Routeburn, Day 2

Dawn of day two - beautiful, clear, and cold, which was EXACTLY what we'd been hoping for.

Today's trailhead - yes, the trail is, at the beginning, rock. Which is especially exciting when said rock is covered in ice!

An outside view of the DOC hut we stayed in the night before. Decent accommodation, including gas burners and flush toilets. And, in theory, lights until 10 PM, although it seems someone forgot that the weekend before was daylight savings ...

Peter taking a nap before we head off ... we got a later start than we anticipated.

These are the emergency shelters at Harris Saddle. Because most of day 2 is above the treeline, these shelters are set up for dangerous weather that prevents trampers from continuing. It's also the start point for a side trip up Conical Peak, a very snowy peak that we nevertheless decided to climb because the DOC sign said that it was a one-hour return trip. We apparently hadn't figured out that those estimates rarely apply to us ... Nonetheless, 90 minutes later, we made it to the top - and the views were SPECTACULAR!

Apparently, there's not a lot of snow in Cape Town, so Tim insisted on building a snowman before we headed back down.

Back on the main trail TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER, we stopped for a quick lunch and then carried on. The path was mainly clear, level and windy, and of course the views still amazing.

And not ALL of the ice had melted, even by 2:30 in the afternoon.

This is pretty representative of the path for a good hour or so. As Jamie said, "I don't think an obese person could make this hike. They might fall right of the mountain!"

This is the first view of our hut for the night, nestled at the upper right corner of Lake McKenzie. Of course, it was another hour before we made it down there ...

Finished another day! All a bit sunburned, but happy to be next to the fire and done for a few hours ...

Routeburn, Day 1

This is Lydia and myself at the start of the trail. We were standing in a steady drizzle, that lasted for a good two more hours, but the hoods soon came off (as did some extra layers) - it turns out that hiking with a 12kg pack on warms you up!!

This is the first of many scenic moments that were labeled, at the time, "the highlight of the trip" ...

Above is Lydia with Tim, a South African man who was traveling between jobs in Sydney, Australia.

Our other two hiking companions, Jamie and Peter. Jamie is an American girl who just graduated from college and decided that traveling would be a better use of her time than a job hunt. Peter is Danish, the youngest of our group - he just left the Danish army and cheerfully describes himself as "homeless and unemployed".

The valley outside of the Routeburn Flats Hut, a Department of Conservation hut that we did NOT stay in. However, we decided to stop for lunch at a strategically placed picnic table and enjoy the lovely view.

Same valley, different (much HIGHER) perspective. This is about when I decided that I should have spent a bit of time at the gym before this hike ... turns out that you have to go UP a lot when hiking through mountains!

About an hour after we arrived at our DOC hut for the night, it started snowing. This is the view from the terrace.

Hiking the Routeburn and cruising Milford Sound

The highlight of our Easter vacation was undoubtedly our three-day trek through the Mount Aspiring & Fiordland national parks. New Zealand has nine "great walks" (one of which is actually a river journey), and ideally I'll conquer them all before I'm done here. While that may be a needlessly lofty goal, at least I've managed to mark one off the list.

Lydia and I picked up a few stray travellers on our bus ride to the trailhead, and the five of us made a pretty good team. Jamie, a recent college grad from NYU, had never really done any hiking before and was the least prepared, in terms of gear, for what was ahead of us. I would NEVER have tried to hike the trail in sneakers! Tim, a South African working in Sydney, and Peter, a Danish man who recently finished his mandatory stint in the army, were both vacationing around as well. We made a good team over the 33km hike (the shortest of the great walks, although definitely not the easiest), with Peter blazing trail when necessary, and Tim patiently waiting for me or Jamie when we'd fall behind. We all took so many pictures that we consistently missed the Department of Conservation time estimates by hours, but it was a great trip! (Although I was VERY grateful to get back to Queenstown Friday night for a shower!!)

It's hard to describe the experience, so instead I'll give you pictures - lots and lots of pictures. Unfortunately, I seem to be having some technical difficulties posting them right now, so until I get it worked out, here's a link for you impatient types: click HERE.

There are over three hundred photos there (which are only the ones that I took over a three day period) ... more than enough to keep you all busy for a day or two until I get a chance to post the best pictures right here.

Mini Rotary Roadtrip

As part of the Ambassadorial Scholar funding, I'm required to give several presentations, both in my host country and once I return to the US. Because these presentations are often accompanied by free dinner, Lydia and I decided that we should schedule a couple along the way during our Easter vacation on the south island. We visited Rotary clubs in Dunedin and Queenstown. In Dunedin, we kept our remarks relatively brief - the club was giving out its annual Pride in Workmanship awards - but in Queenstown we were allocated a full 20 minutes. Both presentations went quite well, and managed to lend a sense of accomplishment to our vacation - "well, we're not working, but at least we got SOMETHING done!"

Remuera Rotary VIP Camp

For over 20 years now, the Remuera Rotary club has been holding an annual weekend camp for several visually impaired students from a school outside of Auckland. The camp is held at YMCA Camp Adair, which is equipped with ropes courses, a climbing wall, even kayaks. While the students are accompanied by helpers from their school, Kings College students (a private prep school) attend every year to lend a hand and keep the kids company. This year, as the Remuera ambassadorial scholar, I attended as well.

While I wasn't sure what I was getting into, having never really done the summer camp thing as a kid, it turned out to be a great weekend. These kids were fearless, and they had a great time participating in all the activities. I was peer-pressured to ride the zip line (they call it a 'flying fox' here) and climb the rock wall, and Saturday night there was a social night/talent show - the highlight, for ME, was the singing Rotarians!

The VIP camp was another great example of Rotarians giving back. Not necessarily in the largest fashion, but often it's the small things that really make a difference in someone's life. I definitely think that Remuera Rotary makes a difference in these kids' lives, and I was glad to have a chance to be a part of that.