical, and inserted the cup. I stood up. I bent my knees, and lunged as though taking a big step over a rock or something of that nature. I squatted. I tensed my pelvic floor muscles as best I knew how. The cup was still there. It hadn't moved or fallen out. Success. I pinched the cup again as instructed to 'break the suction' and pulled. It certainly wasn't the most comfortable of exercises but it would be better with practice, so I packed the cup in my bag.
A month into my trip, I was coopied between two trees when I realised I was going to have to use the cup for the first time while hiking. It wasn't so much putting it in that made me nervous, but rather, the taking it out when it was full. How would I clean it with no running water? How would I clean my hands!?
Lucky for me, I came across a public toilet that same afternoon. Luke waited outside with two of our friends while I tried my very best to be quick. 'Breaking the suction' isn't the easiest of tasks while hovering over a public toilet with no seat. I held it between my fingers, pulled and twisted round to tip the contents into the loo. I seem to remember making it just before catching my foot in the leg of my shorts and saving myself with both hands on the toilet basin as I heard Luke outside make a crude joke about me being a long time in the bathroom. I stood back up, scrubbed my hands, and stared at the cup sitting upside down in the corner on the bathroom on top the little square drain. I eventually emerged, my friends with their bags ready to go on their backs, and with a mound of folded tissue balanced in my knickers, I made my way hastily to the first pharmacy I could find and bought a large pack of sanitary towels - I'll carry the bloody rubbish!
After that, my pill kicked in. I didn't have another period for the whole time I was away which was a miracle if you don't mind submerging your bodies natural hormones with artificial ones for some time. It saved me a lot of misery and while my friends found the cup worked for them, I would always stick with my normal products in the future, or find a smaller cup perhaps. I carried a dark rubbish bag with me and stuffed it in the back pocket of my bag out of the way with some hand sanitiser close by. There's no lying, it's not a pleasant thing, but its doable, and if I know anything, we girls will get over it.
Tuesday 18 July 2017
The All Important Kit List
When I look at the kit written down, it seems like we carried a lot. We could have skimped on some things and maybe invested more money on others to improve weight, but for a budget kit, we did pretty well. I have written our kit list below and have added some notes about whether it lasted to the end in our packs or broke or got left behind etc.
1 x Osprey 68 Bag
1 x Osprey 48 Bag
1 x Tent - Wild Country Zephyros 2
2 x Sleeping bags - Cumulus 600 Lite
2 x Air mats - Thermorest Prolite 3/4 Length
1 x Pen Knife - No 7 Opinel
1 x Multitool - Victorinox Climber
1 x Camping Stove - Jet Boil Flash Cooking system
1 x Jet Boil Pot support
1 x Camping cup
1 x Cooking Pot - Sea to Summit
1 x Water Filtration - Sawyer Straw mini
1 x Medical Kit
1 x Emergency Kit
2 x Head Torch
1 x Microfibre body towel
1 x Microfibre hand towel
1 x Spot Locater
1 x Garmin eTrex 20x
1 x Walking Poles each
Clothes
Luke:
2 x Pants
2 x Socks
1 x Camp socks - Merino Wool
1 x Zip off trousers
1 x Shorts
1 x Camp top
1 x Hiking top - Merino Wool
1 x Fleece
1 x Thermoball Jacket
1 x Rain coat
1 x Rain trousers
1 x Fingerless Gloves
1 x Buff
1 x Sun hat
1 x Flip flops
1 x Gaters - Dirty Girl
1 x Hiking Shoes - Barghaus/North Face
Daisy:
3 x Pants
2 x Socks
1 x Camp socks
1 x Camp leggings - Merino Wool
1 x Long trousers
1 x Shorts
1 x Hiking top - Merino Wool
1 x Camp top
1 x Fleece
1 x Thermoball Jacket
1 x Rain Coat
1 x Rain Trousers
1 x Waterproof gloves
1 x Glove liners
1 x Buff
1 x Sun hat
1 x Sandals - Teva
1 x Gaters - Long
1 x Hiking Boots - Scarpa Delta GTX Activ WMN
Tent - It was a squeeze inside that so called '2 person' tent, but with 3/4 mats and a small pocket between the outer and inner structures at either end, we could leave our bags outside of the sleeping area and maximise space. Wild Country have just brought out a two door version of our tent and that would save a lot of rolling over each other in the night for any unplanned midnight wees and, we think, would really help with airing/drying when condensation kicks in (and it does kick in - the tent is small for two people and in any situation, condensation would be a problem. We tried to avoid camping near large bodies of water or on long grass as much as possible.)
