New Zealand Travel Log #08 - 10

Everything has it's end when the time is right and so my journey ends. I enjoyed every day, learned a lot, don't regret anything and look forward to the next one.

10.02.2018 Log 08

Our departure from Fiordland was accidentally extended by four days. The boat-man, who reassured us earlier in a phone call that he comes to pick up people from the hut every Monday and Thursday, didn't show up and that meant that we got stuck there with only a minimal stock of food. It was rather unpleasant situation and most unhappy about it was the time loss. After two days of solitude we got company. For young fishermen arrived on a small boat for a weekend party. They rescued us from our forced asylum. On Monday they took us over Hauroko lake (which with its depth over four hundred meters is claimed to be the deepest lake of New Zealand) and gave us a lift to Tuatapere, the southernmost point of our journey. From there we started hitching once again, back to my beloved Te Anau.

From there I continued on my own. In one day I made about 650km hitchhiking, an achievement that I still find hard to believe. It only proves how easy is this kind of travelling here. I was in Christchurch again where I met with my friend Blood for the last time before we were to part our ways. We have different plans for upcoming days, but I might see him once more in Auckland right before he'll take flight home.

Yesterday I accepted an invitation to party from Kiri - our hitchhiking friend with whom we had that firefighting experience I wrote about earlier. I spent one night in Southbridge where she lives and then I started my long way towards North Island. There is last eighteen days of travelling ahead of me and I'd like to make the most of them and see places we missed on the way south.

16.02.2018 Log 09

I managed to arrive to Picton township within one day and pitched my tent on a hilltop above, where I celebrated my last night at South Island with a bottle of wine. From Picton I took a ferry to Wellington the next day and when I got there I quickly hitched away from the city. My aim: Egmont National Park and Mount Taranaki. I chose this volcano for my last tramp in New Zealand.

Maori legend says that god Taranaki has got into a dispute with the other gods and so he decided to walk away from them. That's why most of the volcanoes can be found at Tongariro in the middle of the island, while Taranaki stands alone on the shore. My decision was to walk around the mountain and also to peak its summit. First two days were very rainy, so I had to walk all wet through a soaked jungle. But the day before yesterday the sky cleared out, so I didn't hesitate and climbed above the tree line to a mountain hut beautifully situated in a saddle not far away from the top. I left all unnecessary weight in the hut and started to climb towards the summit of this huge volcano. I guess there's no need to describe how hard it was. Cursing myself for choosing the more difficult side of the mountain I struggled on a steep slope while lava gravel loosened under my feet. It took me two hours and it was quite adrenaline, but in the end I made it and proudly stood on the top. The reward was a view of the whole world (or at least that's how it occurred to me). To get back down was considerably easier, but even though I took my time. It was my first solo ascent and I didn't want to risk a fall deep into the valley beneath my feet. That day I made nearly two kilometres elevation and when I was back in the hut I fell asleep exhausted, but happy.

Yesterday I walked last ten kilometres to finish the circuit. Mount Taranaki - 2518m high - ranked highest in the difficulty ranking amongst all the mountains I have ever climbed. And those last ten kilometres have yet another significance for me: they ensured that altogether I made five hundred kilometres in the beautiful nature of this land.

26.02.2018 Log 10

The last days were running fast as it is always when something nice is about to end. Doesn't matter if a man is on just two weeks long holiday or a year long journey, the wish to make it last longer is the same strong. Anyway, everything has it's time, so in two days I'll be sitting in a plane, heading home.

After leaving Egmont National Park with majestic Taranaki I carried on towards Auckland. I spent few days with my friend who was about to leave the country after eight months, which made a good cause for throwing in a party. After he left I still had one week to go, so I decided to make my last trip to Waipu and tick off the last thing from my wishlist: to see the glowworms in a cave nearby the village. When you see thousands of little blue lights above your head, it doesn't require a strong imagination to make believe that you sit under a night sky instead of an underground dome.

Waipu is not far away from east coast and that was a reason enough to decide for spending my last days by the sea. Who knows when I'm going to see it again as I'm going back home to a landlocked country. Now I just have to pack up my tent and get the last ride to Auckland, where I'm going to spend the last few days waiting for my flight by my new good friends Miro and Zora. As I'm sitting on a small hill overlooking the beach it's hard to comprehend the fact that in three days I'll be freezing my ass off back in my little hometown. The cold is something I was not missing during my travels around Asia and here.

Thanks and big up to all of you who liked to read my short stories. And for my homies: see you soon in our little Hobbiton! ;-)

And here few more pictures from last weeks...

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