Selbies climb Mt. Doom

Okay, we have to go out of order to bring you up to our latest activity. Not a lot of words either, as we have to check out of the motel we treated ourselves too after our big activity (We are now at Lake Taupo for those of you following on Google Maps).

For this long weekend, Queen's Birthday and all that, we decided to do the Tongariro Crossing.  It goes up by Mt. Ngauruhoe which was Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings.  Since it is getting to be winter and the weather was deteriorating this weekend, they said you needed a guide, crampons, and ice axe.  We emailed a guide and he said it might be too bad, but to come up and they would make the call 7:30 Friday night for a Saturday morning go/no go.  We left after work on Friday, drove up to yet another cooolllddd motel room (but with electric blankets of course) and got ready.  The word came - Go!

We headed out the next morning and did about 7 km of pretty good climb in and out of snow, but not putting on our crampons yet.  Then our guide said it was time.  Our group was 15 at the start, but one girl turned back halfway up the steepest non-snowy part (good decision for her, she was lagging badly).  We then had a short course in crampons and ice axe and took off for the push to the summit (actually the summit of Mt. Tongariro, right by Mt. Ngauruhoe).  And ... we made it.

But the climbing was only just beginning.  We walked across a couple of craters, up and down some ridges, and then up a last steepest climb to a saddle before heading back down.  I had thought the crampons and ice axe might have just been for looks, but we really used them.  And they work amazingly well.  But, more details later.  Just wanted to get this post up.  Heading back to Palmy this afternoon.

The Rakiura Track - Completed

Hike, hike, hike, tramp, tramp, tramp. Up the hill we went. Saw Tui birds, bell birds, NZ robins, and the occasional Kacka (parrot). Or at least heard them. I kept thinking we were breaking through the top when we would see open sky and a long view, but it still wasn't the summit. Then, as always happens when you are hiking, when we least expected there was a sign: Patterson Inlet Overlook -> 50m, North Arm Hut -> 4 km. So we headed up to see the view. And what a view it was! Lynda climbed up the tower first and then I followed. Happy, happy!


On cue, the sun came out and everything was beautiful. We do have a movie that will be seen later. You'll notice in this picture that we just seem to have regular clothes on. This tramp was somewhat like cross country skiing where you are continually putting on and taking off layers depending on what the weather is doing and how hard you are working at the moment.

Much like the climbers who summit Mt. Everest (well, maybe not very much like them), we could only allow ourselves limited time to enjoy the view. You may be able to notice our shadows in the background in the picture above and you can take a guess at what time it was. I'm not sure, but it was afternoon of course and we were a little more than halfway through. And the days get pretty short here in winter. And we were now in the middle heading for the opposite coast. In fact, you can see in the background where we were heading. So, after a short snack and drink, we headed back to the trail, having enjoyed on 10-15 minute rest. Our snack, by the way, was something called a Scotch Egg which was an egg wrapped in meat. Mom said it was the best snack ever!

Mom got her second wind on the downhill leg and said her legs felt better. We did go through a particularly muddy stretch where the "stairs" were all tree roots and often times required actual climbing down. A high point did occur during a time where I was leading. I suddenly saw a Virginia Whitetail Deer jump off the path up ahead and into the bushes. It was deer hunting season there and a number of hunters had left with us from the hotel just that morning, they in a boat that was going to take them somewhere around the island. I told Lynda and she took the lead and we quietly moved forward. Amazingly, within a minute Lynda spied the deer about 20 feet off the path watching us. We got a really good look, but were unable to get a picture. That further rejuvenated us and we took off with extra energy for the North Arm Hut. The North Arm Hut marked the 2/3 way point and was on the coast. The good news was that only a 10k would be left at that point (one Cooper River Bridge walk as I kept pointing on, until told to ... well) and in a worst case scenario we could just stay there. Like the watched pot that never boils, however, those last few km to the hut seemed longer than any others. But then we started down a last hill, saw the water, and knew we were okay, sort of. When we reached the actual turn off to the hut (Hut 50 m ->), Lynda said she was too tired to go look at it. Rut-roh. I did a quick computation and figured we could probably get back to town by a little after 7 pm. Lynda said we should go for it and reminded me that she had been smart enough to bring a torch. And that was critical!! I decided we should get it out now so we wouldn't have to search for it later. It was a small torch as torches go and the amount of life in the batteries was unknown, but it was STILL critical, as you will see, dear reader.