The tent has one pole for the overhead loop and two short, structural poles for either end of the tent. We removed the smaller poles and stored them on the outside of the bag with the pegs, and stuffed the tent into a dry sack instead of its original bag. This made it easy to store but also a lot easier to pack.
My main recommendation if your interested in this tent is to purchase the lighter, narrower pegs. We managed okay with the normal ones supplied but they can be difficult to get into hard ground sometimes as well as carrying a bit more weight - we did find ourselves borrowing a friends pegs one night under a forest of squeaky Eucalyptus.
Sleeping Bags - One of my favourite bits of kit for their comfort and easy packing. We went for the Cumulus 600 which was mainly for its weight. Cumulus specialise in lighter bags and have a 'Lite Line' range that carry good temperature ratings as well as being easy to stuff, and can be zipped together if you can brave it after a days hike. Being down, we purchased extra thick dry bags for storing these - while it made them a bit more bulky for packing, we never once had a problem with a wet bag.
In hindsight, these bags were way too hot. With two people in a small tent, it is warm enough, so having extra warm bags was often too much (we also felt they were hot in busy huts too). However, they were cosy, and still one of my favourite bits of kit so maybe next time I'll go somewhere cooler or string a bit of cash for a cooler bag...
Bags - Next time, I think we'll stretch for two of 48s. Luke's was great but he always had wasted space. I caught him sneaking things out of my pack to fill his up, so I'd have to steal them back or else it felt like I was carrying nothing. My 48 was the favourite of so many people we met on the trail. It was light, airy, had all the relevant pockets, stretchy mesh and looked ace too. My only complaint would by the mesh is fairly fragile and might need some emergency stitching, and I had to add some Axeman padders to the shoulder straps to stop the rubbing on the collar bone. Other than that, the sixe was perfect and two of them would have been just right (or perhaps a 48 and a 58 if we wanted to be safe.)
Shoes vs Boots- I took the risk. Against everyone's advice, I went for a pair of heavy duty leather boots. I had some bad blisters for the first stretch on 90 mile but once my heels had toughened up, I stomped through the mud easily and freely with mostly dry feet. Luke stuck with hiking shoes, he had zero blisters (a rarity, I know, but he did it), and found he may have gotten wet feet twice as quickly as me, but he also dried out in a fifth of the time my heavy boots took.
I switched to shoes for a short while but found I appreciated the ankle support and hardness of the boots so switched back again once I'd met the bounce box further along the trail. The main thing when choosing the shoes was to know what it was both Luke and I specifically wanted in a shoe. Luke didn't mind buying replacement pairs (he had three in total) and was also happy to jump into the rivers in his shoes. I, however, wanted something durable and often switched my boots for my Tevas when I wanted to keep a dry boot. Be aware, though, New Zealand may be beautiful but there are one hell of a lot of rivers to cross. Not to mention the hidden puddles, run off from your rain pants, and the countless times I slipped into a bog I thought I could avoid - I did get wet feet, you will too. So if you don't want the problem of roasting them over a fire for three days to dry them because you don't like them soggy, I'd go for shoes.
Jet Boil - The jet boil is an awesome invention. We were cooking in half the time some of our friends were and it was easy enough to work. For two people, we found cooking in the jet boil cup was too restricting. We purchased the pot stand and went for a Sea to Summit pot so we could extend our meal options. This however, reduced the effectiveness of the Jet Boil because we didn't want to fork out for the specific Jet Boil pan. While it worked, and it was quick, Id recommend either splurging on the Jet Boil stuff, or going for a standard stove. I find the standard ones fold up tiny and just cook a little more slowly - a little patience never killed anyone!
Cooking pan - It got eaten by mice! The Sea to Summit ones are great. They weight a bit more but they're foldable and easy to clean. We did leave our out one night (clean!) and the mice got to it. We didn't realise until we went to cook out next meal and discovered three chewed holes in the side of it. We sprung for a metal one after that - it was heavy because we couldn't afford any of that glorious titanium stuff, but the mice at least couldn't get it!
Water Filtration - We used the Sawyer straw Minis. We started with one each screwed to the top of a plastic bottle (we used old recyclable water bottles - lightweight!). Eventually, though, we ended up with one between us. The water in NZ is beautiful and we only ever needed to filter if we were down low or on farmland.
