Queenstown Monday 28th December

I've had 3 full days now and I'm ready to move on, although there is plenty to do here for sure.

On Boxing Day I climbed Ben Lomond which rises directly behind Queenstown.It's a big hill - 1783 m - with 1400m climb. However I went up the Gondola which must have cut out 4-500m. The weather was good to start but deteriorated with rain before I reached the summit. I have a photo from the saddle but the visibility was very poor thereafter, although it wasn't windy and it was quite mild. In total it took me 4hours 5mins (2hrs 5mins up). It's quite an attractive hill with none of the long slog up as with Ben Lomond in Scotland. The rain got heavier coming down and persisted all day, making Queenstown rather forlorn looking with young people huddled in bars.

I had a second great Day on Sunday 27th when I took my car to the Routeburn Shelter via Glenorchy and walked up to two huts (Routeburn Flats and Routeburn Falls) on the Routeburn Track (one of the NZ Great Walks and perhaps the best). It was scheduled as a 5-7 hour Day walk - I took 5hrs 5mins (2hrs 10mins up). The weather started out with a lot of low cloud and a few spots of rain, but well before the first hut the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful warm, sunny day. The track follows the Route Burn through high gorges and then the flats at the first hut, before climbing more steeply with waterfalls and spectacular views approaching hut 2. There were 5 wibbly wobbly bridges which are great fun.The track was very good especially at the start but there were a lot of tree routes and boulders further up. I had not expected a hut as well equipped as that at Routeburn Falls: it has 48 bunks and 6 double gas burners. Luxury indeed. There were quite a few people on the track going in one direction or another and both trampers doing the entire 2-3 day or day walkers. They are clearly differentiated by the size of rucksacks! The starting height for the tramp is 458 m rising to 1000m at hut 2, but that is misleading as there is quite a bit of up and down.

The reurn by car along Lake Wakatipu was absurdly beautiful: the temperature was 25C with blue skies and cotton wool clouds; the backdrop was the high, snow covered peaks of Mt Aspiring National Park; while the lake was a striking emerald blue. With the car windows open, the smell of fennel was wafting through much of the way back.

Finally today (Monday 28th December), I climbed the small Queenstown Hill (907m), next door to Ben Lomond. About 600m climbing from the town. And then relaxed this afternoon by taking a cycle ride along the Frankton Walkway which runs along the lakeside on the opposite side from Queenstown. There were many family groups enjoying the holidays by the lake as well as sailing dinghies, motor boats etc

So I've had a good time here, and now I'm looking forward to a different kind of holiday, focusing upon upon wildlife and nature!

Misc Blogettes

1. I read in the paper yesterday about complaints concerning ill-equipped and ill-informed tourists on the hills. Sounds familiar! A recent case was cited in the newspaper of two Germans who walked past a no entry sign on Fox Glacier and were killed by a falling ice block from the glacier. I can vouch for the former point: on Avalanche Peak I met an Italian with no water; he was suffering from dehydration (mild in fairness) and I gave him one of my water bottles. On Saturday on Ben Lomond when I was descending I met two young British women wearing shorts, vest tops and trainers as the weather was deteriorating. Mind I remember meeting a woman with high heels at the start of the Cobbler path asking the way and how long it would take!

2. To continue the weather theme but give it a nice parochial flavour, I read on the BBC Scotland website that 'Heather the Weather' is retiring from reading the news! What will I do!? Nick and Julie tease me about my obsession with the weather and particularly with Heather. There is a Glasgow University connection here as her husband in a Professor of Physics there. Oh well, change and decay and all that..

3. Disappointingly I haven't met many people to talk with at length. Maybe it shouldn't have been surprise as the population is YHAs is a peripatetic one. This morning I met an engineer - Trevor Cree - who works on agricultural development issues and we have a lot in common - but he's away now.

Tomorrow I'm up early in the morning to go to Te Anau and get a bus/boat trip to Milford Sound.