Winter Wonderland

Snow! And lots of it!

The past three days have been crazy ones. We began the Kepler Track on the 9th, with a very short day of only 10 kms. There are only two places on the track where camping is allowed (most people stay in huts), forcing those of us roughing it to hike one teenyweeny day and two very, very long ones. It was fun to connect with friendly neighbors at our first campsite, Brod Bay: a frenchwoman who gave Torrey a hat, two French guys who were brave enough to go swimming in Lake Te Anau, and a group of Americans, including one from Terre Haute, Indiana! We were all a little nervous about what the next day held in store for us, but we were excited about the challenge.

From Brod Bay the next morning, we climbed from about 400 meters above sea level to 1400 meters above sea level, all in a couple hours! At first we were peeling off layers, sweating, but soon we were pulling them back on with numb hands and chattering teeth. When we got above the tree line, the wind and the hail hit us like a wall, but the views that appeared when the sun came out were stunning. The lake shimmered far, far below us. After 45 minutes of stinging hail, we arrived at Luxmore Hut, complete with a roaring fire. We took the opportunity to take off our soggy clothes and attempt to dry them, all the while eating our lunch of Bavarian salami, brie, and Vitaweat crackers. We were also able to make ourselves some yummy hot tea with the gas cookers at the hut, something that surely helped us through the next section.

Soon we were sidling mountains, and topping peaks. Well, one peak: Mt. Luxmore, an altitude of 1492 meters. We stopped for a celebration at the top, and this proved to be a costly error. We were quickly punished by the wind gods, who pummeled us with the harshest wind we've yet experienced in our short lives. We ran back to the trail, to continue on through the snow. The rest of our day was punctuated by short stops at emergency shelters (don't worry, there was no emergency), in between long, snowy stretches along the mountain spines. It was incredible - being up there made us feel like we were in a fantasy, as if we were on top of the world.

Of course, we had to come down eventually. The descent from the peaks lasted forever, with switchbacks going on and on and on. When we arrived at Iris Burn Camp, it was nearly dark and we were ready for a hot meal and warm sleeping bags. During dinner we met a group of friendly Israelis doing their post-army traveling. We were glad to see all of our fellow campers from Brod Bay had arrived safely too (some after us, and some long before).

The next morning we woke up to amazing views, and wet socks. We made a quick breakfast while our toes froze, then hit the trail. It was to be the beginning of a looong day, you might even call it a marathon (really, we walked over 40 kms, about the equivalent of a marathon). The terrain was mostly flat, but the conversation with two fellow American hikers was anything but. They regaled us with tales of their South American tramping adventure, through Bolivia, Peru, and the mountains of Chile and Argentina. Maybe there is another adventure in store for Luc and Torrey?

Finally, we reached what we thought was our final destination: Rainbow Reach. At this point we had already walked 23 kms, and were ready to take the $9 bus back to town. Of course, the alternative route - completing the loop then walking back into town (and thus saving $9 each) - proved too tempting, and we set out on our final, exhausting stretch. When we made it back to town our feet were blistered and heavy, our legs limped, and our stomachs growled. So we headed to Subway! Then to the dairy for ice cream! We walked back to our holiday park while gobbling up our triple and double scoops (guess who had which) and made it back just past closing time... luckily the owner was kind enough to allow us to stay the night, with the promise that we'd pay him today.

Oh yeah, judging from the comments on the previous post, our secret is out. We went skydiving! And yes, jumping out of a plane is all it's cracked up to be, and more. We highly recommend it - there are no words to describe it. You just have to experience it yourself. Lake Wanaka is an excellent place to try, if you happen to be in New Zealand.

Cheers, everybody!