Mt Cook

Today we hiked up a steep track toward the Mueller Hut, which offers views of Mt. Cook, one of the highest mountains in New Zealand. Sir Edmund Hillary used Mt. Cook as a training ground as he prepared for the first summit of Everest. Since only half of the students were up for the hike after the rigor of the Milford Track, the rest of the students stayed in the luxurious Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Center, which contains a lodge, an information center, and a very nice cafe with views of the mountains.

The hikers witnessed the way that the New Zealand park service maintains trail. As we hiked up thousands of feet worth of well-built trail, we watched a helicopter take one barrel load of gravel after another from the valley floor to the trail above, where some very content workers emptied each gravel load. This went on for over two hours. Clouds obscured our views of Mt. Cook, but we enjoyed views of the glacier below and an adjacent lake, and the sun stayed on us all day.

Now we are back in Christchurch. We had a delicious pizza dinner this evening, and we will have some free time to explore Christchurch tomorrow before heading to the airport.

We have nearly run out of internet capacity, so we will upload the remaining pictures upon our return to the states. We fly out tomorrow afternoon at 3pm New Zealand time, and we will enter a time warp that will have us arriving in Nashville on Saturday night at 11pm. We should reach the Parry Center at or a little after 1am on Sunday morning.

The travel itinerary is on the Walkabout website (posted above). We should be back in cell phone range when we arrive in San Francisco at about 2pm EST on Saturday.

Everyone is safe, and we have had a wonderful time.

Milford Track

Today we finished the Milford Track! We traveled 35 miles over four days, and we went up and over a 2400ft pass on a trail that offered spectacular views of two different valleys.

Milford Sound

We began today’s adventures with an early morning drive from our hostel in Te Anau to the Milford Sound. As dawn transitioned from darkness to the gray light of a rainy morning, behemoths of rock began to appear ahead outside the van windows in the distance, proving to be an intriguing introduction to our day.

Due to weather conditions and wave swells, we were unable to sea kayak in the Milford Sound as planned; however, resilient and adaptive, we decided to take a boat ride into the Sound. The light rain and rolling fog gave the scenery within the Milford Sound a dream-like quality. Moved beyond the ability to articulate complete sentences, most of us could only sit along the boat railing and stare as we passed seals, mist-capped mountains, and looming cliffs with “disappearing” waterfalls (strong winds scattered the water into a mist before the waterfall could connect with the water of the Sound).

After our boat ride, we continued onwards in the rain to two short hikes that provided views of chasms and streams. After wringing out our clothes and loading into the vans, we all returned back to Te Anau for a relaxing afternoon of coffee, shopping, journaling, laundry, and preparing for our four day backpack on the Milford Track that will begin tomorrow afternoon. 

-Mary Crowell

NOTE: We will begin our backpacking trip tomorrow, and we will be out of contact until Thursday. We will send along an update as soon as we can when we return, though it may be late in the week before we get a chance to update. 

Today we went canyoneering in Queenstown. Considering that Superwoman Lindsay Mies admitted that she was nervous, you can only imagine how I was feeling on the drive over. We left from Queenstown, the most awesome city in the world, and drove about forty minutes to Routeburn trail at the base of the mountains. Canyoneering was an experience that I will never forget. We slid down waterfalls (backwards), jumped off ledges into pools, zip-lined, and got a taste of that cold mountain water. Although I was shivering like no other, I was so happy to be there. Also, I have officially decided that I am going to live in Queenstown. Sorry Mom and Dad—you would understand if you were here too. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

-Grace Strang

We have arrived in Te Anau. Tomorrow we will go sea kayaking in the Milford Sound, and we begin our backpack the day after. SmugMug is currently experiencing some site difficulties, but we will put some more pictures up as soon as we can.

Glacier Views

Yesterday (Thursday) we got an early start and hiked up to a vista of the Fox glacier at sunrise. We then drove to Wanaka, which took us past stunning lake views. Once we arrived in Wanaka, we drove to the end of a long dusty road and hiked up a steep gulch to the base of another series of mountains with huge snow formations. After the hike, we drove to Queenstown and feasted on the world-famous Fergburgers. Pictures to come!

Today we will go canyoneering.

Avlanche Peak and the Franz Josef Glacier

This morning we hiked up the Scott’s Track out of Arthur’s Pass. Yesterday’s drive offered us stunning views of one valley after another, and this morning’s hike gave us the opportunity to relish the vistas at a slower pace as we climbed up the side of Avalanche Peak. Across the valley we could see the Devil’s Punchbowl, an impressive 200 ft waterfall. As the mist blew from the higher regions and the sun peaked from behind the clouds, we glimpsed a rainbow that arched over a gulch to our right. While the hike lacked the switchbacks of the Appalachian trail, we quickly gained elevation, and in just two hours, we were above the tree line and headed for the peak. Winds and clouds blew up the mountain in gusts, so we made our way carefully.

As the trail grew steeper, we decided to take it one marker post at a time. The valley below disappeared, and we could barely make out the peak, so we paused and looked out into the misty void. We decided to call this point our summit, and after relishing brief glimpses of the view, we began our descent. We stopped for lunch on the trail and made it back to the vans in the early afternoon.

Leaving Arthur’s Pass, we wound our way down to the coast again. As we did so, the fauna changed once again. We stopped at a café for a “long black” coffee (essentially an Americano), and we eventually arrived at Franz Josef, where we took a short walk up to an overlook that offered us impressive views of the Franz Josef glacier at the top of the valley.

Tomorrow we will hike toward the Fox glacier, and we will move toward Christchurch. 

The Long Haul

As of now, our nerves are shot.  Why, many of you may ask?  Well, let me briefly explain seeing as how dinner is now ready.  We have been riding in the car for nine and a half hours.  We left Nelson this morning around 10:00.  After walking around the city for a while and exploring the shops, we left on our journey (which was much longer than expected, might I add).  After many bathroom stops, scenic views, and stops for Troy to climb some rocks while the rest of us explored the surrounding area, we made it to our hostel in Arthur’s Pass.  So after a super long and slap-happy drive filled with exploration and Troy’s bothersome antics, we made it.  Now I am off to eat dinner, which, as you can imagine, is definitely at the top of my priority list right now. So, so long.

Regards,

Sarah