Hilly adventures continue

Guest Editor: Hilary Hodge

08/01/12

Hilary triumphs
The last day of our 4 day treck – 10Km. Joyce who had done the walk before warned that the last part involved a steep walk down on a gravel path – not good for the Hilly knees. In consultation with the owner of the property we were staying in it was decided that if I did the majority of the walk James and I could wait while Luke went on down and fetched the car. When we reached the said location the weather had turned and there was a cold wind so James and I took refuge in a trekkers lodge. Now although the route down and back had all been explained finding the road back up was not exactly straight forward but Luke eventually managed to find us again and we were happily reunited.
Next was to find the motel in Akorora which James had booked and to check out the restaurant which Luke and I did while James had a swim in the motel pool. Dinner was really good – it was French – and the rose wine was the best I have ever tasted.
So I had managed the 20 mile treck – up and down cliffs through forests and over rocks – I am impressed!

09/01/12 – 11/01/12
Off to Mount Cook and our adventures there
Mount Cook is about a 5 hour drive from Akorora so Monday was spent travelling. Now New Zealand only has one motorway around Auckland so we were travelling on route 1 renamed the M1 by us. Although only an ordinary road with occasional dual passing places due to the lack of traffic it is almost like travelling on a motorway. What we can’t understand is there don’t seem to be any delivery type lorries so how do they get goods from one place to another – we shall have to investigate later.
Akaroa which is the settlement where Mount Cook is does not consist of a lot. We were booked into the Youth Hostel which apart from having paper thin walls and depriving James of his sleep was very nice! James decanted to sleep in the car both nights due to the noise levels. The Old Mountaineers café was where we ate and drank had a great atmosphere. The owners had legal battles with the up market hotel to get established as the hotel had not wanted any competition.
Tuesday morning we awoke to a disaster – the clouds were covering the mountain tops and we got a call to say although we had booked to go up in a plane to fly over Mount Cook and to land on a glacier the plane could not fly in the prevailing conditions. However, the helicopter might be able to fly later in the day if the weather improved.
The problem was that we had booked to go glacial sea kayaking in the afternoon. Let’s see if we can change it to this morning we cried – yes was the answer - if you can get here in half an hour. A very quick breakfast (Hilly can’t survive without her breakfast) and we were off – only 10 minutes late with profuse apologies to the other couple and the guide for being late. A short lesson in kayaking, a drive to near the lake and a scramble across the rocks to get to the lake then ensued. The guide, a delightful young woman, was great at helping me as I hadn’t anticipated this part of the activity and hadn’t brought my sticks – a necessity for any uneven walking.
The lake was milky grey in colour from the glaciers bringing rocks and sediment down from the mountains as they break off and tumble down to the lake. We noticed what appeared to be a small piece of ice in the water but which turned out to be iceberg with a considerable mass beneath the surface. The guide explained the history and activity of the glacier as we were paddling along – or more accurately as Luke was paddling as we were in a double kayak!
After lunch Luke rang the airport (a relative term) to ask whether our trip could go ahead – an excited Luke shouted to us – get ready we need to get there in the next 20 minutes. We were given a few safety instructions and then escorted out to meet Mark the pilot who turned out to be great and very reassuring – none of us had been in a helicopter before and James is not too keen on flying at the best of times.
We donned our sun glasses, head phones and microphone for the intercom and off we flew. Wow what an experience. We flew up to the summit of Mount Cook, circled around it, looked down crevasses, landed on a glacier, got out and walked on the glacier and had the most fantastic views of the snow, ice and surrounding scenery. Quotes from Luke and James – It was like a scene from a Bond movie – the three of us rose shakily in a helicopter with a collective gasp and headed to the great expanse of the glacier – James felt like he was ‘challenge Anika” ‘closest experience yet to truly flying’.
When we landed we were all almost overcome by the awe of what we had seen – I had never understood why people wanted to climb mountains but this gave me some insight into why they do it.
11/01/12
Off to Lake Te Annau
Another long journey to our next location. James had very thoughtfully decided that by now we would be a little jaded from all our activity and so had booked us in for three nights to what turned out to be a fantastic apartment overlooking Lake Te Annau – oh what bliss. Thursday was spent pottering around, buying the weekly editions of the Guardian and Telegraph, sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake reading, Luke and I having a little stroll by the lake and not much else.