Our friend had a large Sawyer and it made the world of difference. It was quicker and way more efficient - in hindsight, we'd take one large one.
Rain Gear? Further to the wet weather comment, New Zealand is a wet place. We had a lot of rain, even during the summer months, BUT, New Zealand also has a fantastic sun. Our gear got wet often, but we also only had to put on wet gear a number of times. You can't count on the weather, but it is safe to say you can dry out quickly if your prepared to wear your wet stuff for an hour when the sun does come out.
We both carried rain coats, rain trousers, and waterproof gloves. When I think about it, I only used my rain trousers once or twice and I did wonder mid-trip, should I bother carrying these? But, one climb up into horrific winds and rain that stung your face as it slammed into you at a 45degree angle was enough to remind me that the wind proof factor, if not the rain proof, was important to have.
Fleeces and Coats - We both had a fleece and a coat. It was always too hot to walk in either of these - we'd use our waterproof coat if we needed to keep a particularly cold wind off - but we did have them for any cold nights in camp. Luke probably could have stuck with just a coat. He rarely used his fleece, and when he did, it was usually because he couldn't find his coat. I however, loved both. I like my fleece sometimes to sleep in if it was a cold night in a hut. Our coat also doubled as a pillow at night - we stuffed them into the thermorest bags and pulled our buff over the top for a softer finish - everything doubles as something!
Air Mats - Thermorest because they're great, 3/4 length because why carry more? We did have to stuff some clothes down by our feet to stop the condensation but other than that they worked for us.
Pants and Socks - Fact is, we're smelly all the time. We're hiking after all! Two pairs of pants was enough for Luke- usually one for camp and one for hiking with river washes as frequently as we could get them. I stuck to three - for womanly reasons - though I often only needed two; one wearing; one washing/drying.
Gaters - Unlike the UK, ticks aren't really a thing in NZ. I took a long pair and used them in the beginning when I didn't understand the ins and outs of hiking. Fact is, they don't keep you dry. They keep the bits out of your shoes and the spear grass away from your legs. So, eventually, I ditched my long ones and used Luke's Dirty Girls (a fantastic invention I'll have you know) - Luke could empty his shoes of any bits quite easily but keeping the bits out of my boots and reducing the number of times I had to take them off was key. Neither of us bothered with gaters unless it was for this reason - keeping pebbles out! We never truly toughened up to the spear grass but got used to bracing ourselves when we saw the path disappeared into a field of it.
Glove Liners - If you get cold hands like me, glove liners are an awesome alternative to heavy gloves that make you too hot. I got mine online for a couple of pounds and kept them in my bag pocket for any cold moments - made all the difference.
Buff - No question - take one. The usages are endless.
Towels - Your washing in a river, how clean can you be anyway? We shared a big towel and used the small one for things like drying feet after river crossings (it became a coffee filter at one point too!)
SPOT Locator - The Spot was great. We linked it up with our families phones and friends emails so they could follow us the whole way down. They had a map up in the kitchen and moved a red pin to our new camp each time we set it off. Thankfully, we didn't have to use the SOS button so I can't tell you about how efficient that was, but I can promise that it is so fulfilling to look back at the map and see where you've been, how far you've come, and where you're going next. It was a cheep buy compared with some of the PLBs and while it doesn't have the same promises as a PLB, it did offer a continuous tracker for our friends, and an emergency SOS should we have needed it.
GPS - We invested in the Garmin eTrex 20x. It did its job once we'd worked out how to download the maps, but the maps provided don't really correlate with the device and only plot the first few points of each one. This meant we were left to work it out our selves - which wasn't a problem given we knew how to, but people should check their maps before going, practice using the Garmin and ensure they can identify where they are without the plots. That said, it was great to see things like elevation as we were trekking - we didn't have to use it for much else since the track is pretty well marked.
Walking Poles - Luke broke his during a particularly dramatic falls through Herekino forest - we didn't invest in heavy duty ones. Mine lasted until the south island but I found I wanted to use my hands a bit more and ditched them somewhere around Hanmer Springs.
They are definitely important for savings knees in steep declines and gave me huge control on 90 Mile in terms in rhythm and pace. If I were to walk again, which I bloody well hope I do soon, I'd invest in a good one but only take one. That way you've got it for any spooky river crossings, you've got the support for any climbs or descents, but you've also got the freedom to use your other hand.
