Hiking Mt Robert in Nelson Lakes National Park

Title: Hiking Mt Robert in Nelson Lakes National Park

So the next morning I awake (as I seem to every morning) at 7:30 AM and I am a bit disappointed to see that the grey room has closed in again. Yes we are in the cloud again, and even though we are “inland” – Hope Saddle approximately equidistant from the north, west and east coasts – the grey misting cloud that makes everything drip has the distinct smell of the sea. So, I decide to let Gen sleep while I read in my book. After all what is the hurry? Go hike in the mist at Nelson Lakes? To see nothing? Besides, Gen is obviously sleeping soundly and she deserves her rest!

About 8:30 Gen wakes, and we make the hot water for oatmeal and coffee (our two respective breakfasts). While we are doing our morning re-arranging of the van (at night all the bags move to the front two seats to make room for our sleeping area, it is a vanette and not a van, after all), an older fellow pulls up in an absolutely beautiful, obviously well taken care of 1976 Toyota Landcruiser with a snorkel. I say, “what a beautiful jeep! I bet that will take you places.” He smiles, and says, “You know what is the best thing about her?” and honks the horn, and it makes this old granny type of honk! He then pops the hood and shows me the Nissan diesel engine in it, and says that it will run no matter where you take it, and tells me that he has had it in such deep water that the interior of the car has flooded out. “Can’t stop a good diesel engine,” he says. So this starts another about ½ hour long conversation, where he shares with Genevieve a bunch of information about the various plants around the car park, “Now this is a flax plant, you can eat the fruit at the very center of it.” And “Oh I guarantee there are kiwi (birds) in this bit of brush right here.” And, “It is easy to live cheaply in New Zealand. You cant walk but a mile into the bush without running into a deer or a pig or something you can shoot and eat, and if you stay away from the touristy areas, the water is clean enough to drink right out of the creek.”

His name is Lance, lives in Nelson, and stops here as a matter of habit to stretch his legs while driving between Nelson and the gold mine he works at 6 days at a stretch somewhere on the west coast. “Six days on, six days off, 12 hours a day…. I can drive any of their machines, so I never know what I’m going to do.”

We found it ironic that he deplored the small amount of garbage at the rest stop, while he worked in a modern gold strip mine! “We went in there where the old fellas had made shafts, and we are taking out the whole mountain. We are about a kilometer in diameter and at about 200 meters deep. The deeper we go, the richer the find. About $3.5 million/day, they are making….So much gold you can just pick it up off the ground and see it in your hands, but don’t put your hand in your pockets! Instant dismissal, that is. Gold on the cab floor, gold in all the machinery, gold along the roads, gold everywhere.” He also shared his disdain for foreign tourists, as we shared Genevieve’s coffee with him, “Oh that’s good coffee, that is.” He continued, “I’d say don’t let any of them in, throwing their garbage about, but you gotta take the good with the bad. I love it here, lived here all my life, seems only fair to share it with them, too.” Another interesting character.

And on sharing his love of the land, he shared this little tidbit, “Best thing about New Zealand is that nothing here is trying to kill ya. In Aussie, everything is trying to bite ya, here, everything wants to know ya.” And recounted (for we have seen it with our own eyes) how the Weka "will come right up and eat the shoes off your feet."

He was a wealth of information, like Ann was on the Queen Charlotte hike, just a little bit different info. He told us that they had found a female Tuatara, a native lizard that had been thought to be extinct except for the specimens in captivity. He also told me that only 1 million people live on the South Island (or something like one person per 100 sq km), and that there were whole huge parts of the Island that have never been explored by whites. So Genevieve’s hope to see a Moa (a huge flightless bird, bigger than an ostrich), was confirmed by Lance, “I am sure there is some of them somewhere, we just haven’t found them yet.” It was kind of re-assuring after finally figuring out that all these big evergreens with their lower branches all pruned up, growing in nice tidy rows along most of the highways are all actually tree farms, that there was still lots of unexplored New Zealand outside the great National Parks. He also informed Genevieve that you can eat the Mountain Cabbage tree’s soft parts too, that is why they are called cabbage trees.

So we collected our things and headed for Nelson Lakes National Park. After all, the weather may be bad, but if we say in Colorado, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute, from my observations the New Zealand equivalent has got to be, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a second.” The weather here is THAT changeable.

