Travels

11/02/08
Hi one and all! Whew, another full and exciting day to report on from Wanaka. I spent the entire day wrapped up in neoprene and bouncing off rocks and in waterfalls as part of my Deep Canyoning experience.Yup, I forked over the bucks to be able to play in the canyons all day long. There were some great abseils, slides, jumps, and so on and so forth. I’ve tried to put together a map, but all you’ll really see is the route we drove to get to the canyon, and then all the pictures will be on one dot, as I didn’t have the GPS in the canyon with me. The risk was too high of breaking it. However, I did risk dragging in the camera, and that worked out okay, as you’ll see by some of the sweet shots. So, read on, and check out the pictures. I’ll probably also get them up on Flickr, as I’ll have access to Internet full time for a few days in Queenstown.

Hey gang. Just thought I’d make a quick blog post to let you know that I’m alive and well, but sadly, the blog posts haven’t been uploaded. On the plus side, you can check out the hundreds of photos that I’ve managed to upload while in Queenstown.

Rest assured, I’ve already got 4 posts and 4 maps set to go, but it’ll have to wait. At the moment, I’m in Glenorchy with just my day pack, about to do a 3-4 day tramping track called the Rees-Dart, along with the Cascade Saddle. Normally, they say it takes 4-5 for just Rees-Dart, but my plan is to do the main track in 2 days, and tack on an extra day to do a high alpine pass called the Cascade Saddle.

As you might guess, I have no computer here. When I was trying to upload the latest posts and maps, there was a problem with my server provider’s facilities, so the site was down periodically. Hopefully that’s straightened out, and when I get back to Queenstown, I’ll get the posts up, and maybe have another one for you to enjoy. Till then, enjoy all the pics!

10/02/08
Hi gang. Well, here I am, about to tell you about my day off in Wanaka. Not exactly a true day off, as I decided to tackle the Skyline Track, a hike that takes you up two mountains to some great 360 degree views of the whole area, and is supposed to take 10-11 hours. Well, I don’t know what the people that take that long are doing, as it took me less than 4 and a half hours. Of course, that is moving time, as my total time was more like 5.5 to 6 hours, with my snack and picture breaks. Still, as you can imagine, I was going a bit fast on my way up. I can’t help it. My biking legs just want to climb mountains faster these days I guess. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself as usual. Feel free to check out the map, and the pictures, as well as read on to hear a bit more about my day in the hills.

09/02/08
Hi gang! Tired Steve here, reporting from the shores of the beautiful Lake Wanaka. Boy, I think I need a day off from the bike. Today was a mere 64km, and only had about 860m of climbing, but I just felt tuckered out when I finally got here at the Purple Cow Backpackers. I was expecting a pretty easy ride today, so maybe that was part of the problem. I was greeted by a bunch of small, sometimes steep annoying climbs that seemed to sap all my energy out. Luckily, the views were pretty decent the entire way, so I was able to ignore the constant pain and sore muscles for most of the way. As usual, I’ve got my map put together, and some pictures for you to check out, so please do so, and read on for more about the day’s ride.

08/02/08
Hello friends from around the world. Today I made my way over Haast Pass, the lowest of the passes from west to east over the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Whew, it had some tough parts. Although the overall pass was only 564m, the first section was a killer, as everyone I encountered has agreed. I’m glad that I opted to do it in 2 days rather than only one, as now I can enjoy a leisurely ride in to Wanaka, and hopefully be there by mid-day. I’m hoping that once there, I can find a bar televising the Coast to Coast race, and I’ll then proceed to drink and cheer on all the local athletes rather than competing in it myself 🙂 I chose to play a bit of a tourist myself today, opting to do all the side trails on the way to Makarora, in order to break up my day and not finish off too early, which believe me, would be boring here in Makarora. Know what’s here? Nothing. Just the ‘resort’ I’m staying at, and a DOC information center, which I spent 40 minutes at already chatting about tracks around here. Anyway, read on for a bit more about the day and what it held for me. I also have a pile of pictures on the map for you to check out.