Knifemaking and (not so) Sunny Nelson

A couple weeks after Easter we had another long weekend - this time due to Anzac Day, which is the New Zealand version of Memorial Day. This year was the 100 year anniversary of the battle at Gallipoli that Anzac Day commemorates, so the celebrations were bigger than usual.  We took the opportunity of a three day weekend to check out one of the towns on the South Island that we missed over Christmas - Nelson!  Nelson is affectionately referred to as "Sunny Nelson" because of its reputation as one of the sunniest places in the country, so of course it rained the entire time we were there.

Where we stayed along the way - the Honest Lawyer Country Pub and Inn was even better than it sounded!  And our beach view in Punakaiki can't be beat - even with the crap weather. Don't be deceived by those blue skies above - it was the last we saw all weekend.

Our first day in Nelson we drove out to Abel Tasman National Park, which is supposed to be a spectacular place to spend a week in the summer.  We had a couple hours on a rainy fall afternoon, but we could still see the appeal.  We did the first hour or so of the Abel Tasman Great Walk. Hopefully one day we'll do the entire thing!

The beautiful Abel Tasman - with a reading break on the beach (until the rain came back). Just next to the entrance of the park is a beautiful sculpture garden.

After our time in Abel Tasman, we had a rainy, windy drive down to Punakaiki, where we stayed in an awesome cabin right by the beach.  The view when we woke up was still pretty stunning despite the rain. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad we had to skip the pancake rocks and blowhole that Punakaiki is famous for, but we had other more important plans - knifemaking!

How a knife is born

We tried to do the knifemaking course in Barrytown over Christmas, but it was completely booked for a full month. It was a bit out of our way, but it was worth it! We started with a piece of steel and some rimu and ended up with some pretty kick ass knives!  See below for more detail.

After knifemaking we took an even rainier drive back to Nelson. By the time we got to our hotel it was after 8pm, and not much was open in town that late on a Sunday (even on a holiday weekend), but we managed to find a cozy brewpub with something resembling poutine.

Monday morning we joined up with a tour company to do our first ever New Zealand beer tour! We've done at least 10 wine tours at this point, but this was our first beer tour!  Nelson claims the title of Craft Brew Capitol of New Zealand, and the hops grown here are in demand all over the world. After the tour our guide was kind enough to drop us off at the airport, and we were back in our beds by 9pm!

With the other member of our beer tour - a father/son duo from Australia looking to get into the brewing business.

Some of the stops along the way - including a village for guinea pigs.

A day (or two) in Queenstown

In order to get to the Routeburn Track, we had to first make our way down to Queenstown, which serves as a gateway for the Fjordland region. We spent half a day there on arrival before taking a two-hour bus ride to the start of the track.

Before the hike - so clean and well rested! I waited to put my boots on as long as I could.

Even though the Routeburn Track is only 32km long, the path it takes through the mountains means that the ride home is twice as long as the ride there, so after we finished our tramp, we had to ride a bus for four hours back to Queenstown, arriving after 7pm on Easter Sunday.  I was afraid nothing would be open for dinner, but Queenstown did not disappoint! Because it's such a tourism-centric town, it is exempt from many of the laws around public holiday closures in New Zealand, so we were able to feast!

On the road to Routeburn.

Our flight wasn't due to leave until 6pm on Easter Monday, so we had a full day to hang out in Queenstown.  A few of us got much deserved massages, we had some beer at Atlas Cafe (our favourite spot in Queenstown) and finally tried a Fergburger. Fergburger is a bit of a legend in Queenstown, and whenver we're there, the line is out the door and around the block. We timed our trip for mid-afternoon, so only had to wait about 20 minutes.  As promised, our burgers were gigantic, but they were also slightly undercooked and probably not worth the hype.  I'm glad I had one, but wouldn't go out of my way to get another.

Hanging out with our favourite Kiwi and eating our Fergberger by the lake - the restaurant itself has minimal seating.

About 2 minutes before our flight was due to leave, the status board switched our flight from "on time" to "cancelled!" We were a little confused considering the lovely weather, but soon found out our plane had mechanical issues that kept it from getting to us. It was due to be the last flight of the day, so we were stuck in Queenstown for another night!  Thankfully, we were the first to notice the cancellation, and immediately got on the phone to Air New Zealand to book the first flights out the next morning. At that point, there were more people stranded than there were empty seats on the following day, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some people were stuck for days.  This was especially upsetting to the multiple people who had connecting international flights, but to us - it was a bonus night in Queenstown!

This nice view brought to you by Air New Zealand!

Air New Zealand handled the situation better than we expected - they put us up in nice hotels in the centre of town, provided shuttles to/from the airport and paid for a 3-course dinner and a hot breakfast. Initially we were excited for our extra night in Queenstown, but by the time we had made it back to the hotel and eaten dinner, we were all so tired that we went straight to bed.  The next morning Rob and I drove straight from the airport to work, still in the clothes we'd been wearing for two days.

