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!