Break Adventures: day 2

We awoke as the sun was rising, packed into the car and set out for a bite of warm breakfast before the hike.


Here's where it all went wrong. After breakfast we went to the Department of Conservation's office in Te Anau to fill out a form indicating a date at which they would send help up for us if we didn't make it down and to inquire about the conditions of the great walks in the area. It was at this point that we learned that nobody had been or would be doing any of the three great walks in the area until the avalanche danger was considerably lower. The avalanche danger would only be low enough for a full winter crossing of the Kepler Track if it had not snowed or rained in two weeks and the forecast appeared good.

Our plans were turned upsidedown. We decided we would do the walk up to the first hut on the Kepler Track, stay there one night while discussing what to do with the rest of our time, and come down the next day.

Because we were only going up for one night we were able to leave plenty of our food supplies in the car.
It was raining as we prepared to leave. We wanted a photo of us at the start of our hike so I offered my "waterproof to 10 feet camera" to take the shot. Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to set a timer for the camera so I took this video thinking I would just take a screenshot of part of it. I'm told the video is funny so I'll just link that instead.



So we started out on the trail and walked as a group for an hour to a nice beach spot where camping is permitted.


Here we stopped for a few to admire the beach and prepare for the next bit which we had read was an estimated 4 hours uphill to the hut. Dale and I were inspired to climb the hill rapidly and we waved goodbye to our four mates before flying up to the hut in 2 hours 15 minutes including a lunch break. We stopped for lunch at a bit of a clearing where you could see out to Te Anau as the clouds dispersed. The poor weather mostly pushed off as we climbed to the hut with just a few sprinklings the rest of the way there. The sun was shining through the trees as we climbed up above the tree line.


Just as we finished the steepest portion of the day's tramp and came out of the trees we were greeted by this view.


We tramped the last thirty minutes which were full of fantastic views and we came to the hut.


Dale and I arrived at the hut at about 1P.M. and we waited (an hour and a half?) for the ladies and matt to come up. Here they come:


Once our whole party had settled in at the hut we did a bit of exploring up the mountain behind the hut towards Luxmore peak and the rest of the tramp. We were careful not to carry on where the trail is in potential avalanche paths, though we did have to go across a bit of snow to get there. Fortunately, the snow did not require the use of crampons as we had none. Rather, it was the kind of snow you tend to fall right through. Matt's gaiters did not help him with this one:


The trail looked like this when we stopped. It was clear that nobody should be doing the alpine crossing that day:


We then went uphill to the left where there were a few fun looking rocks to climb and a bit of snow. Here's a shot of Dale at the highest point we climbed to that afternoon:


We headed down as soon as we saw rain coming our way and we had just made it to the door when the sky openned up again.

Luxmore Hut has 56 bunks and a nice main room. I took a silly video from inside the main room as I was waiting for the rest of our party to come up. At the beginning I was trying to capture the image of these clouds which were forming in the valleys and quickly rolling up the hills like steam.



Dale looked through his guidebook and the two of us put together a list of different hikes we might be able to do as we worked our way back up to Christchurch. We decided we would call DOC offices ahead in the future.

I ate some tasty paleo foods: bananas, apples, parsnips, carrots, broccoli, celery, and nuts. Dale cooked for himself as he would do each morning and night. Matt and the ladies made some hot veggies and potatoes for dinner.

We all got a good bit of sleep though the wind and rain crashed violently against the hut throughout the night.

Break Adventures: day 1

I would like to prepare my readers for a story on how something can go absolutely wrong but can end up fantastically right.

The party consisted of six people.

From left to right: PT, Matt, Rachel, Nora, Alex, and Dale.
Unfortunately, this is the only photo of all of us that I have access to presently.

Our plans were such:

• Rent a car from Monday to Sunday
• Drive down to Te Anau (8-10 hours southwest of Christchurch)
• Stay in a hostel Monday night
  
• Do the Kepler Track for 3-4 days (Tuesday to Saturday)
• Stay in a hostel Saturday night
• Drive home to Christchurch Sunday to drop off the car by 5PM

We ended up doing something drastically different.

The first day, however, went almost entirely according to plan. Dale and PT pulled up in the Rent-A-Dent van at Ilam Apartments at 8:30 AM and we loaded in our gear.


The drive was long but we had iPods and an FM transmitter so we had music all the way down. We switched up seats often and settled up on money for the hostel and the car rental. I offered to pay for all of the gas and collect money at home which is just what we did.

We found out that one of the seats could swivel around and we left it facing backwards the rest of the trip.


About two hours into the drive we got a chip in the windshield of the car and had to find a place to stop and get it fixed. The repair cost only 55 NZ and only stopped us for about 30 minutes.

