back from Stewart Island
I'm back from 9 days of sliding through the mud!
On the 21st I took the late ferry over (a harbour pilot gave me a ride to Bluff), then stayed at Bunkers Backpackers (really nice place), sorted a watertaxi, put one bag into storage and was at DOC at 8 am next morning!
At DOC I filled out the intentions form for the North West Circuit and hired a personal locator beacon and then started on my hike.
The hike was muddy. Very muddy as soon as it left the Great Walk track. The huts were all really nice in great locations and I met some nice people on the way. From the second hut on, I walked together with Toni from Ireland.
Photos are up on Flickr.
The track was pretty much going to my limits, at times I felt like sitting in the mud and crying (after falling). But then some was our own fault, we used up the spare day to go up on Mt Anglem and as consequence we had to skip a hut. It really is better not to do that. That rest day in Long Harry Hut is really needed. The rewards were some good views from the top of Mt Anglem, some awesome beaches, really old forest, two kiwis in the middle of the day and then Mason Bay. Mason Bay is awesome, I want to volunteer as hut warden there at some point in the future.
We had tea and later dinner at the warden's hut, which is in an old farmer's homestead, a historic building. The second night I even slept there instead of the normal hut and had 20 mins less to walk in the morning. It was another 13 km to Freshwater landing where the watertaxi picked us up, which we managed in 2.5 hours. Wooohoooo!
The 4 of us met again for dinner in the South Sea Hotel and I had baked blue cod on rice and then mudcake!
The next day I went to Ulva island, spent some time in a lovely cafe where I bought some lava stone earrings, and then took the late ferry to Bluff. Albatrosses kept flying around the ferry, it was pretty amazing.
Now in the Southern Comfort Hostel, I met another German woman who goes with a bus into the Catlins and then to Dunedin and I join her on this. So I actually get to see Curio Bay and probably the Otago Peninsula as well.
On the 21st I took the late ferry over (a harbour pilot gave me a ride to Bluff), then stayed at Bunkers Backpackers (really nice place), sorted a watertaxi, put one bag into storage and was at DOC at 8 am next morning!
At DOC I filled out the intentions form for the North West Circuit and hired a personal locator beacon and then started on my hike.
The hike was muddy. Very muddy as soon as it left the Great Walk track. The huts were all really nice in great locations and I met some nice people on the way. From the second hut on, I walked together with Toni from Ireland.
Photos are up on Flickr.
The track was pretty much going to my limits, at times I felt like sitting in the mud and crying (after falling). But then some was our own fault, we used up the spare day to go up on Mt Anglem and as consequence we had to skip a hut. It really is better not to do that. That rest day in Long Harry Hut is really needed. The rewards were some good views from the top of Mt Anglem, some awesome beaches, really old forest, two kiwis in the middle of the day and then Mason Bay. Mason Bay is awesome, I want to volunteer as hut warden there at some point in the future.
We had tea and later dinner at the warden's hut, which is in an old farmer's homestead, a historic building. The second night I even slept there instead of the normal hut and had 20 mins less to walk in the morning. It was another 13 km to Freshwater landing where the watertaxi picked us up, which we managed in 2.5 hours. Wooohoooo!
The 4 of us met again for dinner in the South Sea Hotel and I had baked blue cod on rice and then mudcake!
The next day I went to Ulva island, spent some time in a lovely cafe where I bought some lava stone earrings, and then took the late ferry to Bluff. Albatrosses kept flying around the ferry, it was pretty amazing.
Now in the Southern Comfort Hostel, I met another German woman who goes with a bus into the Catlins and then to Dunedin and I join her on this. So I actually get to see Curio Bay and probably the Otago Peninsula as well.