Routeburn Track

New Zealand has dozens (hundreds?) of amazing multi-day tramps, but only nine of them carry the official title of Great Walks - three on the North Island and six on the South Island.

Generally speaking, the New Zealand Department of Conservation does an excellent job of keeping up the tracks, but they put a special emphasis on the facilities for the Great Walks. Almost all of them have huts with cooking stoves, heat, bunks, running water and toilets - even flushing toilets at some sites!

We had some grand scheme of doing all nine Great Walks, but haven't had the best of luck so far. As some of you may recall, we attempted the Tongariro Northern Circuit three times back in December 2013/January 2014, but each time we were thwarted by the weather ("you might not make it, but you could give it a go"). We also did a two day canoe trip on the Whanganui River last April, which was a portion of the Whanganui Journey Great Walk (even though it's more of a row than a walk), but not the full thing.  Those attempts and half-attempts are the closest we've come to completing a Great Walk until Easter 2015, when we hiked the Routeburn Track with  four friends.

At 32km, the Routeburn Track is one of the shortest Great Walks. Some people do it in two days and some people even run through it in one, but the most traditional option is a three-day hike. Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays here, so we took advantage of the long weekend to cross Routeburn off our list. We got up before the sun on the morning of Good Friday to fly to Queenstown, where we caught a bus into Fjordland National Park to start the 9km walk to our first hut around 3pm.

We hiked from left to right - starting at the Routeburn Shelter, staying at the Routeburn Falls Hut on the first night and hiking to the Lake Mackenzie Hut for the second night, and then catching our bus back to Queenstown from the Divide on Day 3.

The Routeburn Track is one of the most famous in the world among hikers, and based on my (not so) mini photo-essay below, it's not hard to see why!

Day 1 - Routeburn Shelter to Routeburn Falls Hut

Setting off - the first day was the easiest, with a mostly-flat walk along a river and through some bush.

This trail even had toilets along the trail - with toilet paper included! Apparently the Routeburn and Milford are the "fanciest" of the Great Walks.  Usually it's BYOTP and be prepared to go behind a tree.

Top left - The last section of the trail is very steep, with a slippery, rocky "staircase" at the very end. These 2km are estimated to take almost as long as the 6.5 km before them. But we finally made it to the hut, which was amazing! We boiled up some bangers and mash for dinner and sipped wine by the fire while a minstrel played classic campfire tunes on a handmade ukelele. Does life get any better than this?

Day 2 - Routeburn Falls Hut to Lake Mackenzie Hut via the Harris Saddle

We woke up on Day 2 to a hard and steady downpour, and ended up hanging out until after 10am for it to slow a bit. It didn't rain that hard again the rest of the day, but there was a constant drizzle and fog for most of the day. Thankfully we were all prepared! The middle right picture is looking back at the hutsite - complete with emergency helicopter pad. Bottom right shows some crazy people swimming in the waterfall.

Our walk through Harris Saddle. This was the hardest part of the entire hike for me. It was raining, cold, slippery and STEEP! These pictures don't capture how much of this was straight uphill. Bottom right is the natural shelter we stopped at to have a snack and a break from the rain.

We made it to the Harris Saddle shelter just as the sun was coming out! We had a quick lunch and then the others set out on the optional side hike up Conical Hill while I stayed with the packs. Thankfully the clouds parted long enough to make the extra 2 hour hike worth it.

Coming back down the other side of the mountain after Harris Saddle was as varied in terrain as the weather was that day. It seemed like we hiked through the plains, the tropics, a rocky wasteland and Fanghorn Forest all in a few hours. Also, contrary to what the map depicted, it was not a gradual decline down to the hut. It was unexpectedly uphill for most of the way until it took a sharp dive downhill for a very steep walk down into the Lake Mackenzie valley. We were EXHAUSTED when we arrived, but some mac n cheese, wine and hot chocolate cheered us right up!

Day 3 - Lake Mackenzie Hut to The Divide

We were thrilled to wake up Day 3 to find that it was sunny!  It was cold (less than 4*C when we set out), but the views were too stunning to notice. The bottom left is a picture of the "poncy hut up the way" for the people on guided walks. For just $1200-1500 per person ($1000+ more than the regular huts), you can have someone carry all your bags, cook all your meals, and stay in fancy huts with hot water, soft beds in private rooms, and even television! We call these people cheaters.

The end of the hike took us past some breathtaking waterfalls and then back into the forest for the final descent down to the Divide. We started to hear the road below about an hour before our hike ended, which at that point seemed weird and otherwordly.

We made it!  I'd like to thank the people who suggested I bring a walking stick, the people who invented the walking stick, and the people who lent me a walking stick - I couldn't have done it without you!  And of course I'd like to thank all of my Easter Tramps - I'm so glad you were able to join us and am grateful for your patience and optimism.  When's our next tramp?!