I told Lynda to start on and I would go to the Hut and refill our water bottle. I think we ate our last Scotch Egg here. The hut was nice and there were some people inside getting their dinner ready, but I didn't go in. I just filled up our water bottles, put the backpack on, and started jogging. I'm always amazed how far ahead people get on a trail if you stop for a while and then try to catch up. Mom had made a pretty good distance before I caught her and that made me thing we were going to be okay. It was hard to tell where the last part of our tramp got back on civilized roads, but it didn't seem to far off.

Just then we saw a heavily camoflaged hunter emerge from the woods with his rifle. He was a nice guy. We asked him, hesitantly, exactly where hunters hunted on the island. He nonchalantly said "Everywhere, but we always walk a kilometer off the track before we start". Hmmm. File that under things it was good we didn't know when we started off. I was heartened by the fact that he was hiking back the same way we were, so I assumed he had left enough daylight. But when I asked, he said he was camping at Sand-something Cove, just a km down the path.

So off we went, following behind him. We made good time and looked longingly at his tent as we went by. At this point we only had 5 or 6 km to go and it was about 5 pm. Unfortunately, with a combination of short days, lots of forest, and rain moving back in it was getting, how should I say it - DARK. We took one last scoot along the coast and then headed inland for the connection to a road somewhere up ahead. It was time for the torch. At this point we said a prayer together - really - but we were fine and just knew we the only problem would be panic. Mom was very calm. I mentioned earlier that there were many places on the track where wood walkways had been put in and this was one of them. That was key, as you all know how easy it is to mistake a trail when it is night. After a while, when it got really dark, if the steps ended, I would wait while Mom would walk ahead till she came to the next set of steps, then she would call for me and shine the light. That plan worked great. We also held hands going up and down sections of stairs with the leader saying, "up .. up .. up ..flat .. up .. down ..." for each stair. That also worked great since it was hard for two people to see by the little torch light at one time. And there was one more act of divine intervention to help our final journey. At one point the rain had stopped and there was both a very small break in the forest canopy and a small break in the clouds. There, through the small gap, was the Southern Cross with the two adjacent bright stars that help you align it. Nothing else could be seen! And I had just studied that the week before. I am not exaggerating, but I think that may have been the most real amazing "sign", whatever that may mean to you, that I have ever experienced in my life. I got pretty excited and hopefully that rubbed off on Mom, although she was pretty tired at that point.

Finally we reached a signpost that said 2km and the path got wide, although it remained pitch black. From that point on it was just slogging it home. In a bit of "not funny, McGhee" humor, it seemed the sign people had decided that everything from that point on was 2 km away. We must have seen at least 3 signs telling us the end was 2 km and they were each at least a few hundred meters apart. I started counting my strides and informing Mom of how much further we had to go until she made me stop it. Then we hit the paved road. Yes, there was a sign saying the town was 2km away, but it was shorter than that. As we walked down a road that turned out to come in right behind our hotel, I decided a final picture was in order.

Yes, we had our rain gear back on at this point. Amazingly it was only about 7:40 pm, but boy it seemed a lot later. We went inside, saw the nice warm restaurant, and decided to take our time changing clothes in our room. Despite her fatigue, Mom made sure we took off our boots and rain pants outside and put them on the outer deck upstairs. We got into warm dry clothes (although we had actually stayed very dry in the outfits Mom had picked out for us) and headed down for dinner. Guess what time the restaurant closed on Saturday night? Yup! 8 O'clock! We didn't cry, but we did drum up a bit of raw emotion which was not difficult and the girl behind the bar (of course the pub would be open till well after midnight) who was from California of all places, headed back to the kitchen. She returned bearing some desserts and muffins of some type. She apologized, but it was one of the best meals we had. And she did heat up a meat pie they had in the bar. We had a beer, toasted our achievement, thought about you all, and then went to bed where we slept very soundly.