Hopefully my notes on what and what not to get for a long trek are helpful. I am no professional or pro-lite hiker, but I can promise you, what we took we used, and what ever we used helped us finish our trek and that's good enough for me.
1 x Osprey 48 Bag
1 x Tent - Wild Country Zephyros 2
2 x Sleeping bags - Cumulus 600 Lite
2 x Air mats - Thermorest Prolite 3/4 Length
1 x Pen Knife - No 7 Opinel
1 x Multitool - Victorinox Climber
1 x Camping Stove - Jet Boil Flash Cooking system
1 x Jet Boil Pot support
1 x Camping cup
1 x Cooking Pot - Sea to Summit
1 x Water Filtration - Sawyer Straw mini
1 x Medical Kit
1 x Emergency Kit
2 x Head Torch
1 x Microfibre body towel
1 x Microfibre hand towel
1 x Spot Locater
1 x Garmin eTrex 20x
1 x Walking Poles each
Clothes
Luke:
2 x Pants
2 x Socks
1 x Camp socks - Merino Wool
1 x Zip off trousers
1 x Shorts
1 x Camp top
1 x Hiking top - Merino Wool
1 x Fleece
1 x Thermoball Jacket
1 x Rain coat
1 x Rain trousers
1 x Fingerless Gloves
1 x Buff
1 x Sun hat
1 x Flip flops
1 x Gaters - Dirty Girl
1 x Hiking Shoes - Barghaus/North Face
Daisy:
3 x Pants
2 x Socks
1 x Camp socks
1 x Camp leggings - Merino Wool
1 x Long trousers
1 x Shorts
1 x Hiking top - Merino Wool
1 x Camp top
1 x Fleece
1 x Thermoball Jacket
1 x Rain Coat
1 x Rain Trousers
1 x Waterproof gloves
1 x Glove liners
1 x Buff
1 x Sun hat
1 x Sandals - Teva
1 x Gaters - Long
1 x Hiking Boots - Scarpa Delta GTX Activ WMN
Tent - It was a squeeze inside that so called '2 person' tent, but with 3/4 mats and a small pocket between the outer and inner structures at either end, we could leave our bags outside of the sleeping area and maximise space. Wild Country have just brought out a two door version of our tent and that would save a lot of rolling over each other in the night for any unplanned midnight wees and, we think, would really help with airing/drying when condensation kicks in (and it does kick in - the tent is small for two people and in any situation, condensation would be a problem. We tried to avoid camping near large bodies of water or on long grass as much as possible.)
The tent has one pole for the overhead loop and two short, structural poles for either end of the tent. We removed the smaller poles and stored them on the outside of the bag with the pegs, and stuffed the tent into a dry sack instead of its original bag. This made it easy to store but also a lot easier to pack.
My main recommendation if your interested in this tent is to purchase the lighter, narrower pegs. We managed okay with the normal ones supplied but they can be difficult to get into hard ground sometimes as well as carrying a bit more weight - we did find ourselves borrowing a friends pegs one night under a forest of squeaky Eucalyptus.
Sleeping Bags - One of my favourite bits of kit for their comfort and easy packing. We went for the Cumulus 600 which was mainly for its weight. Cumulus specialise in lighter bags and have a 'Lite Line' range that carry good temperature ratings as well as being easy to stuff, and can be zipped together if you can brave it after a days hike. Being down, we purchased extra thick dry bags for storing these - while it made them a bit more bulky for packing, we never once had a problem with a wet bag.
In hindsight, these bags were way too hot. With two people in a small tent, it is warm enough, so having extra warm bags was often too much (we also felt they were hot in busy huts too). However, they were cosy, and still one of my favourite bits of kit so maybe next time I'll go somewhere cooler or string a bit of cash for a cooler bag...
Bags - Next time, I think we'll stretch for two of 48s. Luke's was great but he always had wasted space. I caught him sneaking things out of my pack to fill his up, so I'd have to steal them back or else it felt like I was carrying nothing. My 48 was the favourite of so many people we met on the trail. It was light, airy, had all the relevant pockets, stretchy mesh and looked ace too. My only complaint would by the mesh is fairly fragile and might need some emergency stitching, and I had to add some Axeman padders to the shoulder straps to stop the rubbing on the collar bone. Other than that, the sixe was perfect and two of them would have been just right (or perhaps a 48 and a 58 if we wanted to be safe.)
