SO. the past 10 days have been pretty action packed. I finished out classes on Thursday the 1st with an incredibly easy Intro to Maori test, and then Friday morning headed South towards Fiordland with some of my flatmates and my friend Alyssa to begin my first extended period of time carrying everything I need on my back. Alyssa and I split from my flatmates who were headed to Queenstown and hitchhiked on down to Te Anu. On the last leg of our hitch we got picked up at 9:30 at night by a family of 4 who were also headed to Te Anu, the dad is a Christchurch surfing legend and was one of the first people to surf out on the Banks Penninsula...pretty epic, and it saved us from camping on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We woke up the next morning in a mild drizzle and went and waited at the Department of Conservancy (DOC) office for the rest of our friends to get there. 9 of us headed out on the Kepler track around noon on Saturday with a light rain overhead. This "light" rain quickly turned into a consistent downpour and by the time we had reached our first break point, 2 hrs into the hike, we had all determined that nothing we had was actually waterproof regardless of labeling. Our plan for that night was to camp at a free campsite just off the track that was also listed as having a 4 bunk hut. By the time we got to the campsite we were all cold and wet, we went into the hut which was already occupied by a fisherman, his son, and his son's friend who were up from Southland fishing for the weekend. We were ecstatic to see that they had a fire going and they graciously invited all 9 of us in to the hut (which actually had 6 bunks). After drying out our belongings and warming up we were all invited to stay in the hut, so with a few people double bunking we fit 12 people into a hut that couldn't have been more than 20'x15'. Thankfully we woke up the next day to sunshine and were able to continue on in good spirits. Since the Kepler track is considered a "Great Walk" they charge considerably for hut and campsite accommodations, seeing as I am quite stingy and adventurous I decided that it would be in my best interest to freedom camp (i.e. camp outside of 500 m from the trail). That next night when we arrived at the campsite my mates had booked, I headed off down the river and found an amazing campsite right on the river at the base of a massive cliff. Monday we headed up to the saddle and after about 2 hrs of switchbacks we were rewarded with AMAZING views of the surrounding mountain ranges of Fiordland. We had crystal clear skies and only a light breeze (it was blowing 80+ km/hr the day before) so we were thrilled. We ended day 3 back down along Lake Te Anu at Brod Bay for our final night on the Kepler. As you will see in the pictures, I had yet another amazing campsite right on the water :) After a morning skinny dip and some yoga on the beach we hiked out to Te Anu for some much deserved fish and chips and other greasy fatty sugary foods after 4 days of eating ramen noodles, oatmeal and peanutbutter. We met up with my friend Travis (big red beard) and from there some people headed back to Queenstown and the rest of us headed up towards Milford Sound. Milford Sound was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! The drive out alone was breathtaking and when we got there it was stunning. Huge steep snow capped peaks on all sides with water falls streaming down. Words and pictures do not come close to capturing how beautiful it was.

On Thursday my friend Austin, his brother Eric, and I started off on the Routeburn track which goes from Milford road through the mountains to just outside of Queenstown(If you remember back a few weeks I had already hiked the Queenstown half of the trail). The Milford side of the track is SPECTACULAR. We shot up above the tree line almost immediately and were greeted with ridiculously gorgeous alpine views. The three of us then had lunch next to a 174m waterfall, which i took a much needed shower in. Our first night we bushwacked our way down a "side trail" past one of the huts that had not been cleared in atleast a year or so. We ended up camping on a river delta at the base of a hanging valley between 2 peaks (see pics). The next day the track took us about 3/4 of the way to the top of the range and then traversed along above the Hollyford River valley. Needless to say this was also amazing. We reached the summit of Conical Hill (1540m i believe)around 3 pm and then headed down the other side to find our next campsite. Eric had a recommendation from a hitchhiker for an amazing place to camp so when we reached the valley floor we headed up along another canyon to an upper alpine meadow where we spent our last night on the track.

A few side notes about both tracks:

1) It is definitely NOT still summer at the southern end of the island. It was VERY cold almost every night, and on the last night of the Routeburn I woke up to find my tent was legitimately a block of ice...whether or not this had anything to do with the additional fact that i may or may not have thrown my pack in the river we had to cross is yet to be determined...

2) Living for multiple days on end on a diet of ramen noodles, oatmeal, peanutbutter, granola bars, nutmix and water is not that enjoyable. But, when you are freezing cold at night and in the morning, hot food is truly amazing.

To end the adventures of my first week of break I hitchhiked back from Queenstown to Christchurch, miraculously in only 2 rides. The first from an off duty taxi driver headed home, and the second from a german physicist who is studying abroad in Sydney. He was headed from Queenstown to Christchurch in a campervan and picked me up about 7:30 pm Saturday night. Our plan was to drive straight through to Chch but seeing as for some reason everything but the bars closes by 7 oclock at the latest we came very close to running out of petrol and had to stop and spend the night in a small town along the way. This morning (Sunday) we woke up and he was kind enough to drive me right back to my flat! Tomorrow begins another adventure when my mom and brother (Kyle) fly in and we head off down the west coast to see the glaciers!

In case you can't tell I'm not enjoying myself at all here.

Cheers!