Those last two photos are Dale's. He's given me permission to use his photos in my blog without citation. All photos of me tramping were taken by Dale, and if you see a particularly beautiful photo like the one above the crack in the windshield, go ahead and assume he took it. This applies to all of the Break Adventures posts. As of now I only have access to photos taken by Dale and I as neither Matt nor the ladies have uploaded theirs yet. I think Dale is a master of the point-and-shoot digital camera and an excellent photographer.

Here's the room we stayed in. A six bed dorm for a party of six at 30NZ/person.


It rained and gusted wind all night. I slept well with the exception of awakening to a few particularly loud moments in the storm when rain beat hard on the wall by my head.

Break time

This is the third of three back to back posts I've just made. Be sure to read the other two below. They're way more interesting (this one is about my plans and my diet) and have lots of tasty photographs.

I have a sixteen day break now that started on Friday. I intend to have lots of exciting adventures.

The only adventure that I currently have planned is going on a tramping trip with five friends down to Te Anau where the Kepler track great walk is located. We will drive down there tomorrow (eight or ten hours), crash at a hostel, tramp for four days, hostel and drive back. The last part of that is a ????? for me as I may remain down there with my mates Dale and Matt Kelly to do another tramp or two as there are lots of good ones in that area.

Either way I won't be posting for a week or so... don't miss me too much.

If I do not stay down there I will likely do some cycle touring, some other tramps closer to home, go snowboarding, or some combination of those activities.

One thing I'd like to mention is that I'm a bit nervous about the tramp. I'm nervous because I'm not yet fully comfortable with the paleolithic man diet I've been following for a week now. This is because a large part of the paleo diet is meat and I can't expect to keep meat cool enough to stay good for four or five days in my pack. I will be eating veggies, fruits, and nuts on the tramp, and hopefully it will do me well. So far the diet has felt good but that's been with meat.

I doubt most folks know much about the paleo diet; I'm still learning about it myself. The idea is that our bodies have not had a very long time to evolve, and it is only recently that man learned to use fire, and had the agricultural revolution. Because of this, it is argued that the diet best suited for humans is the one that we were eating a good few years ago. The paleo diet is often called the caveman diet and the hunter gatherer diet. Here's a quick blurb on the diet from crossfit:

"The Caveman or Paleolithic Model for Nutrition
Modern diets are ill suited for our genetic composition. Evolution has not kept pace with advances in agriculture and food processing resulting in a plague of health problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. Search "Google" for Paleolithic nutrition, or diet. The return is extensive, compelling, and fascinating. The Caveman model is perfectly consistent with the CrossFit prescription.

And a link to a large and very specific list of foods that I'm eating and not eating right now:
paleodiet foods.

I'm planned to follow that list for a couple weeks to see what it felt like. It has been a week so far. I feel pretty good but I definitely need longer.

If I ultimately decide that this diet hasn't made me feel healthier I suppose I will just go back to eating whatever. What I expect to happen however is for this to feel good and to have a greater drive to eat healthier without limiting myself exclusively to paleo foods.

Long bike ride attempt.

I cycled 104 km ( 64.6 mi) today. Here are a few signs where "Old West Coast Rd." meets up with motorway 73. The yellow ones say "Christchurch 56km" and "Arthurs Pass 97 km".


I've been inspired to try to do a bit of cycle touring on this hunk of junk bike I have here. That's right, the 50 NZ dollar one. Many think it's a dumb idea and I'll admit it would be a much nicer to tour on a better cycle, and a little bit safer. I certainly would not tour on the bike without testing it out and making necessary adjustments to ensure that it is about as safe as a brand new bicycle, and having pushed it an estimated 300 km now I have some confidence.

Most cycle tourists wear at most a camel back or a bladder of sorts on their backs when they ride, the rest of their gear in pouches or strapped to a rack on the front or back of the cycle. I wanted to have saddlebags, but of course, I wanted to do it cheap.

Here's a look at the modifications I made:


First, I borrowed and installed a rusty old metal rack from Dale's womens' cycle he bought for when his girlfriend came to visit. Second, I took a small pizza box and a box of cornflakes, cut each of them into two pieces and glued the halves together to create pretty stable "mud guards". I say "mud guards" because they serve the purpose of keeping mud off the saddlebags only as a secondary function. Their primary function is keeping the flimsy and free "Ilam life" bags that each Ilam Apartments student received when checking in for his room. The "mud guards" are tied to the rack and the frame of the bike to keep them from flapping around in the wind. The messenger bags' straps were cut and tied to the rack. This setup ultimately cost me two NZ dollars for the glue for the cardboard (nobody had any to lend me).


