Mid-Semester Break: Part III

After we finished the Copland Track, Emily and Alicia dropped me of in Fox Glacier Village where I met up with my flatmates, Williams and Maria and honorary flatmate, Odilia. The three of us spent the night at a backpacker in the village and got up early Friday morning for a guided tour of the glacier.

Our tour started with a short hike (though it felt long to my sore legs) up the valley along the side of the glacier, which gave us some great views.

One of my favorite things about the ice and rock landscape is how it can be so vast but appear so small. The scenery distorts perception of scale - in the photo below, the red arrow is pointing to a dark line which is actually a group of about a dozen people making their way onto the glacier.

Before we could walk on the glacier, we needed to suit up. Crampons are the footwear of choice for romping around on glacial ice. So stylish!

I actually really enjoyed wearing the crampons. I could walk straight down the slippery ice sheet without slipping as long as I gave a good hard stamp with my feet as I went. Looking down, you see the surface of the glacier is covered with rocks that are all melting out of the ice. This time of year you see the most debris on the glacier because it is the end of the long summer melt period.

Our guide lead us up onto the glacier, carving out steps with his ice pick as we went. The neat thing is, every tour is different. Even one day to the next, the glacier is always changing (flowing, like the worlds slowest river) so that stairs that were there one day are gone the next. We had the good fortune of encountering TWO ice tunnels, which were fun to crawl through.

Here is a picture of our guide telling us about the waterfall or the avalanches, or something. The entire day I thought his name was Rab, because that was the name on his jacket (all the other guides had their names monogrammed). Turns out his name was Cole, but he still was a pretty cool guide.

After about 3 hours of hiking up the glacier, we got pretty lost in the icy passages between the crevasses so it was a good thing we had Rab/Cole to lead us out. Even way at the top of the glacier here, it is hard to get perspective on the ice below which stretches out for a few kilometers.

That night, we drove back down the west coast toward Dunedin and spend the night and the following morning in Wanaka, a touristy lake town which was just brilliant with fall colors.

We stopped at a vineyard, but at 9:30 in the morning they weren't offering tastings yet!

On our way out of Wanaka we also hit up Puzzling World, a museum of puzzles and illusions. In one of the rooms, the floor was tilted so far, that gravity seemed to have stopped working. I rode on a slide that felt like it was taking me up hill and the water in the photo below looks like it is flowing straight up the rocks. CRAZY

The Ames room is another cool illusion, brought to fame in the Lord of the Rings movie during one of the scenes in Bilbo's hobbit whole. The entire set was built on an angle, like the room below, so that Gandalf would appear giant and the hobbits would appear small like me!

The best part of puzzling world was the maze. We got stuck in here for about 45 minutes and Maria may or may not have taken the emergency exit in the end, but it was a blast chasing each other around the deceptively difficult maze.

A great end to a great break, now back to Dunedin for two weeks and then... WELLINGTON!

Mid-Semester Break: Part II

After Mt. Cook, we said goodbye to Jeremy, Amanda and Steph and continued on toward Queenstown. Emily and Alicia both went bungy jumping (I was the photographer) and we walked around the lake taking in the spectacular fall scenery. Emily and I climbed a tree:

Then after Queenstown we set out on a 4 hour drive up New Zealand's west coast to our next destination: the Copland Track. The drive was stunning; we passed lakes, mountains that rose straight out of the lakes, and pebble beaches, but my favorite thing about the west coast is the flora. The hills near Dunedin have been cleared for hundreds of miles for pasturing sheep and other agriculture, but past the boundary of the Southern Alps, much of the natural forest remains. Once we hit the trail we found ourselves surrounded in beautiful temperate rain forestwith giant ferns and moss covered trees. It didn't hurt that we got blessed with another day of spectacular weather that enhanced the long day on the trail.

We started the 17km trek around 10am, eager to reach Welcome Flat Hut in good time because of the limited number of bunks in the hut. Hazard warnings did not shake us - three fearless ladies in the New Zealand bush.

Signs of rain and flooding were everywhere along the trail. The trail, which at some point was just a dry gully, winds its way through the thick undergrowth and although it was well marked, it was not always so easy to find ways around the puddles. I unsuspectingly stuck my foot into ankle deep mud on several occasions.

The trail follows the Copland River nearly the entire way up the Valley to the hut, which meant many stream crossings and bridges.

(If you look closely you can see the Southern Alps and snow capped Mt. Cook in the distance.)

The first of many bridges - don't look down!

The bridges just kept getting longer and more treacherous as we made our way high up into the valley.