At the Mt Robert Car park in Nelson Lakes National Park, we met yet another great NZ character also filled with fascinating facts. Apparently, all the landscape near the Park is only 3 to 5 million years old, as we were at or near a fault line between the Australia Plate and the Pacific Plate. He warned us to be on the lookout for the indigenous Green Parrot, called the Kea, as it will eat anything and everything. “It’ll eat your car if you let it. Its true, ask the rental car people. Dang bird eats the windshield wipers, and the rubber off the tires.” He also expressed his disappointment at new farms that were encroaching on the bush of the Park.

The weather started to look as if it might clear again, just like the previous day, so we started up the Mt Robert trail above Lake Rotoiti. Unfortunately, Genevieve’s camera’s battery died, too. Which means we have very few pictures of this day hike. The day did indeed turn spectacular. And this lake that we are climbing above is HUGE, yet it is small compared to the many other large lakes on the New Zealand South Island Map, which makes me start to grasp the amount of fresh water this island is blessed with. So we have seen many rivers and creeks, and the rivers can get VERY wide. Plus all these lakes? Holy crap, that is a LOT of fresh (and crystal clear) water. The guy at the bottom (sorry didn’t catch his name) said something about a meter of rain a day, “makes New Zealand, New Zealand.”

So this is a nice hike, but it was a little disappointing as the terrain was the most similar to Colorado as I have seen so far. Not that it wasn’t drop dead gorgeous (it was) just that if you are in New Zealand for a short trip, there are other place to go that are more exotic.

So in the treed areas of this hike, the same green moss and ferns and trees as on Mt Arthur are in abundance, and the ground is wet like a sponge (obviously why the trees grow where they do.) Where the track was out in the open, it was hard like any trail in Colorado.

So as we climbed Mt Robert, it kept looking like we would get into the cloud. But as we climbed the mist cleared before us….Again our luck with the weather and conditions continues to hold. We did get into the cloud, and again, the temperature change is dramatic (much colder). We were again in the grey room, and the views, which were starting to open, closed up around us tight. But by the time we got to the top, the view out the back was stunning…. More snow covered peaks in the distance with lower not snow covered peaks forming the valley edge above the lake to our left.

As we sat on the top and had our lunch, the blue-bird day came out in force. My god! The Views were stupendous up here! To the west it was Mountains, with mountains behind them, and then more mountains, and yet another range – five or six ranges, one behind the other to the horizon! And below us to the northwest a beautiful green farm filled valley, with the Owen range towering above it, and to the east/northeast, more green valley to Blenheim in the distance. And to the north smaller, round green mountains covered in trees (tree farms maybe) they called those mountains “Knobs” but mountains they would be called in the US, for mountains they are!

I decided to walk to the edge of Christie’s ridge before heading down the trail to see what was around the ridge in front of us (behind Mt Robert). We were well above tree line here, and the valley below seemed much further down vertically than any back home in Colorado (I am sure it was). I walked to the edge to look down upon the blue, blue waters of the top of Lake Rotiri and the meandering stream that fed it in the valley floor so far below. And even though it was dirt and rock on Christie's Ridge, it wasn’t hard ground. I left visible footprints as I sank a quarter inch into the soft, rocky ground! It was delightful on my back to walk on this soft ground, like walking on a thick foam pad. It was so soft, that when I went back out, I felt a need to rather meticulously follow my same footprints out. After all I come from the tradition of “leave only footprints, take only pictures.”

It was worth the ½ hour trip, as even more, incredibly impressive snow covered peaks revealed themselves around the rocky ridge (that made one of the few pictures). One further back, and three or four closer in (the big one must be Angelus), closer to that obscuring ridge. It was spectacular, gorgeous. There is a very distinct tree line at just the same elevation along the valley wall opposite. God I wished I had more pictures from this hike!

As I started my descent, a glider (sailplane?) came gliding overhead silently, so close I could make out its call numbers, TH 4408. He is gaining altitude in this breeze off the shoulder of Mt Robert.

Ah New Zealand! Alpine mountains and tundra (or is it just short grasses?) above green, green trees and valleys; clouds…. Mountains everywhere! So many mountains I can see from here, and I can only see such a very small part of the South Island – the north part of the South Island. I can only imagine (or actually can’t imagine) what awaits in the week ahead.