Shoes vs Boots- I took the risk. Against everyone's advice, I went for a pair of heavy duty leather boots. I had some bad blisters for the first stretch on 90 mile but once my heels had toughened up, I stomped through the mud easily and freely with mostly dry feet. Luke stuck with hiking shoes, he had zero blisters (a rarity, I know, but he did it), and found he may have gotten wet feet twice as quickly as me, but he also dried out in a fifth of the time my heavy boots took.
I switched to shoes for a short while but found I appreciated the ankle support and hardness of the boots so switched back again once I'd met the bounce box further along the trail. The main thing when choosing the shoes was to know what it was both Luke and I specifically wanted in a shoe. Luke didn't mind buying replacement pairs (he had three in total) and was also happy to jump into the rivers in his shoes. I, however, wanted something durable and often switched my boots for my Tevas when I wanted to keep a dry boot. Be aware, though, New Zealand may be beautiful but there are one hell of a lot of rivers to cross. Not to mention the hidden puddles, run off from your rain pants, and the countless times I slipped into a bog I thought I could avoid - I did get wet feet, you will too. So if you don't want the problem of roasting them over a fire for three days to dry them because you don't like them soggy, I'd go for shoes.
Jet Boil - The jet boil is an awesome invention. We were cooking in half the time some of our friends were and it was easy enough to work. For two people, we found cooking in the jet boil cup was too restricting. We purchased the pot stand and went for a Sea to Summit pot so we could extend our meal options. This however, reduced the effectiveness of the Jet Boil because we didn't want to fork out for the specific Jet Boil pan. While it worked, and it was quick, Id recommend either splurging on the Jet Boil stuff, or going for a standard stove. I find the standard ones fold up tiny and just cook a little more slowly - a little patience never killed anyone!
Cooking pan - It got eaten by mice! The Sea to Summit ones are great. They weight a bit more but they're foldable and easy to clean. We did leave our out one night (clean!) and the mice got to it. We didn't realise until we went to cook out next meal and discovered three chewed holes in the side of it. We sprung for a metal one after that - it was heavy because we couldn't afford any of that glorious titanium stuff, but the mice at least couldn't get it!
Water Filtration - We used the Sawyer straw Minis. We started with one each screwed to the top of a plastic bottle (we used old recyclable water bottles - lightweight!). Eventually, though, we ended up with one between us. The water in NZ is beautiful and we only ever needed to filter if we were down low or on farmland.
Our friend had a large Sawyer and it made the world of difference. It was quicker and way more efficient - in hindsight, we'd take one large one.
Rain Gear? Further to the wet weather comment, New Zealand is a wet place. We had a lot of rain, even during the summer months, BUT, New Zealand also has a fantastic sun. Our gear got wet often, but we also only had to put on wet gear a number of times. You can't count on the weather, but it is safe to say you can dry out quickly if your prepared to wear your wet stuff for an hour when the sun does come out.
We both carried rain coats, rain trousers, and waterproof gloves. When I think about it, I only used my rain trousers once or twice and I did wonder mid-trip, should I bother carrying these? But, one climb up into horrific winds and rain that stung your face as it slammed into you at a 45degree angle was enough to remind me that the wind proof factor, if not the rain proof, was important to have.
Fleeces and Coats - We both had a fleece and a coat. It was always too hot to walk in either of these - we'd use our waterproof coat if we needed to keep a particularly cold wind off - but we did have them for any cold nights in camp. Luke probably could have stuck with just a coat. He rarely used his fleece, and when he did, it was usually because he couldn't find his coat. I however, loved both. I like my fleece sometimes to sleep in if it was a cold night in a hut. Our coat also doubled as a pillow at night - we stuffed them into the thermorest bags and pulled our buff over the top for a softer finish - everything doubles as something!
Air Mats - Thermorest because they're great, 3/4 length because why carry more? We did have to stuff some clothes down by our feet to stop the condensation but other than that they worked for us.
Pants and Socks - Fact is, we're smelly all the time. We're hiking after all! Two pairs of pants was enough for Luke- usually one for camp and one for hiking with river washes as frequently as we could get them. I stuck to three - for womanly reasons - though I often only needed two; one wearing; one washing/drying.