Finally we reached Welcome Flat Hut in plenty of time to claim comfy bunks for the night (we pretty much bossed our way up the trail in 5.75hrs, leaving other hikers in the dust). I would give the hut a five star rating, even next to some of the hotels I've stayed in - this place was NICE! There was a strict no shoes policy in the hut which meant the floors were shiny clean and I could walk around toasty in my socks. There was tables and cooking space on the first floor and 31 bunks lined up on the floor in two rows on the second floor.

The best part about Welcome Flat, was not the bunkhouse itself, but the thermal pools which are available for soaking the sore hiking muscles after a long day on trail.

The pools are naturally fed from a hot spring and flow through small channels to several pools of varying temperature. After selecting our preferred soaking temperature, we settled into the somewhat mucky for a quality soak. With the stunning backdrop and without the horrible stink of sulfur, these pools beat the hot spa in Rotorua by a mile!

Mid-Semester Break: Part I

On Sunday I set out with my intrepid crew for a week long adventure through the South Island of New Zealand. First stop was Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest peak, with Jeremy, Amanda and Steph. After a grueling ascent, including endless stairs, slippery scree and Amanda's singing (I won't say which was the worst) we made it to our accommodations, Mueller Hut:

Situated above two glaciers and overlooking Mt. Cook and other mountains of the Southern Alps this hut has an amazing 360 degree view. The peak just behind it in the photo is Mt. Oliver, which we ascended in the morning, and was the first peak that Sir Edmund Hillary climbed, beginning his mountain climbing career.

There were kea birds perched everywhere around the hut, including a pesky on by the outhouse that was giving me funny looks.

At the hut, we met up with Emily and Alicia, who I would continue on with for the next few days. We also met several other backpackers from around the world at the hut and Wayne, the friendly hut warden, who kept us (mostly Steph) in line.

Here is a picture from Mt. Olivier, looking down on the hut.

And on the hike down, the clouds cleared and we got a lovely view of Mt. Cook above the Hooker Glacier. Looking down across the landscape I got to see the moraines and the other features of the glacial landscape that I have been learning about in Geography - guess I don't have to study for my mid-term, right?

Passover in Dunedin

On Wednesday night, I went to the Otago University Jewish Association vegetarian, potluck seder. We celebrated Passover a little early this year so that people could come together before everyone scattered for the Easter Holiday. I learned that New Zealand has a Jewish population of about 5000 people and I got to meet about a dozen or so, who were in attendance. Aside from the kiwi accents, the seder was exactly what you would expect from a group of 18-25 -- meaning we got about as far as the four questions and blessing the matzo before we dug into the meal. It was a fun evening, with a smattering of half sung songs (due to everyone knowing different versions or the lack of knowing Hebrew) and, of course, the traditional four cups of wine.

I managed to do a little Passover celebrating in my flat as well. I found a box of matzo at the super market (not easy), and set about making my own matzo ball soup. It didn't come out nearly as well as my mom's but it was passable.

Now I am going to make a big batch of matzo brei (the Passover version of french toast) with my leftover matzo. I am also getting organized for a seven day road trip I am about to embark on over the mid-semester break. Next entry: Mt. Cook, Copland Track and Fox Glacier!

Another Week in Dunedin

This week in Dunedin I spent some quality time in the kitchen (as usual) and cooked up a few new dishes. We also had a lot of sunshine this week so I got to spend a lot of time outside on my usual running routes and exploring new places as well.

On Monday I made really cute mini-frittatas using a muffin tin.

I put potatoes, leeks, spinach and cheese in the firttatas and I also made garlic broccoli on the side. It was delicious and so cute!

On Wednesday I made another new recipe: toasted Israeli couscous with tomatoes and kalamata olives.

Then on Thursday I made lentils with purple and green kale and carrots and rice.

On Saturday, I had my first field trip for school. Our geography professor took us to the Otago Peninsula to study the micro-climates of three different locations. This exercise was part of the climatology unit that we are currently in. We talked about aspect, wind speed and atmospheric pressure and how solar radiation and energy balance differs at the three sights we visited. One of the sites was Taiaroa Head (below) the home of the Royal Albatross Colony. We didn't see any albatrosses but we saw a few seals way down on the rocks.

Later that day I went on a walk to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world! Baldwin Street in North Dunedin actually holds the Guinness world record for the street with the longest sustained grade. Apparently, city planners made a grid for the city before seeing the local topography, but then they decided to build this ridiculously steep street anyway. Here's a picture of Cam and I at the bottom of the street:

We trekked all the way to the top and, I'm not going to lie, I could feel it in my calves. Here is a picture of me at the top, questioning how someone could live on such a crazy street!