We booked the 9am trip on Friday and I guess no one else wanted to go on the early trip that was great for us – we had a guide to ourselves for our 4-5 hour caving adventure.

First off we had to get our gear sorted – wetsuit, booties, rubber boots, harness, biners, repel device, safety lines and helmet. All ready to go we drive for about 10 mins to the entrance of the cave and did a few dry practice runs to learn how to use the repel device and how important the brake hand is.

So hooked up and ready to go I went first and yes very nervous when the guide says okay just bend your knees and swing out off the landing pad and down this tight tunnel. Then the cave opened up into a huge cathedral of dark space. It seemed like a long way then I could see the light of the guide below and a sigh of relief came over me. I unhooked and then Phil came down of course no problem. A little bit of walking on some metal grates and then on to the flying fox also known as a zip-line. I again, first up hooked in and ready to go just step off this ramp and we like to do this part in the dark as the guide turns off my light and sends me off. Loosing my voice I couldn’t even scream it was really fast and over, before you knew it. Phil followed and loved it.

Next up black water rafting standing up on a ledge, harnesses are now off and we are given an inner tube and told to place it against our buts and jump off you can’t really see the bottom but the water is down there somewhere. So Phil steps up and the guide says on the count of 3 your going to jump or I’m going to push you. Phil says what? Okay 1,2,3 and Phil jumps, okay my turn guide says on 3 jump so 1,2,3 and I say hold a minute I’m going down there, okay again on 3 okay no more counting I will jump I just need a minute. So I ask the guide so what if the innertude moves off – don’t worry it won’t he says, Okay so I jump, yelling as I free fall and then hit the water, sinking a few feet under and then reimmerse from the water with a mouth full of cave water just exhilarated and wanting to do it again. One guide named Stew will be with us for the rest of our trip and we venture down the cave to check out the glowworms and since there is only 2 of us we get to go all the way to the end of the cave and it’s just amazing. The guide had a hard time keeping up to us it was so much fun. The glow from the worms amazingly light up the cave and showed us the way through in the pitch black. We stopped for some caving on the way back so we climbed up the side of the cave and through to some amazing stalagmites and then we had to crawl through a space where you had to turn your head sideways to get thru not much room at all but we came out into a huge cathedral. WOW.

More rafting and then we leave the rafts and walk the rest of the way in varying depths from knee deep to swimming in deep pools down the cave we go to another side trip. This cave was pretty exciting but hard to explain squeezing, crawling, head first, feet first and pulling ourselves through tight squeezes, and really having to think of how to get yourself through some of the spaces, It was so hot as we squeezed thru the caves as we were wearing our wetsuits the whole time. We climbed up some underground waterfalls, learned to climb with just butt and knees down a rock chimney.

Amazing experience out of our comfort zone and it awesome I would definitely do it again.

[View with PicLens]

 

Across the farm 2 other guys were taking wool samples and blood samples to be sent away for testing. Just like any job there are hazards and sure enough the one guy cut himself right across the wrist not the best place for the cutters to end up.

Emily was showing us on the map how far their valley goes and that there were a few huts along the way for when they bring the sheep back from the hills; a lightbulb went off –we could run up to the huts and either stay or just run out and back. Emily likes to run in the valley as well so she showed us where to go so the next day that was the plan to run to the second hut.

The run was just amazing the scenery awesome and lots of cows and sheep to watch out for we made it to the 1^st hut in about 2.5hrs with all the stops for pictures and running around rivers. Our goal was to reach the second hut as the valley opens up to amazing glaciers and mountains but we hit a road block. The river was too high to we decided to hike up in the hills but it thick with this spinney bushes that were covered with these inch long spines and were head height. We decided to turn back but not without some great views a great run and a beautiful day.

[View with PicLens]

 

Some great pictures from small adventures on the South Island in New Zealand from cool waterfalls at Mc Lean falls, which also happens to be where we broke the key and had to get the car hotwired. Farm animals and some local wildlife from some of the campgrounds we called home. Arthur’s Pass with an amazing bridge; crossing a giant avalanche chute. And more fun tunnels and caves from another Gold Rush area on the West Coast of the South Island.

[View with PicLens]

 

Milford sound is really a tourist area and you either go on a cruise or hike the 60km trail we took thc cruise as the trail had been booked up for months. Not sure I would have enjoyed the hike as it rains most of the time. As soon as you head out on the boat there is a gusher of a falls pouring out of the mountain. The mountains Milford Sound are pouring out with water just insane. The boat ride was 1.5hrs and was a great event even in the rain. We saw some seals up close and some amazing water falls.

[View with PicLens]

 

Arriving in Te-anau in a crazy wind and rain storm not surprising for the Fiordland. Deciding on when to do the hikes in the Fiordland was difficult with the rain and the forcast was rain. If it was nice we would hike otherwise we would hide. Little did we realize the weather here is always nasty. The campground we were staying at had a cabin available for the next night so we decided to run the Kepler track and then stay in the cabin. The Kepler track is 63km and is one of the 9 great walks of New Zealand. That night it poured rain with some added thunder and lightning.