Here's a picture of the bike and my gear just prior to setting out:


I packed my bags with lots of tasty fruits, veggies, and nuts (I've been eating like a paleolithic man for a week now as an experiment), tools, and clothes for added weight because I wanted to simulate a proper tour. Strapped to the rack is my sleeping bag. I said before that cycle tourists do not typically wear backpacks. I wore one today because I have this dream of biking to places where I can do some good tramping which would definitely require a pack.

It looked like rain so I had a go at waterproofing my gear. My first plan was pretty dumb, involving safety pins and a plastic bag that was ripped down the sides and draped over the bag. It was plenty waterproof but having to undo and redo the safety pins each time I needed to get something out of the bag would be frustrating. The other way was much better:


I took a typical grocery store bag and cut the handles. I shimmied the plastic up around the pack and twisted it around so that I had four flaps that I could wrap over and scotch tape down. This worked really well. I openned and closed the plastic four or five times during the day and each attachment adhered each time, and didn't come up despite the wind it would experience.

I got the bike out the door and headed out.

The first leg I biked 75 minutes and took these:


I wanted to get the progression of the size of the mountains as I was riding due West to them. After another hour and a bit:


And after 52km, just another half hour:


I stopped for a ten minute break first, then a thirty minute break, and at the end I rested twenty minutes before coming back. I took similarly long breaks on the way back. I was on the road from 9:40 to 4:40. My average speed was just over 20km/hr.

Two of the fingers on my left hand did not have feeling for three hours after and, to keep this G rated, let's just say I will definitely be getting cycle shorts before doing a ride this long again.

Face it

So I decided to trim the beard and you will see why.
This is what I looked like about two weeks ago:


I decided I wanted to use a buzzer to get it all to the same length and see what that looked like; I couldn't be bothered to do it with scissors. I borrowed Dale's buzzer and went at it. I actually thought this looked kind of cool. I wore this for about a week:


At this point I had to decide whether to buy a buzzer (I had promised Dale I would stop using his) or shave it off. I made the decision to gradually work down to nothing. The first step was to shave down to this which I wore for about three days:


There was lots of debate between my friends on whether I should do just the chin or the lip but ultimately I went with the lip. It looked ridiculous and lasted only 24 hours before getting shaved off:


And here is proof that I wore the mustache out one night:

I almost forgot to post what I look like now with the clean shave! This is from two nights ago at a party we threw in our flat. Lots of people I didn't know were introducing themselves to me and saying that it was the best party they'd been to this semester. It's the first party on campus I've been to that has been shut down by RA's. There were four of them. And now a picture from very early on at the party. It was about 8 and I was playing a bit of gentleman's poker with a few of my friends. I ended up winning. Oh and the party was to be formal so that's why I'm dressed up in my mate Harry's old suit.


Someone encouraged me to make a poll on which beard style everyone prefers so I'll try to put one up for a laugh.

Canterbury Rugby!

Friday evening I went with a few friends to the Canterbury vs. Waikato rugby game at the AMI Stadium. The seats we paid for were just sixteen apiece and the stadium did not fill up so we were able to move to better seating. The seats would have been even cheaper if we had purchased them ahead of time online.

Canterbury totally destroyed Waikato in this game. 46 - 13 !

The pictures I took were horrible but I guess I ought to post a few of them.

The team warming up before the game:

Waikato preparing a kick to start off after a Canterbury try:
Seriously, those are the best shots I took. I didn't even remember to take a picture of the posse that came to the game!

I very much hope to go to a Crusaders game and an All Blacks game if possible.

Forestry Field Trip #2

I learned heaps about trees last Saturday.. didn't take too many photos but I'll post what I have.

Here's a few hazelnuts in the orchard at our first stop, a retired couple's retirement orchard:

Nice internal shelter on the right and my class up ahead:
Chestnut trees:
Stop #2: Dudley's House. He was my lecturer's boss at one point and he has a really excellent estate. Here we're learning about how Dudley set up a running water creek in his yard so that he can grow rare plants that like having "wet feet" or running water on their roots:
Dudley leaves space around his trees to plant a few amenity flowers so that his trees will not suffer any mower damage which trees in a typical yard do:
Stop #3, some couple's lot across the way from my lecturer's home. The lecturer, Ledgard, helped the couple to do a bit of plantation style forestry on their lot in such a way that it is very pleasing to look at. Here we are in a lot of radiata pine where some of the trees have been pruned but there has been no thinning.. as a result the growth rate of the pruned radiata is considerably slower than those in the next lot over where the trees were thinned down to about 250 stems per hectare. Ledgard is showing us how to get the diameter of a trunk:
One of my classmates having a go at pruning:
It was a very educational day. I typed up the summary of the trip worth 20% of my grade in the class. If you want to have a look at some of the other things I learned on the trip, I've got the summary hosted here.