Running the River

Hello All!

Boy a lot has happened since the last time we checked in with you. After doing the Tongariro Crossing we headed a bit to the west to do a 3 day canoe trip down the Whanganui. The Whanganui river runs right through the middle of Whanganui National Park and the river trip is considered a great walk even though you are floating the whole time. Part of the Lord of the Rings was filmed in the park and we were singing the theme song as we paddled through some of the white water. Neither one of us had spent much time in a canoe before but with all of the weight that we carried it felt really stable and we couldn't wait for the next set of rapids to come! Only in New Zealand would they send you on a three day trip with only 2 minutes of paddle instruction...but all in all the river was just as mild as the Skagit. For a lot of the time we were floating on smooth water through deep gorges. We stayed at a couple of huts along the way. The first hut had glow worms lighting the path to the bathroom and the second hut was maintained by the Maori people and was run by a couple of ladies who had grown up on the river. The trip was great and we had fantastic weather.

Next stop was the town of Rotarua which you can smell before you get to it. It is right in the heart of volcanoe country and has tons of active geothermal areas all around. It smells like sulphur, but you kind of get used to it after awhile. The area is really important to the Maori people and they still make up a majority of the population there. We went to a traditional Maori concert and Hangi (feast). We saw dancing and singing and they have a Maori village that you can walk through and try to get an idea of what their traditional life was like. The Hangi is a feast that roasts all day in a hot rock oven and the native sweet potato and fish come out with a really delicious smokey flavor. It was a little pricey and very polished (we were there with 4 other busloads of people)! But still it was well worth it and a lot of fun plus all you can eat so Mike was happy.

Then we were off for Auckland to sell the Beast. He has such a great home for our trip and we will miss him, but it was sort of a relief to be able to sell him on the first day, and for $500 more than we bought him, which helped to cover some of our other travel costs. We now have a rental car and we were happy to get out of the big city and head north. Tonight we are at a campgroud a couple hours north of Auckland and are looking forward to spending our last few days on the beautiful beaches of the north country.

Only four days left until we head back home. It will be so great to see you all again and it might even be nice to get a little dose of the winter weather (we hear it's been raining a lot). Thanks for all of your comments and for keeping us up to date with stuff at home along the way.

Love and miss you all,

Brooke and Mike

Tongariro Crossing

Hey everybody! We just finished an awesome hike called the Tongariro Crossing, just south of Lake Taupo. This is volcano country and the trail crosses an active volcano. Much of the trail you feel like you are on another planet. There is only some grass here and there to break up the rock scape. The trail takes you through three craters, past several lakes of different colors and close to some steam belching hot springs that have the distinct smell of sulfur. We had beautiful weather for the crossing and took some awesome pictures that we will post as soon as we can. We hitch hiked on the way back an got picked up by a really nice British photographer who now lives in NZ. He offered us a place to stay should we be passing through the town of Taupo (which unfortunately I think we won't be).

The next adventure we are considering is a 3 day kayak trip down the Whanganui River not to far from here. We'll keep you posted.

Love ya and miss you (but home in less than two weeks!)

Over and out,

Brooke and Mike

View over the Queen Charlottes

View over the Queen Charlottes
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

The views along the ridge line which the trail followed most of the way were stunning. It looks a lot like the San Juan Islands to me until you get down in to the forests filled with giant fern trees.

Life is rough in the Queen Charlottes

Life is rough in the Queen Charlottes
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Shhh...Mike's had a hard day.

Relaxing in the Queen Charlottes

Relaxing in the Queen Charlottes
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Drinking beer on the dock in the Queen Charlottes. It doesn't get much better than that, and we didn't even have to worry about the extra weight since the water taxi took our packs from port to port. What service!

Mike makes a new friend

Mike makes a new friend
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

So our backpack trip in the Queen Charlottes was quite eventful. We spent a beautiful sunny day in Picton getting ready and walking around the town. The woman at the DOC office who helped us to plan the logistics of our trip said, "You sure couldn't pick better weather!" Well guess what happened...that night a huge storm blew in and it was rainy and windy like crazy. We had to catch a boat to the trailhead and it was sure a memorable trip. It felt like the intro to Gilligans Island. Waves were splashing over the top of the boat and in the doors! Boy were we happy to reach dry land.

We started hiking in the pouring rain, but about 30 minutes down the trail there was a sign pointing to a house on the water which had hot tea and fresh baked blueberry muffins. You can be sure we spent some time there before continuing down the trail.

Later in the day the weather cleared and we came to our first campsite of the trip which was in the orchard of a farmer. He was a jolly fellow that kind of reminded us of a hobbit (he he). It was so great there.. with lots of barnyard animals to keep us company. Here is a picture of Mike making friends with one of the locals.

