Lake Tekapo, we had the high grounds

(for english, scroll down,  please)

Elerkeztunk a deli szigetek kalandjaihoz. Mielott azonban a Tekapos esemenyekbe belevagnek, par erdekesseg. Uton Kaikuora fele sikerult ujabb ket stoppost felvennunk. Ket fiatal nemet srac, akik thaifoldi es kambodzsai kalandjaikrol meseltek odakat. Sajnos, mivel Ati SD kartyaja beesett a kezifek alatti apro kis lyukba, igy az ide tartozo stoppos selfie most kimarad.

 

Kis foka, es madar leskelodes utan gyorsan lehajtottunk Christchurchbe, ahol egy ujabb magyar, Szabi adott nekunk kanapet. O par eve koltozott ki es festomesterkent keresi kenyeret. Rengeteget sztorizgattunk, de mivel kesobb visszatertunk hozza egy-ket kozos kalandot gyartani, igy most eltekintenek a melyebb bemutatastol.

Rovidke megallonk utan egy nagyobb turaba probaltuk belevagni fejszenket. Az idojaras jelentes sajnalatos modon orszagos esot jelzett, igy gondolkodni kellett picit. Az uj-zelandi elorejelzo weboldalnak van egy csinos kis esoradarja, amely meglepoen pontosan dolgozik. Ennek segitsegevel sikerult egy kis foltott talalni, ahol epp nem esik. Ez volt a Tekapo to, hegyekkel korbetuzdelt kis volgyecskeje. Verofenyes napsutes fogadott minket, igy meg egy kis furdes is belefert a tura elott.

Mivel nem ismertuk annyira a tura utvonalakat, elkezdunk erre-arra vezetni, terkepet forgatni, mig a Te Ararora orszagos tura (kb az uj-zelandi kektura) helyi szakaszara nem bukkantunk. Egybol tudtuk, hogy ez lesz a mi utunk. Elhajtottunk a paripaval a celhelyszinre, lefoztunk az ut elott egy nagy adag tejbegrizst (tura specialitas, mely otvozi a tejbegriz es rizs elonyeit lekvarral es nutellaval megfuszerezve), majd teli pocakkal elindultunk a naplementebe.

Ugy masfel ora gyaloglas utan utolert minket az ej, igy satort vertunk egy eldugott, kevesbe tovises, szelvedett hegyoldalban. Bar csillagles volt a terv, a befelhosodott egbolt meggatolta az elmenyt, de legalabb alvasra tobb ido jutott.

Masnap reggel kis energia reggeli, majd megkezdodott a 25 kmes tura felhotlen idoben.

Az utvonal nagyresze egyenes fennsik volt enhye emelkedessel. Az utolso 5 km-en volt csak egy nagy ereszkedes, majd emelkedes, amig a hutig el nem jutottunk. Ott kis szunet, majd irany vissza. Hatalmas terekbe bukkantunk, lelegzetelallito folyovajta volgyekkel. Teljesen, mintha a gyuruk ura Rohan volgyeben lettunk volna.

Tiszta patakviz tokeletes folyadekforrast biztositott nekunk, es meg labunkat is kicsit le tudtuk huteni a hosegben.

Azonban a visszaut tartogatott meglepeteseket, vagyis kihivasokat.  A novekvo vizholyagok mellett, a hegy arnyekaban, mar gyulekeztek a viharfelhok, es a szornyeteg hamar at is kelt a gerincen. Mennydorgesevel a nyomunkban folyamatos menetelesre kenyszeritett minket.

Szo szerint a sarkunkban jart, neha par csepp esot is kaptunk, de remek idozitesunknek koszonhetoen, mindig eppen kigyalogoltunk a nagyobb esok elol. Tenyleg napuldozes zajlott.

Az ut vege fele kezdtunk megfaradni, vagy legalabbiss en, hiszen itt Kiwifolden joval kevesebb kemeny turat csinaltam es meglehetosen elkocaturistasodtam. Mindenesetre az utat le kellett nyomni, hiszen a satrunkat ott hagytuk, ahol elozoleg felvertuk, es hat azokat bizony kar lett volna par holyagert elhagyni.

A turat es a gomolygo viharfelhoket sikerrel vettuk, es a tura utan meg egy jo 250kmet tekertunk kovetkezo allomasig, Wanakaig  a csodalatos kis turistafaluig.

--------------------------

We have arrived to the South Island adventures. But before diving into the happenings at Lake Tekapo, let’s share some facts. During our way to Kaikuora we picked up hitchhikers the second time. This time two young german guys, who told us about their interesting full on party adventures in Thailand and Kambodia. Unfortunately, Ati managed to drop the SD card of his phone right in the tiny hole under the handbrake, so no hitchhiker selfie this time.

After some seal and bird peeking we drove down to Christchurch, where once again a member of our own nation, Szabi gave us couch for a night. He moved to NZ a few years ago and tries to live the everydays as a master painter. We shared quite a few stories and a few games of exploding kittens, but since we will get back to him in the future to create some adventure memories too, I am going to skip any more details about him for now.

After our short stop, we figured, that it is time to make our first bigger tramping. Sadly, the weather forecast showed quite bad stuff for the next one or two days in the whole country, so we had to do some brainstorming. The trick was to use the rain radar forecast of the NZ meteorology website (metservice.com). I find it surprisingly accurate from time to time. Using this magic tool we found a little rainless spot in the pretty valley of Lake Tekapo surrounded with the perky ridges of high mountains. Remarkable sunshine was welcoming us (it was raining just around everywhere else by this time already.) So we took a cooling bath in the lake just before the adventure.

Since we did not know the trails in the area, we started to drive around randomly, stared our maps for a few minutes until we bumped into the local track of the Te Araroa country hike. We knew immediately, that it is our tramping destination. So, we drove down with our stallion to the starting point, cooked a huge pot of milky rice. It is a special tramping food with the mixture of milk, rice and semolina cooked together, spiced with nutella (and no, Raf… it is not goulash!!!:) ). With filled up tummy we hiked into the sunset.

After about one and a half hour the night caught up with us, so we decided to make camp in a nice wind protected hill side. Although, we planned some stargazing, the clouds (that started to make a meetup above us by this time) prevented us, but at least we had enough time to sleep.

In the morning, we had a quick power breakfast and we started the 25 km tramp, once again… in cloudless weather.

The tramp was mostly straight with slight elevation, except one stage where we descended down into a valley and then climbed up to the hut. There, we had a quick rest and then we turned back. The view was astonishing during the whole trip with huge spaces, river carved valleys and panoramas like the hills of Rohan in Lord of the Rings.

The crystal clear stream water was an excellent drinking water source and also provided a nice cooling bath for our feet.

However the way back kept us some surprises or so to say challenges. Besides the growing blisters, a big storm cloud started to emerge behind the steep mountains and soon the monster grew over them and crossed the ridges, forcing us with thunderbolts and lightning (“very very frightening…” ok that’s a different song) to make a fast paced march.

Literally, it was on our toes all the time, we even had a few drops of rain, but thanks to our amazing timing we always walked ahead the bigger rainclouds. We truly did sun chasing.

Close to the end we were quite tired. Or more specifically I… Since I came to NZ I did not do any extensive tramping, so I grew quite lazy compared to my austrian self. I did not matter though. We had to get back on the same way we came, since we left our tents at the hells we had camped, it would have been a waste to leave them there. J

We took the tramp and the scary storm clouds with success and also drove 250km after to get to our next station, the beautiful tourist town of Wanaka.

Peter, Hot Balls, Pumpkin