The Rakiura Track

Well, we promised to tell you how we slept. After having a beer with the locals and some of their great chowder, we retired somewhat early to our room. Although we could hear the pub, it didn't seem to bother us. We had noticed that the large balcony out front went right across in front of our room and seemed to be the only place people could go out to smoke without going back downstairs. We slept soundly. No ear plugs, either. However when we awoke the next morning and headed down the hallway to our bathroom, the first thing our neighbor said was, "well, we sure didn't get any sleep! How about you?" Maybe the Selby deep sleeping gene is a plus in some situations.

We planned to hike some on the Rakura Track, a 3 day tramp which is on the list of New Zealand's Great Walks (there are about 8 others). We had read in the Visitor Center that you could do this in one day if you were in good shape and left early. Although we were suspicious, when we asked the young girl (20 something) at the Conservation/Information Center if we could do it in a day, she said, sure, some people run it. Run it! Hmmm. About 30 km, so I guess it is less than a marathon. Still you do go up a MOUNTAIN. We tried to plan our stick and stick to our plan, no wait, what is that saying?!? And really, we did a pretty good job. Lynda/Mom made us wear no cotton, bring raingear, and she brought a torch (flashlight). And we set a turn back point for noon where we would turn around if we got there late. We did take off a little late - hey, we're Selbies - but were walking the first part on a road by 8:30 am. We had gone about a mile when a very old car pulled up behind us and rolled down their windows. It was Sue and Dennis! From yesterday, in case you forgot. They wanted to know if we wanted to ride with them. We told them our plan and figured this might be divine intervention to actually get us caught back up right from the get-go. We got in their old rattle-trap car (and that is being nice) that came with the little place they had rented. We then drove another mile to where the road ended and the real track began. They were driving out here to see a big anchor that connects Stewart Island to the South Island and keeps them from drifting away from each other. They had seen the other end of the anchor at Bluff on the South Island (we'll get there in a few days and we too will see the other anchor). It is a pretty neat sculpture idea. We talked to them for a while, took a lot of pictures, walked on the beach, and then, not having used up all of our advantage gained by the car, we took off with them waving good-bye.

This next part of the hike headed along the northwest coast with the Tasman Sea off to our right the whole way. The trees changed constantly and it really looked more like Middle Earth than I imagine Middle Earth really does. We were in good spirits, taking movies with our Flip camera and lots of still pictures with our regular camera. After a few hours we came to Maori beach. It had rained lightly off and on up till then, with really nice sun in between. But just as we arrived, the rain picked up and it even started hailing. We hunkered down in a shelter (what timing!) and had some lunch Lynda had packed. There was some sort of weird "shrine" centered on what we believe was a whale skull, so we honored it with a toast.
At this point the rain was letting up a little, so we took off along the beach (a sign said to take the alternate path at high tide, but it was low tide). Lynda found some nice shells and we passed some tents at a campsite. At the far end of the beach was the first of many swinging bridges we were to go over. Little did we know they put the best first, presumably so you wouldn't turn back. The first bridge actually feature in a little movie, Mom's idea, where I did the Cooper Rive ... er Maori Beach Bridge Run. This bridge even allowed four people to be on it at one time as it crossed over a river mouth at the far end of the beach. We then started a pretty steep climb eventually getting to an intersection where you either headed toward the Prince William Hut for the night, or you turned left and headed across the island. If you were doing the 3 day version, the obvious thing was to take the 45 minute walk to the Prince William hut and spend the night. But not us! Actually, this was our decision point. If we hadn't reached here by noon, we were going to turn around. But it was 12:04!!!! Close enough to noon for us! Plus we weren't tired much or anything, still had plenty of water and some food. We jointly decided to forge on, after all it was Mother's Day. In fact, I do believe Lynda was the main proponent of continuing on at this point. (Ed. Note: This may be a minor point of contention, but we should be clear that the Dad was not pushing for it. I was happy to go).

The next part continued lush and beautiful as we headed down a hill to the interior of the island. It did bother us a little that we were heading down since we knew ultimately we were going to climb another few thousand feet in elevation. But still, it was easy and beautiful. We stopped frequently (but not for long) for pictures and encountered a number of swing bridges. Plus, the path we very well kept and often had built in steps on up and down sections. Eventually the bridges started saying "Only one person at a time on bridge" and you really needed to hold on to the wire railings. I think this picture actually makes it look much more stable than it really was.

