Caples Greenstone

Last week I rented a car and drove to Fiordland with Sunmi, who was visiting for a few days. I picked her up from the airport Wednesday afternoon and we drove to Te Anau, a sleepy town that serves as a base for exploring further into Fiordland. We took a short walk around Lake Te Anau and visited the Wildlife Park, then crashed in a backpackers. We woke up early the next morning and bought hut passes and picked up provisions for our trek. The Kepler track still had snow covering the alpine section, so we decided to walk on the Caples and Greenstone tracks instead. We started the walk from the "Divide," a car park on the road to Milford Sound, as opposed to the carpark on Gleenstone Road where most trampers begin at the other end of the circuit. This allowed us to walk for an hour on the famous Routebourn track before bearing off on the Caples track. We encountered some deep mud pools and then a steep and rocky climb to the McKellar Saddle, where we had excellent views. We descended to Upper Caples hut, cooked up our first dinner of couscous and courgettes, then hit the hay. The next day we finished off the Caples track, following the river gradually downhill to the convergence of the Greenstone and Caples rivers. We had a great lunch at the convergence, with an awesome view of the long valley we had just walked down. In the afternoon we headed up along the Greenstone River. The track was a bit of a roller coaster, going up and down the side of the gorge carved by the river. There were some neat places to stop and gaze at the turquoise water. When we reached the Greenstone Hut in the late afternoon, the sun was out in full force and we sat on the porch of the hut, taking in the rays and the views and chatting to some students from Auckland who had just finished their studies. For our second dinner we had some rice pilaf and chocolate, and at dusk I did a little poi surrounded by snow-capped peaks, which was pretty awesome. It rained during the night and all the next day for our walk to the McKellar hut further up the Greenstone Valley. Stomping through mud, wading through streams, and in general moving at a brisk pace, we arrived at McKellar just about as the rain was ending. We changed into dry clothes, ate a lot of tortillas and pita, and played gin rummy into the evening, when two guys and a girl from Purdue arrived and claimed they were going to reach the Glenorchy car park, 30k away, that night. Crazy Americans--I wonder if they made it. In the evening the sunset was spectacular, and the old adage proved true as the next day dawned a sailor's delight, with clear skies and a crispness in the air. On our walk back to the carpark we met an Argentinian man who had cycled from Auckland and was attempting to reach Glenorchy by the next day to catch a bus. He was traveling on the Greenstone track, as it was the shortest route as the crow flies, but I imagine the track was a real challenge with his bicycle. We took a short side trip to the top of Key Summit, where we had breathtaking views of glaciers, valleys, and jagged peaks.

Reaching the car around noon, we stuffed ourselves with our remaining provisions and headed west along the Milford road. The weather was amazing for Fiordland, warm and sunny, and we took advantage by stopping often to gawk at our surroundings. We got a decent view of Milford Sound at the end of the road but to really experience the Sound you definitely need to go kayaking, take a cruise, or do the Milford track. Satisfied with our survey of Fiordland for this trip, we drove back through the Milford tunnel to Te Anau and then Dunedin on Sunday evening. Sunmi stayed until Wednesday, so she had a couple days to check out Dunedin while I worked in the lab. Tuesday evening we walked up Mt Cargill and flew my kite from the summit. It got stuck in the radio tower when we were trying to reel it in, but I was able to rescue it by climbing over the barbed wire and a short ways up a metal ladder.

The next few weeks will be filled with work as well as adventures. I have one week to get the results I need for the COMBIO meeting Dec 6-10 in Christchurch, where I am giving a presentation in the student speaker competition. When I return from the meeting I'll have to find a place to store my stuff for the next couple months, as I'll be in the U.S. for the holidays and med school interviews. Then it will be off on my bicycle journey from Dunedin to at least Hokitika on the West Coast. I've got to make it at least that far because that's where my flight leaves to go back to Maryland.

Happy Thanksgiving!