Phil woke at about 5:00am to beautiful sunny weather. The sky was clear and we were ready for our 48km hike/run. The Kepler track was a mix of easy walking and a lot of switchbacks, a popular trail since it has 3 huts on it so most people take 3-4 days to walk it. The first 12km is in the trees and the last 33 km is in the trees but we like to hike above treeline. We decided to go quickly up through the trees so we could get above treeline as fast as possible. Breaking thru the trees was amazing the views of Lake Te Anau and Mt Luxmore towering above us. It was another few minutes before we reached the first hut at the base of Mt Luxmore where we had some lunch. A helicopter landed beside the hut and dropped off some people I guess that’s one way to get up the mountain. The track led us up and around traversing mountainsides until we reached one of the emergency shelters. They really like there switchbacks here. More great views of the southern arm, of Lake Te Anau. Around a few more mountains and more switchbacks we reached the second emergency shelter. Here there was about 6 kids waiting for their parents they were hiking the whole trail which was great to see. We took in some more great views and then headed back down. This was our 24km turnaround spot we could have made it all the way around but the last bit would have been long with no views. So we ran most of the way down for a 10hour day of hiking 48kms. What a great day and we lucked out with great weather.

[View with PicLens]

 

 

 

 

Leaving here was hard it was hot, the beach was nice and empty. All the other beaches that we passed in the water taxi were full of people but no one comes up this far north. Hiking along about 1.5hours into our day we found a beach and took some time swimming and napping on the beach – yes we took some time out to enjoy the sun and the water. Other people came by and saw us in the water and since we had been in for so long they decided they would try it to they lasted about a minute a little to cold for them.
A great trail and lots of great beaches on the way to Awaroa campsite the only problem is we had a tidal crossing and it wasn’t going to be passable until 6:30pm at the earliest and we arrived about 4pm. Waiting was going to be pretty boring and we don’t like to sit around it wouldn’t have been as bad it was a nice sandy beach but it was just a muddy estuary. After about an hour we could see a sandbar showing so we walked out and water was just above our ankles. That’s not too bad. Phil doesn’t like to wait so he decided he would take one pack and carry it over his head it can’t be that deep if he can see across. Phil started walking across the inlet and it slowly was deeper and deeper soon up to his waist, now over his waist, and now up to his chest. As he got to the middle of the crossing; walking in his sandals the rocks would get stuck so he would try and shake them out while standing on one leg – what a great idea. Meanwhile some other hikers came along and they stayed close to the shore and made there way around with the water only coming up to their waist for a few minutes. I’m thinking I’m going to go that way instead of straight across. Phil did make it across and he had so much fun he came back across to join me.

The campsite that night was chocka but we had a great night nice and dry. The next day we decided we just wanted to get to our destination at Torrent Bay and relax on the beach and go for a swim. We had to leave by 9am to make the next tidal crossing as well but it wasn’t a problem we had lots of time for this one. Great views and beaches as we headed to Torrent Bay at a much faster pace today so we got to camp early and went swimming and napping on the beach. We built a snowman out of shells as the sun went down and visited with some locals.

Christmas Day at Torrent Bay what a great way to spend Christmas day, we had some breakfast on the dock the tide was way out and we got invited by the locals to see Santa give out presents to all of the kids at the beach. It was great Christmas sprit just a little odd to be on the beach.

[View with PicLens]

 

 This is a shuttle hike and the shuttle leaves at 5:40 to beat the crowds. The night before was crazy cold so we froze all night to wake up super early we managed to make the bus on time as others were scrambling and running after the bus this was quite amusing for us. It felt like the amazing race where the late people were not going to be allowed on the bus because they were the last teams to arrive. I don’t even watch this show.

 The early shuttle bus was to beat the crowds you can imagine the crowds at 6am yeah almost nobody except the 10 of us on the bus.

 The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of New Zealand’s 9 great walks and is about 20kms long. Someone along the way had said it was a pretty hard crossing – not so much. It was all alpine which was great and we climbed up for about 1.5 hours and then attempted the hike up a volcano. The Volcano didn’t look that hard from below and we read the directions to the unmarked trail it said follow the white stakes and then follow the ridge well we followed the stakes until we could see a trail up the scree which was apparently the wrong way to go as it wasn’t the ridge. This seems to be where we went wrong we didn’t follow the ridge. So our summit attempt was ended by a wrong turn and we found ourselves headed straight up a scree slope with nowhere to go. So we would have to call off our summit attempt today and carry on back along the crossing.

 Craters and thermal activity were along the way and very amazing to look at; steam rose from the rocks as I put my hands down on the rocks to warm them up. The wind was howling through but it was a super nice day the best day they have had in the last 8 weeks. It had snowed the day before so we were pretty happy with our day,

 The way down was a great run of about 8km the trail was a mixture of rocks, stairs, streams and a few people. There were some hot springs on the way down but we weren’t allowed in them with out prior permission from the Natives but we did feel the water in the stream and it was warm that was a little bizarre. Near the end of the hike there was an amazing waterfall so we stopped for a while to get the best picture.  Finished the hike in 5 hours and made it back for the first shuttle at 12:30pm I guess starting the trail that early leaves you the rest of the day to do some more hiking. It was a great hike and it reminded us of the Skyline trail in Jasper.

[View with PicLens]