Gaters - Unlike the UK, ticks aren't really a thing in NZ. I took a long pair and used them in the beginning when I didn't understand the ins and outs of hiking. Fact is, they don't keep you dry. They keep the bits out of your shoes and the spear grass away from your legs. So, eventually, I ditched my long ones and used Luke's Dirty Girls (a fantastic invention I'll have you know) - Luke could empty his shoes of any bits quite easily but keeping the bits out of my boots and reducing the number of times I had to take them off was key. Neither of us bothered with gaters unless it was for this reason - keeping pebbles out! We never truly toughened up to the spear grass but got used to bracing ourselves when we saw the path disappeared into a field of it.
Glove Liners - If you get cold hands like me, glove liners are an awesome alternative to heavy gloves that make you too hot. I got mine online for a couple of pounds and kept them in my bag pocket for any cold moments - made all the difference.
Buff - No question - take one. The usages are endless.
Towels - Your washing in a river, how clean can you be anyway? We shared a big towel and used the small one for things like drying feet after river crossings (it became a coffee filter at one point too!)
SPOT Locator - The Spot was great. We linked it up with our families phones and friends emails so they could follow us the whole way down. They had a map up in the kitchen and moved a red pin to our new camp each time we set it off. Thankfully, we didn't have to use the SOS button so I can't tell you about how efficient that was, but I can promise that it is so fulfilling to look back at the map and see where you've been, how far you've come, and where you're going next. It was a cheep buy compared with some of the PLBs and while it doesn't have the same promises as a PLB, it did offer a continuous tracker for our friends, and an emergency SOS should we have needed it.
GPS - We invested in the Garmin eTrex 20x. It did its job once we'd worked out how to download the maps, but the maps provided don't really correlate with the device and only plot the first few points of each one. This meant we were left to work it out our selves - which wasn't a problem given we knew how to, but people should check their maps before going, practice using the Garmin and ensure they can identify where they are without the plots. That said, it was great to see things like elevation as we were trekking - we didn't have to use it for much else since the track is pretty well marked.
Walking Poles - Luke broke his during a particularly dramatic falls through Herekino forest - we didn't invest in heavy duty ones. Mine lasted until the south island but I found I wanted to use my hands a bit more and ditched them somewhere around Hanmer Springs.
They are definitely important for savings knees in steep declines and gave me huge control on 90 Mile in terms in rhythm and pace. If I were to walk again, which I bloody well hope I do soon, I'd invest in a good one but only take one. That way you've got it for any spooky river crossings, you've got the support for any climbs or descents, but you've also got the freedom to use your other hand.
Hopefully my notes on what and what not to get for a long trek are helpful. I am no professional or pro-lite hiker, but I can promise you, what we took we used, and what ever we used helped us finish our trek and that's good enough for me.
Sunday 16 July 2017
Three weeks since...
It took two weeks for my legs to stop cramping and seizing in the middle of the night. My hiker hunger has only just passed, though the cravings for fresh fruit and veg still continues, and we finally said the last of our goodbyes just a few days ago.
We had two weeks to kill between finishing the hike and picking up our car. We got 'stuck' in Invercargill for the first chunk of that; catching up with other hikers in the cinema, going for coffee, and using countless megabites of cafe internet usage to upload pictures and spread the news that we'd finally finished our venture.
The lull of what-to-do-next syndrome was taxing. Mostly, we didn't want to leave our friends; most of whom were from parts of the world that we wouldn't be in a position to visit for a very long time. A second contributing factor to the ongoing lack of drive and will to move on was monetary. Putting ourselves up in a city camping ground, and spoiling ourselves with celebratory all-you-can-eat chinese and the largest of breakfasts we could find had put us somewhat over budget (though we still felt underfed). But when we eventually wrote our destination of Te Anau on our empty pizza box, we found ourselves making hasty progress to another cafe destination where we set to planning our two week drive to the airport.
More breakfasts, a nacho pie (yes, they have nacho pies in Te Anau), and a few screwed up leaflets later, we'd hitchhiked with Renee to a nearby trail where we hoped to rekindle our love for hiking New Zealand trails. The Hollyford was a couple hours drive. We managed it in one hitch to the start of the track where a well maintained swing bridge crossed another of those crystal clear rivers unique to the fiordlands. We hiked to the first hut and settled in with a few other hikers for the evening where we enjoyed our 'luxury' foods that we only had to carry for the one day.
We skipped the next hut but made it no further than the third. We spent a full day reading infront of the gorgeous lake under the sun and headed back out the following morning. Stopping for one last night in the first hut again, we were met by a group of Welsh Army boys - little did I know, I was a lot more determined, and a lot more hard-working than them all.
