Let's just jump straight back in to it shall we....
Me, Dannii and Ella drove up the East Coast to our first stop- the Moeraki Boulders. True, they're just some smoothed rocks on the beach, but if they're written as a tourist attraction then we may as well follow the Asian tour buses!
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| Cheeky photobomb |
We covered a lot of miles on our drive and stopped also at some very faint Maori carvings on our inland route. But soon after we were approaching Omarama in the mountain ranges. This was quite possibly the best sunset I have ever seen and every minute it turned into a darker, richer colour. I don't think I possess the descriptive power for this one, I just know that after my year so far this view is a HUGE highlight!
And with that beautiful sight engrained in our heads, we soon found a place to set up camp. The $16 tent went up pretty quickly and then it was time to eat a salad dinner in the car. We had time to do a little exploring with a single head torch between us, but this night was cold and not for adventures. Dannii definitely though so and couldn't feel her feet. Though we solved this mystery when Dannii told us she was wearing 6 pairs of socks! Haha. When reduced to two pairs, her circulation was able to work again! Even so, this camping exercise was pretty brutal. At 2am we were all awake due to the cold and decided to move in to the car. It was actually warmer in the car...
We put the heaters on for ten minutes, through our sleeping bags in the car also and tried again to sleep. The camping trip really wasn't a camping trip so far.
I woke up first in the morning. It was going to be a big day, so I quickly folded the tent (folded as it had frosted over and it seemed the only way to pack it) and drove, allowing the girls to remain in their sleeping bags. We were 45 minutes away from Lake Pukaki, Mt Cook's massive neighbour!
Before going on our adventure, we had the most welcome cup of coffee of the trip so far. And this seemed to be enough to bring an energy burst amongst the three of us as we climbed up to Mueller Hut. It was amazing really. Snow covered mountains, 2000m above sea level and we were walking up in shorts and t-shirts. We were even throwing snowballs quite happily.
Our very own Ella also kept up her good form by winning yet another bet for free coffee, being the first to hit a rock on a frozen lake with a snowball at Sealy Tarns (the half way point on the climb). It felt like she was getting all of the home support back in the South Island!
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| Let the walking begin! |
And now for the story of the trip. The element that defined this journey from the others. The memory which will never be forgotten and the story which I will never tire of telling. We reached the top. Yes, it was beautiful and a great accomplishment. But no, that's not the story. Dannii is the story. It seemed she pushed hard to get there and in the snow she jarred her hip. A very concerning scenario as we didn't have gear for the hut and the likelihood of getting Dannii back down with less than 3 hours of daylight was low.We were a bit stuck...
And so Ella and I made a few phone calls asking for advice and soon the conclusion was reached- a rescue helicopter was on its way. Poor Dannii, we were joking that she would have to be winced up, a thought she wasn't too keen on. It seems the jokes have been quite frequent since then, and we can't watch a helicopter go by without very publicly checking if Dannii is alright ;-)
In her defence and on the plus side, the rescue service took all of us down. All three of us had our very first helicopter experience thanks to this drama and if you can believe it, the helicopter ride across Mt Cook was pretty sweet. I wanted to take a few photo's, but it didn't really feel appropriate; this one lives in the memory only.
The rescue services were amazing though. We owe them a lot of thanks as they got us out of a hairy situation. Of course the local (individual) police officer was involved too and he was also very helpful. Dannii's hip got cross-examined and she was given some pain killers for now. A point worth mentioning, since then Dannii has made a couple of donations towards the rescue services haha.
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| Is this a suitable after-rescue-Helicopter reaction? I'm not sure |
We picked up a French hitchhiker called Pierre on our way. He was nice enough and grateful for the ride. Though we found ourselves apologising a little as our car couldn't reach 50km/h at this point; you know it's bad when buses and lorries are overtaking you.
The slow car prevented us from seeing the sunset at Tekapo. So we set to work finding a place to stay. And this went on for over three hours. Dannii was practically knocked out on pain killers, so me and Ella were making phone calls and asking around. There was nothing. Not even at good distances outside of Tekapo.
Eventually we found an option, nearly two hours East in Geraldine. It was late but we set off anyway, only to find the night was far to young for our adventures to finish. Our car was now struggling to reach 30km/h. Driving on a bendy, hilly highway with no power at night- oh no no no. We turned around after 10 minutes. And when we tried an hour later it ended the same. Hmm...
We had one choice again. We pulled the car up in Tekapos main car park and settled in for night 2. This was rough going, but we were all pretty tired and it just didn't seem to matter anymore. Thankfully though we did find our good Samaritan, a chap by the name Cristobal. He brought us blankets, a hot water bottle for Dannii and even tea before we crashed for the night. I guess this trip was definitely adventurous!
This night did have a high reward though. Come morning, the sun hit the mountains and we saw Lake Tekapo in its prime. I like to think we would have missed this sight if we had slept anywhere else.
The car got a quick service that morning. Whilst that was happening, we sat down in Cristobals cafe and had the most welcome cup of coffee of the trip so far.
The car was partially repaired and we were told it may make the rest of the journey to Christchurch. With those strong words of encouragement started on the road we couldn't finish the night before...
And made it!
Apart from a quick break in which me and Ella were doing handstands, nothing too eventful happened and the car survived. A good result! The three of us took wonderful showers and felt human once more. There really hadn't been too many April showers so far (pardon the pun). With failed camping trips and Taranki the week previously, not being able to shower was becoming a bad routine (and I can thankfully say not a routine we are now following).
We had just one night in Christchurch. We walked around the city centre, coming across earthquake damage, construction sights and artwork. It was surreal to see the extent of the damage even four years later. There were so many large, fenced off free spaces, the remains where buildings once stood. Many other buildings were severely damaged and a few looked repaired/untouched from the earthquake. A highlight was the ReStart program, a collection of businesses re-opening in shipping containers. It was incredibly well set up.
It was nice to see the city. I think one night was probably enough, though the disaster-tourism could have intrigued me a little longer. There were nice things amongst the redevelopment, controversial artwork and some redesigned buildings. The best-looking building around was definitely the casino- it's always nice to see the big dogs doing well regardless of recent events...
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| We saw the cathedral from the other side first and thought it was undamaged... |
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| Going green artwork by the Cathedral |
Up early, our last day began with a flight to Wellington. We would only be here for a couple of hours, but we got to remind ourselves of the city once more. We even met Ella's sister, Claire. She joined us for an Indian lunch on Cuba Street. She seemed like a nice girl, but our time here was short and sweet.
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| Group selfie! |
Thanks for reading :-) My only regret is that I didn't eat enough whilst at FergBurger. All hail the Ferg!Kia Ora,
Ben
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