When we left off the last time we were stuck in Manapouri because of the heavy snowfall in New Zealand. I was quite worried at the time that we wouldn’t be able to do some of the activities that we were planning to do. I was especially worried that we wouldn’t be able to do our multiday hike in Copland.
To keep us busy, while we were stuck, our tour leaders decided to take us sledging. J Even if I didn’t participate, I just took pictures of the others, I laughed so much so my stomach hurt. It was so funny to see them all crash into the snow piles around. See below.
The second day of snow our main tour leader Ken decided that we should take a chance and just drive towards Queenstown even if the roads were closed. He had snow chains to our bus, so he figured that they might let us through. We had, however, to leave our trailer with all the mountain bikes, since with the trailer they wouldn’t for sure allow us to drive. But since someone else from ACTIVE (the company I was travelling with) could pick it up later that was not a problem. Luckily we got through all the way to Queenstown and even the whole way to the west coast where our Copland hike took place. It was a long day of driving, since the snow and ice forced us to drive slowly. (They don’t use salt on the roads in NZ, which of course makes the roads a lot more slippery), but we arrived to the west coast safe and sound.
The Copland hike was supposed to take 3 days, but since we were stuck in the snow for a day, we had to shorten it to 2 days. This meant that we were hiking 6-7 hours per day, two days in a row. That is normally not a big problem but this was a hike with a lot of obstacles: streams, hanging bridges which only one at a time could walk on (I was scared to death, since I’m afraid of heights), rocks, roots, minor climbing over cliffs, lots of up and downhill – you name it. We had it all. So it was not an easy hike, even if it wasn’t one of the tougher ones that I have done. Luckily we had good weather so we didn’t have to worry about rain or slippery rocks. It was the most AMAZING hike and once again we were sooo lucky with the weather – clear blue sky and lots of sunshine. We walked through cold rain forest which makes it so very special. I mean – it is so strange to see all the leafs with frost on. (These things don’t normally exist in Sweden. You have either leafs or frost.) On top of that we had the views of the beautiful mountains, streams and waterfalls. I was enjoying every minute.
When we hiked we hiked in our own pace and not the whole group together. But in an earlier hike Phil and I found a pace that seemed to fit us both, so I did the whole Copland hike together with him. It was nice to have someone around to talk to, but we also enjoyed just walking in silence. Hiking does that to me – I get quiet (I know – it is unusual ;-) ) It was also nice to have someone around if something would happen. I knew that our tour leaders, Ken and Jac, were never far away, but still it was nice not to be totally alone on the trail.
At the hut at the end of our hike there was a hot spring. It was SOOOOO nice to sink down into a hot spring when you have hiked the whole day in temperatures around zero degrees Celsius. It felt absolutely GREAT!!!!! We were sitting there for the longest time drinking beer (I didn’t carry it myself – Phil gave me one. I know – he is such a nice guy) - just enjoying life. Some of the guys went back to the hot spring in middle of the night. I didn’t which I regret. It must have been beautiful to sit there under the stars.
As usual we had a wonderful meal in the hut prepared by Jac. I tell you – that girl can cook. If I have gained weight in New Zealand I owe it all to her. She even made me eat deserts. I just couldn’t resist the food she was making.
So as a summary our Copland hike was one of my highlights of the trip. I could honestly not ask for anything more from a hike.
No comments:
Post a Comment