But it was safe! At least we presume it was. On one of our last bridges I noticed someone had been weaving heavy wire through some big holes that had somehow formed in the wire botton part.

And there were places were those cross pieces were non-existent for a few steps. But we motored on. After many ups and downs, we realized we were somewhere in the middle of the island and there really was no turning back. But we were doing well and it seemed there was plenty of daylight left. There weren't yardage markers on this course, so we were doing a little guessing between the huts. Then we came to what clearly seemed to be the final ascent to one of the payoffs for this trip - a lookout from the top of the island. It seemed to be the final ascent because we were just going up, up, up. It was somewhere around this point that Lynda said her legs were getting a little tired - rut, roh, as Scooby Doo would say. But she said it was no big deal. We did start drinking our water for the first time (hadn't really needed it up to now). We continued to experience intermittent periods of sunshine with light rain and about every third rain shower we would get hail. It was that neat kind of walking in the woods rain where you hear it coming through the trees long before it gets to you. We were nice and dry, still with plenty of supplies, and the light was good. Although where we were it was hard to tell exactly how high the sun was in the sky. I had described this hike as 3 Cooper River Bridge walks and we were now a little over 1 1/2 way through. The birds were singing around us and although the climb was the steepest yet, using tree roots as stairs now, it continued to be beautiful. Oh, and the trail had gotten muddier for reasons we never figured out. I think it is time for dinner here in real time, so we will complete the hike tomorrow. Or soon.

Stewart Island Part II

Still no pictures, sadly. However, I will attempt to paint you a picture of Ulva Island, our main venture on our first day. Well, as you, dear reader, will no doubt remember, when we last saw you we were having our coffee (long black for me, flat white for Mom - yes, you have to figure out yet another way to order the kind of coffee you are used to drinking!) and discovering yet a second German girl working there. Later we will discover one of the managers is a German guy, an American girl, working there, and a Norwegian girl, Italian guy, and Slovenian guy working on the island.

Lynda had done some research and decreed that our first stop should be Ulva Island, a pristine piece of land out in the bay with NO predator animals. I thought we also might get in a little kayaking as the weather had cleared dramatically since the plane flight (did I mention the pilot loaned us a kitchen towel thing to clean off our windows, but then had to ask for it back when we were landing so he could clean off the front windows). Anyway, it was now sunny and the water looked fairly calm for being essentially in the Southern Ocean. We took off walking to a point on the map where it said Liz would rent you a kayak. About a mile down the road and almost to our destination we ran into a guy who looked like what I would imagine a Stewart Island fisherman would look like. Big, jovial, big beard, gum boots, the works. He started talking and when he learned of our intentions he said. "Well if that's your plan, I'd turn right around and head back to town and find Liz right now before the weather turns bad". After mumbling something about expecting Liz to be near the kayaks (turned out we were now standing beside the boathouse they were kept in), he laughed and let us know that essentially every activity you can do on the island you have to book at or right beside the hotel where the people running the activities are apparently just hanging out. As we turned to hike back, he suggested we stop in at the next bay where his wife, Inge, would pick us up in a little green shuttle bus and take us back to town for free. We then watched him get into one of those little rowboats you always see in countries that are not the U.S. and row out to a big sailboat.

While we were waiting at the next bay for Inez to show up, who should we see coming around the corner of the bay but our sailor friend. He expertly pulled his at least 60 sloop single handedly up to the dock and tied up. Turns out he and Iris run a tour to Ulva Island. About that time the water started developing pretty good white caps and he suggested we might want to forego the kayaking. Although we suspected there might be a little conflict of interest, it was clear he was right about the deteriorating conditions. So, instead of kayaking, when Ilse showed up with their two passengers for the day, we signed on spur of the moment and headed to Ulva Island.

Turned out to be a pretty good thing, too, because he had been the first ranger on the island and only retired a few years ago. So he had a lot to talk about - and boy did he talk a lot. But it was interesting learning how they have returned the island to it's native state of no predators and really no mammals. They have to be on continual lookout for rats that keep trying to hitchhike or swim over, but they do a good job. The little birds will just walk around at your feet. In fact a lot of them are ground nesters because ... no predators, of course. We became amateur birders on our track and can now recognize their native robin, the fantail, bell bird, Tui, and Kacka (a parrot). After a great afternoon around the island with the weather cooperating, we headed back. Lynda was bemoaning the fact that she hadn't seen a penguin, so we all got on penguin watch. And just as we were 300 meters from the dock, the cry went up - "Blue Penguin, one o'clock!". We have to admit it was a distance away and only stayed on the surface for a few seconds before diving away, but ... we did see one! We then retired to their house for a hot coffee - and we really needed it by this point. We had gotten to be pretty good friends with our other companions, Sue and Dennis, by this point. They will show up in our travels later. Sue looks pretty European NZ and Dennis looks more Maori NZ but basically they are just your regular middle aged people you find in any country who have gotten an RV (camping car) and headed out on a tour of the South Island, eventually making it to Stewart Island.

So, evening found us walking down the hill to the pub in the South Seas Hotel, only pub on the island, and joining the locals. How noisy did it get? Will we get any sleep tonight being directly above it? Will we use the ear plugs outside our room? Stayed tuned!

Stewart Island Part I (Now with pictures!)

Although we are having a difficult time figuring out our internet connections down under, I think we need to get something posted, so here goes. We have pictures (and they are good), but they are not on this computer, so ... At any rate, we took our biggest trip yet to Stewart Island, the 3rd island down at the bottom of New Zealand. Their main "season" was just ending, so we arrived in typical Selbies fashion. After driving straight from work Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm to Wellington, parking in long term parking, riding the shuttle bus, we just made it. Thank heavens there is no security to go through for in-country NZ flights. We flew down to Invercargill, checked in to the old Railroad Hotel, then went out for a bite. This town has more boy racers on the streets than anywhere I am sure. This includes the main street where they would REALLY race from stoplight to stoplight. Police - nuh-uh. New Zealanders also all seem to be saving money on their heating bills, even the restaurants. On the other side of the coin, everyone and everyplace has electric blankets on the beds. When we got back to our hotel, the landlady loaned us their copy of the DVD "The World's Fastest Indian" about the guy from Invercargill who set a motorcycle record at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The next day we got up bright and early and headed back to the airport for our little flight to Stewart Island. A nice man behind the Stewart Airlines counter checked us in. Then he went around to another door, greeted us and took our luggage. He weighed our luggage, then had us stand on the scale and weighed us. Seriously. Then he went to another place, took our tickets and escorted us to the plane. Then he got into the Pilot's seat - well actually he got in the co-pilot's seat and then appeared to talk a student through the process of flying us over the roughest stretch of water in the world to Stewart Island. It was an 8 seater plane. Lynda and I sat right behind the co-pilot and sudent, er, pilot. If we could post the movie, it would be here ... "Switch up, no, switch up, yes, now easy there. Good, check flaps now, etc, etc.."

On arrival we were met by a van to take us to the only hotel on the island, The South Seas Hotel. Conjures up a great image, doesn't it. And our room on the second floor over the pub looked right out on the bay. Although the basket of ear plugs on a table outside our room was definitely not-so-subtle foreshadowing. We did look out on the giant chess board by the "beach" which really made our little town look right out of "The Prisoner" for fans of that old Patrick McGoohan TV show.

We went down after stowing our bags and got a coffee from the ... GERMAN GIRL working there. We, of course, told her, auf Deutsch, about our alteste tochter in die goldschmied schule in Hanau.

Well, that might be a good place to stop and make sure I can post this. There's a lot more to come from Stewart Island and we are already 10 days past that. Isabelle, send Mom another set of directions for how she can become a poster. Next up, our visit to Ulva Island.

Wellington

So, we got off work Friday night and drove the 2 hours to Wellington, checked into a hotel, and went straight to the Rugby game where we saw our Hurricanes beat the Auckland Blues.


Here is a nice play from the game! Big stadium! The Wellington Hurricanes are in 1st place in the Super 14 League.


This morning we had breakfast on the 26th floor of the James Cook Hotel with this view of the harbour. We will be down there walking around shortly. Tonight we will stay with Joan Mirkin, a friend of Leonie Gordon's, then drive back to Palmy on Sunday afternoon. Beautiful day today. Had good internet hookup at the hotel, hence this post.