Another big difference between here and home is that there is always quite a bit of birdsong in the air all the time: morning, day, night, even up here above tree line. And there is no, or virtually no air traffic. That one helicopter, there is another off in the distance – a tour perhaps? The New Zealander pointed out the only jet trail I have seen so far at the beginning of today’s hike...obviously a large annoyance to him. What a difference to hiking in Colorado where there is air traffic constantly! One of the things that stands in my memory as an exceptional experience was the quiet in those few days after 9/11 when all air traffic was grounded. Here that is the norm. Another delightful thing about New Zealand -- no or very little air traffic.

So we came down the mountain and it is only 4:45PM. How did that happen? The loop was supposed to be 5 hours, and we went well above the loop to the top of the mountain, and we left at 5 to Noon. This is the first time we have been substantially ahead of the estimated time for the hike. (usually we are about 20% over) And we had a leisurely lunch. We decided to get a head start on the west coast trip by driving the 100 or so KM to Westport on the coast to spend the night; after all I am supposed to get on a plane in seven days. Seven days!! So much to do in seven days.

Now 100 KM seems like it would not be too far, but wait, remember the six or so ranges of mountains I saw to the west from Mt Robert? Yes, it tooks us about 2:15 to cover those 100 km! Windy, Windy roads. Many curves, steep grades (much steeper than in the US) and one lane bridges, one lane road cuts…. The sheer verticality of New Zealand is impressive. I used to think that Colorado had vertical, but New Zealand puts us to shame. Wherever I look, it is vertical. Up or down the side of the trail…seemingly any trail is a double black fall line. Up or down off the side of the road it is often sheer hundreds of feet. If there are flat valleys, there are always mountains not too far away rising to the sky.

One thing about the misty clouds that so far have dominated the weather on this trip is that it lent a good deal of mystery and drama to the landscape. But today it is a bluebird day, I can see the tops of all the mountains which is a little anticlimactic. We pass the Owen Valley and crossed the Owen River, there is of course a great dramatic view of Mt Owen at the top of the valley, but alas our batteries are dead.

Another thing is that the amount and variety of trees in this country is truly amazing. I do not know them all, and I am no expert on trees, but jeez, we got like what, three kinds of trees in CO? Evergreen, Aspen, Cottonwood (even if there are a few varieties of evergreen). But here … there are dozens of very different types of trees (and I only count evergreen once here too.)

On this ride, it just doesn’t stop. We are following this canyon, with its vertical, but oh so green, sides, and wide crystal clear river. And when I think we are going to get through it all and see the sea, no…. More mountains, mountains, mountains.

And on this main highway between Murchison and Westport there is a spot where there is a sheer cliff to the river below -- the Buller Gorge following the Buller River. They have chiseled out one narrow lane out of the cliff for about 200 meters or so that the cliff looks kind of like a mushroom in profile. That is how they did it. No blasting a hole for the two lane highway through the cliff. They just treat it as one of the many one way bridges. One way yields to the other side and if someone is already on the one lane part of the road, you just have to stop and wait until they come through. Luckily there are so few people and vehicles on the road. A little bit further on they have done it again, but this time, it is a segment that includes about 3 or 4 hairpin turns in it! There is no way to see if anyone is on-coming! Their answer is to lower the speed limit to 15 KPH figuring, I guess, that you would have enough time to stop if you drive slow, instead of having an accident.

So we make it to Westport and we find a Campground where we can have a kitchen and showers and internet. What is funny is that I have been the cook (no Phil in New Zealand). I have been preparing our nightly meals. Last night I made some yummy sausages and mashed Kumara -- a sweet potato type of root vegetable, just not as sweet as a sweet potato (phil would be proud at how much butter I put in the mashers). It was good if I say so myself. Tonight, however, I started what has been our typical evening meal of pasta, broccoli (BEM, Ange!), tuna fish in some kind of canned sauce, but tomight, Genevieve finished it, and did all the dishes too, so that I could work here on the blog on her laptop. Sweet Genevieve!

But now I have caught up on the blog, and it is 2AM (again) and I am posting and I am going to bed, for tomorrow, I try to call Qantas to change my departure so that I will have time for the “Cannot Miss” Milford Sound ferry ride. After all, Rick wont be in Thailand during my two days there before coming home, and Methet leaves after just one day. I might miss my other Thai friend, but he had a chance when I was there at the beginning. So I if I can change my ticket, I am doing it. I had hoped to do it tonight on the internet, but no I have to call the local Qantas office….Problem is a big town on the west coast has a population of 13,000. Doubt they have a Qantas office. So I gotta figure out how to call Christchurch in the AM.

So until next time

Newo out,