We hitched back from the Hollyford to Te Anau and took a converted van to Queenstown to pick up our car. I slept for most of the journey before waking in busy Queenstown realising I'd been sleeping in a young lads bed in the back of his van - not sure it was my wisest of moves.
Setting up in an Air B and B for a few nights, we re-walked some of the TA trail in Queenstown and finally, filled the back of our hire car up with the heaviest of foods we could afford (though we were still cooking on a camping stove so we suddenly realised we still had to stick to pastas and easy cooks.)
We drove to Milford Sound through the mountain tunnel (a must see if in the Fiords), we picked up Ollie and his two friends from Invercargill and travelled the coast to Dunedin to see the penguins (didn't see any). We travelled back up via Renee's aunts house in Christchurch where we stayed and caught sunsets over Diamond Harbour. We picked up our 'missing' parcel from Snow Denn Lodge in Methven that was full of sweets and chocolate from Donna and Mark for my birthday. We traversed back to the West to see the incredible glaciers and Mount Cook. We saw almost everything we possibly could have seen in those two weeks before reaching Auckland.
New Zealand had become ours. Our home. We wanted to see every nook and every mountain. We collected things to take home with us so we might just remember what the pebbles were like on one beach or what the food was like in a particular town. It had become the place that Luke and I had grown even closer and stronger. It was, and always will be, one of the most beautifully ruthless places I know, and I will never forget its lessons.
We had two weeks to kill between finishing the hike and picking up our car. We got 'stuck' in Invercargill for the first chunk of that; catching up with other hikers in the cinema, going for coffee, and using countless megabites of cafe internet usage to upload pictures and spread the news that we'd finally finished our venture.
The lull of what-to-do-next syndrome was taxing. Mostly, we didn't want to leave our friends; most of whom were from parts of the world that we wouldn't be in a position to visit for a very long time. A second contributing factor to the ongoing lack of drive and will to move on was monetary. Putting ourselves up in a city camping ground, and spoiling ourselves with celebratory all-you-can-eat chinese and the largest of breakfasts we could find had put us somewhat over budget (though we still felt underfed). But when we eventually wrote our destination of Te Anau on our empty pizza box, we found ourselves making hasty progress to another cafe destination where we set to planning our two week drive to the airport.
More breakfasts, a nacho pie (yes, they have nacho pies in Te Anau), and a few screwed up leaflets later, we'd hitchhiked with Renee to a nearby trail where we hoped to rekindle our love for hiking New Zealand trails. The Hollyford was a couple hours drive. We managed it in one hitch to the start of the track where a well maintained swing bridge crossed another of those crystal clear rivers unique to the fiordlands. We hiked to the first hut and settled in with a few other hikers for the evening where we enjoyed our 'luxury' foods that we only had to carry for the one day.
We skipped the next hut but made it no further than the third. We spent a full day reading infront of the gorgeous lake under the sun and headed back out the following morning. Stopping for one last night in the first hut again, we were met by a group of Welsh Army boys - little did I know, I was a lot more determined, and a lot more hard-working than them all.
We hitched back from the Hollyford to Te Anau and took a converted van to Queenstown to pick up our car. I slept for most of the journey before waking in busy Queenstown realising I'd been sleeping in a young lads bed in the back of his van - not sure it was my wisest of moves.
Setting up in an Air B and B for a few nights, we re-walked some of the TA trail in Queenstown and finally, filled the back of our hire car up with the heaviest of foods we could afford (though we were still cooking on a camping stove so we suddenly realised we still had to stick to pastas and easy cooks.)
We drove to Milford Sound through the mountain tunnel (a must see if in the Fiords), we picked up Ollie and his two friends from Invercargill and travelled the coast to Dunedin to see the penguins (didn't see any). We travelled back up via Renee's aunts house in Christchurch where we stayed and caught sunsets over Diamond Harbour. We picked up our 'missing' parcel from Snow Denn Lodge in Methven that was full of sweets and chocolate from Donna and Mark for my birthday. We traversed back to the West to see the incredible glaciers and Mount Cook. We saw almost everything we possibly could have seen in those two weeks before reaching Auckland.
New Zealand had become ours. Our home. We wanted to see every nook and every mountain. We collected things to take home with us so we might just remember what the pebbles were like on one beach or what the food was like in a particular town. It had become the place that Luke and I had grown even closer and stronger. It was, and always will be, one of the most beautifully ruthless places I know, and I will never forget its lessons.
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