Hot Springs and Hut trips

With our weeks here winding down and the winter darkness upon us we are still trying to squeeze in a few weekend getaways. First we took a quick weekend to Hanmer Springs, a little alpine resort centered around some natural hot springs. The Springs are now manged by the district council there and seem to me a cross between Glenwood's Hot springs and Thornton's Waterworld. It was quite fun, we lounged in the pools each day and took quick walks in the exotic forests above town and Carolyn use the opportunity of actual stores to shop in to pick up a swim suit for our Cook Island stop on the way home. But hey also had these great Fatties to rent:

Which would have come in handy on this past weekends trip to the Heaphy. We had walked a day hike on the Heaphy, one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, in January and encouraged by Kristen and Angie and their  ROuteburn tramp, we had decided we could manage a backpacking trip as well.

 This was the first actual backpacking trip for Carolyn other than our snowshoe hut trip last winter, in many years. But New Zealand has this great Hut system and the Heaphy hut is brand new and like a castle.

 This is Carolyn when we arrived at the Hut. It had bunks with Mattresses,  6 propane stoves, LED light that came on at night, a wood stove for heat and pre chopped wood. It is supplied by the Dept of Conservation via helicopter. It was very Plush, and with everything supplied, we had much lighter packs than we would on a tent self contained trip

 The hut overlooked a beautiful river outlet into the Tasman Sea. One of the other trampers organized a giant Bonfire on the beach. Most of the other folks spending the night in the hut were bikers, as the Heaphy is open for mountain biking in the winter, It is a rugged 2 to 3  day trip across the mountains and those fat tire bikes would sure of been handy on the sandy segments by the beach the last en miles or so.

 There were four cool suspension bridges on river crossings during the hike and I kept thinking how I could slash the cables after I crossed to watch all the Orcs chasing me fall into the Chasm below. But every time I look back it seemed I had lost them so I left the bridges standing, or suspending, for others to enjoy.

 It was incredibly green and wet though we somehow were lucky enough to make the entire trip with only a bit  of rain.  When we got back to our car Sunday it immediately began to pour. 

ALso, though tattoos are big here, perhaps due to the Maori influence, it certainly was evident at the Hnmer SPrings Pools, If I got one it would be this NZ icon:

Karamea

With another weekend without call, We took advantage of yet more beautiful weather and traveled north to Karamea, a tiny little secluded town that is at the end of the road of the Coastal Highway on the west coast. Karamea is a little haven for outdoor enthusiasts including hikers , backpackers, fishermen, birdwatchers and bikers. Most famously, it is one end of the Heaphy track, one of the great walks of New Zealand.

Carolyn and I hiked the last 8 kilometers of the walk to one of the little shelters along the way and then returned, we walked through beautiful Nikau Palm forests and stunning beaches, all completely deserted.

The weather was perfect and the views outstanding. The true trampers will continue the walk for three or four days, climbing away from the coast, over the southern Alps and down into the Tasman area. Someday we hope to do that as well but for now we are content with our day hikes. Sunday we drove the slightly nerve wracking road up to the Oparara Basin, famous for the beautiful rainforest and the large limestone arches.

There we were fortunate to add the endangered Blue Duck to our list of sightings, at some point we will do a blog about the Birds as, living on the estuary, we have become quite the amateur birders. We did not quite get a good picture of it so this will have to do for now.

The photos always fail to live up to the actual beauty of the landscape, unless of course you are photographing road signs, then it is actually quite representative. Coming home Sunday evening we had made reservations to perhaps on of the world's most remote gourmet restaurants. The Cowshed cafe is situated halfway between Karamea and Westport, 45 KM from a town of 900 people and 45 km from a town of 8000 people, yet it was run by two young women with experience as private chefs in the Mediteranean.

As it was the Sunday before Valentine's Day, they had a special menu, check out the appetizer tray:

It is astonishing to find places like this and try to figure out how they stay in business and such. Apparently 100 or so women are gathering there this Sunday for a formal tea with fancy dresses and hats. You never know. A great weekend. Boring alert: look for the next blog to cover a little more medical stuff that I find interesting. Here's us on the Heaphy: