Galloping around Gillespie

Somehow it seems to get harder and harder to leave places as we are experiencing some amazing things and people.  Wanaka was no exception. We sat very quiet in the van as Wanaka dissapeared in the rear-view mirror of Vivian and we drove towards the horizon and to our next adventure.

Our first plan was to stay in a small remote campsite next to the lake for the evening and have an early start the next day. Monika had this crazy idea that if the sun was shining in the morning we would leave straight away on a three day Tramp which happens to start just down the road from the campsite and is a Tramp which nobody seems to know about (meaning no tourists).

View at the campsite that evening:

Early morning and the sun was shining... With a quick breakfast we jumped in Vivian and drove to a small 'town' consisiting mainly of a cafe from where, in theory, we could start the Tramp. We popped into the Department of Conversation (DOC) office (these guys basicly look after all of the remote areas of New Zealand) and they showed us the profile of the walk we was about to undertake - see below:

Can you be serious, just look at the pointy thing in the middle with almost straight edges to it... :o(

Also, because of the bad weather in the previous days the rivers were high and unpassable and we needed to jump onto a boat to take us to the start of the walk. The DOC office also insisted that we filled out a form with our family contact details should ne not return from the walk within 3 days...

Monika, what exactly are we getting ourselves into this time??

Jetboat to starting point of our next adventure

First hurdle we had to pass... many more to come!

On the first day we walked for almost 8 hours to the first hut. Amazingly, because there had been such bad weather in the mountains in the previous days, the hut was full of people who had just walked over the pointy bit. For some of them it had taken 12 hours and this was the way we were heading the next morning!! To make things worse, the hut was full and we had to sleep on the wooden benches in the kitchen.

Mindful of the walk ahead in the morning, and probably by the fact that our spines were pressed against a piece of wood all night, we really did not sleep very well.

With an early wake-up call (courtesy of everyone making breakfast at 6am) we rubbed the dust from our eyes and headed into the woods towards the pointy bit.

What a climb!

Amazing views!

Can you see the small trail marker in the right top corner?... Yes that was the route!

Hurdle after hurdle to be passed...

Final "sprint" to the next hut

10 hours later we arrived at the next hut (with available beds). Now, I don't think that either of us could be called un-fit and our legs are well toned from all of our tramps, but I can tell you, this 10 hour walk has to be the most physically draining one day of exercise I have ever undertaken in my life. Not only did we have a near vertical climb over the pass of the mountain, we then had to contend with loose stones, river crossings, mountain mud slips, waterfalls, tree roots, boulders taller than us, upturned tree's, etc. etc. Basicly any naturaly created obstacle you could think of was thrown at us that day. To say that we were relieved when we arrived at the next hut before dark was an understatement - I take my hat off to Monika for not complaining once (well maybe once ;-) and putting her head down and getting on with it.

As all things in life: no pain, no gain. We were rewarded with some amazing views and the sense of accomplishment cannot be described.

After our night in the second hut with no sleep thanks to an Ozzie snoring like a steamtrain all night we woke again at 6am and headed off down the valley. Our hope was to be ahead of the people sleeping in the hut and to be lucky with getting a space on a jetboat who would ensure we return to civilization within the 3 days and before our families are contacted to notify them that we were missing.

The smiles of relief as we eventually managed to secure two seats on a boat at 11am which then whisked us back to 'town'. What an amazing adventure!