Susanne planned a really cool trip to Cuba for 3 weeks, so I needed to find something to do with myself. I had originally thought about doing the Northwest circuit on Stewart Island, but after a lot of research and thought I decided that it was probably not such a great idea to do something that remote and rugged solo while she was 1/2 way across the world. So it go shelved for now.
I had been hunting around the DOC website cogitating options when I noticed that there was 1 night available in the Luximore hut on the Kepler track. That is the hut you have to have if you do Kepler as there is no camping way up on top. Well, technically that is not true. You can do Kepler without that hut, but it requires a super long day hiking from Broad Bay to Iris Burn campsites. That didn’t sound so fun.
Anyway, I snagged the spot and figured I would plan around that hut reservation a total of 2 weeks of outdoor adventures. I settled on 5 adventures: tramping up Isthmas Peak, Welcome Rock MTB, Kepler Track, Rees Dart Track and MTB in Wanaka. An action packed 2 weeks of fun.
I had to get someone to take care of the chickens for us, so I asked our go to friends Bee and Bev. I gave Bev the dates and he said they could do it. Then in passing I added to the text stream, “unless you want to do Rees Dart with me. I could pick you up in Queenstown on the 29th”.
The number of friends that I have that are willing to do adventures with me has greatly decreased over the years. I do not know why this is; perhaps the stories of whitewater kayaking in the snow, sufferfest bike rides or a general tendency to encounter a level of uncomfortable misery has contributed. Tough to tell, really, but it has happened.
So after typing the invite into the chat, I was fully expecting the usual hemming and hawing that often happens: “I gotta think about it”, “Bad timing”, “Johny’s got a piano recital”, “give me more info”, etc. You get the drift. But at least the chickens would be taken care of.
Then I got a response: “ticket is booked”. Whoa! Now that is a man who is decisive! I was excited to have someone to go along with me on the hardest part of the adventure. So was Susanne.
We had a few subsequent planning session and we were good to go. I would pick up Bev in Queenstown on the 29th. He dehydrated some food and he brought over a test salmon recipe for us to taste. It wasn’t very good. We added some stuff and it go better. I was skeptical, but agreed to the menu addition.
I kept a close eye on the weather and saw that I needed to accelerate my departure for a day if I was going to climb Isthmus Peak in good weather. To be honest, there is little point in climbing Isthmus Peak in bad weather. It is all about the view.
I dropped Susanne off at the airport, spent the next day packing every toy known to man into the truck and then headed out. It was a 9 1/2 hr drive down the West Coast to get to Kidd Bush Reserve, but being from the Western US, I am well conditioned for long grindy drives. Luckily it was a beautiful day, so the scenery was great. The only downside with the 15,623 camper vans I had to pass.
At one point google maps notified me that the road was closed to Haast. WTF?! If true, this would require a huge backtrack and re-route through Christchurch — 10+ hours. Ugh. I couldn’t believe I could have missed that detail. I had a moment of panic.
I got to the construction site where it was stopped. The dude in front of me asked how long we would be there and it was 30 to 45 minutes. Whew. No back tracking required. I chatted with an American dude on holiday from San Louis Obispo. I gave him some ideas on stuff to do, as is my way. I made it to Kidd Bush by around 5:30 pm.
The campground was crowded. It is a very European style campground where everyone is all smashed in together. This is always hard for someone who has grown up in the Western US. I drove around and found a spot that had some shade because it was really toasty hot (30+ degrees).
I pulled out the bike and road around for awhile at a leisurely pace then just decided to sit in the chair, have some dinner and enjoy a nice glass of wine while I waited for the noise of the motor boats and the heat to abate. My plan was to get up early so I could do Isthmus before it was too hot. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad of a first day.
Adventure #1: Hiking Isthmus Peak
I have written up a separate page that describes the hike in a bit more detail that can be found here, so I will only summarize. I got up at 6:15 am and was at the trailhead around 7. I finished my coffee and started up the hill. The day was a perfect blue bird day. I was definitely glad that I had accelerated the departure by a day.
I was wondering how the body would feel up the 1100 meter climb. I am still really tentative and a bit nervous of my ankle; I doubt it will ever be 100%. The first part of the climb moved through the forested section and then along a fence line before really starting the climb.
It is not really a trail, but a 4×4 road so in general the walking is straight forward if not up. Three dudes caught me just as we were starting the climb in earnest and we chatted about cameras. He, Warren, had a Canon R5. I had envy. I told him it would be awhile before I could get that through the budget committee…he laughed and said “just ask for forgiveness!” That got me thinking.
I had seen a lot of sign advising you that there was hunting in the area. Not uncommon, but this seems to be a popular place to do it. At one point I was walking along and looked up to the left into the bushes and there was a huge buck just standing there. I bet those hunters wish they had seen him!
He was huge. Although I am no expert, it looks like a 10 point buck to me. He seemed totally uninterested in me.
I kept yo-yo’ing with Warren and Co all the way up. It was really starting to get hot and I could feel it starting to wear me down a bit. I came to a rocky outcrop that provided some shade and took a bit of a break; I climbed about 800 meters to that point. The shade felt great.
They actually had a bathroom way up there which is nice. I am sure with the huge volume of trampers that go through, it becomes a necessity to provide this service. Thanks whoever!
I made it to the top in about 2 1/2 hrs. Not too bad for an old guy taking pictures. The views are stunning. Warren was there and we chatted some more. He was a wedding photographer in Wanaka. I guess Wanaka is the place to get married in New Zealand and a popular thing is to get a helicopter to drop you off on the top of a mountain and do the ceremony there. Warren got to go along and take photos. Now that, my friends, is a sweet gig.
I ambled back down, taking care not to aggravate the old, beat up knees, and made it back to the car around 1 pm. It was blazing hot…and yet…people were just starting out their hikes. Ugh. I would die.
I headed back to camp which was still a slight step below loud mayhem. I can’t blame people, they were there having fun, swimming, kayaking and being towed behind a power boat in a biscuit. So, my only option was to join in the fun. I had forgotten my swim suit, but didn’t care and just went for a swim in undies. Nobody else cared either.
I lounged about and got ready to leave for my next adventure. By evening the clouds were moving in and I could tell I had made some good choices. I got a good view across to Corner Peak from the campground. This is a tramp I have on my list, but that will have to be for another day.
It was a great day of hiking and a good start to the trip.
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