Kyaking in Okarito

Kyaking in Okarito
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Hey Guys! Here is a picture of us kyaking in Okarito Lagoon on the west coast of the south island. What a great place that was to relax in and paddle around.

Troubles with the Beast!!!

Well, it's been awhile since we checked in with you. We have been traveling up the west coast through some beautiful, but pretty remote country so no easy access to the internet. We left Queenstown and started the drive through Mt. Aspiring National Park on the way to the west coast. Along the way we did a hike called Mt. Brewster which was kind of a killer. It went straight up the mountain and it was more like orange triangle nailed to trees through the woods in a straight line to the top! I almost didn't make it, but Mike managed to coax me along, and once we were out above the tree line things got easier because the awesome views distracted me from my sore legs!

After that we continued west finally coming to stop in the little town of Okarito which has turned out to be both of our favorite place so far on this trip. The town is tiny, but it is right on the ocean with wide open beaches, and a beautiful lagoon which is also a bird sanctuary. We spent the evening resting up and taking in the waves and the sun on the beach. The next day we rented kayaks and paddled out into the lagoon to do some bird watching. You can time it so that the tide takes you into the lagoon and then in the afternoon pulls you out again and in between there is plenty of time to explore some of the chanels along the edges where the green rainforest overhangs your boat and the birds are everywhere. One special treat was that once a year large numbers of white herons come to the lagoon for breeding and we happened to be there right at the perfect time to see them. They were so graceful to watch while they hunted for fish in the lagoon, and a couple of times one flew so close over our boat it felt like we could reach out and touch it.

It was hard to leave Okarito, but we finally did and continued up the west coast. Were 10 Km outside of Hokitika when with a cough and a wheeze the Beast concked out and came to a stop at the edge of the highway! Oh no! Mike kept his calm and cool though and with Brooke at the wheel for the first time on the trip Mike managed to push the Beast hard enough to push start it (weve practiced this manuver before with our truck at home) We limped into Hokitika and got a campsite and tried to figure out what to do. The next day the Beast started with no problem...hmmm...but we were still nervous so we headed up to Greymouth, the largest city on the west coast. It was new years eve and everything was closed except for a carparts store, but the guys running it kind of got into helping us and after much hmming and hahaing we ended up with a new battery and away we went. Its gotten us to Picton on the north coast so far with no problems, but stay tuned for updates (hopefully they will be good ones!)

Soon we will be taking off to do a four day backpack in the Queen Charlottes at the top of the north island. It is supposed to be incredible. There are some long mileage days, but the great thing is that the water taxi picks up and delivers your things to your campsite each day, so all you have to do is hike with a daypack.

We will check in again soon. Have a great New Years eve!

Love ya and miss ya,

Brooke and Mike

View from the Routeburn Falls hut

View from the Routeburn Falls hut
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

From the porch of our final hut.

Routeburn Falls Hut

Routeburn Falls Hut
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Our final hut of the trip was in an amazing location with great views. You can see the hut at the bottom of this picture.

Rainy but still beautiful!

Rainy but still beautiful!
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

The next day boy did it rain! But we still had a great hike, especially knowing that a warm dry hut and a bottle of wine that Mike had packed in for Christmas awaited us.

Views along the Routeburn Track

Views along the Routeburn Track
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

More views from along the Routeburn!

Brooke on the Routeburn Track

Brooke on the Routeburn Track
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

The next three days we were up on the Routeburn Track, one of New Zealands great walks and boy does it deserve that distinction. It was awesome! The first day we had great summer weather and even jumped in the glacier fed lake that was near our hut. Then we climbed up on this ridge to get some views as we were told that some weather would be rolling in the next day.

It was Christmas Eve and our hut warden led carloling by candle light that night and baked all of us mini mince meat pies! We missed all of you, but it was a nice way to spend Christmas eve.

Greenstone Valley

Greenstone Valley
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

The first two days of our hike was spent here in the Greenstone Valley. Pretty nice mellow valley walk with wide open views of the mountains all around, and we even had decent weather. Both of the huts we stayed in were really nice and we met a few folks from Germany and the states. Good times.

Mike and Fritz kickin it on the porch

Mike and Fritz kickin it on the porch
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

We spent a couple of days with our buddy Fritz at his place in Queenstown (thats Hughs brother to those of you in Marbles). He was a great host and it was a perfect basecamp for our next adventure.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

We spent a rainy day driving up to Milford Sound. We almost skipped it because of the weather, but our friend Fritz convinced us to go and we are so glad we did. Even with the clouds the views were incredible! Very majestic and well worth the drive.

New Friends on Stewart Island

New Friends on Stewart Island
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Here are our new friends we made on our hike around Stewart Island. Kym, Graham, Sue and Steph. Thanks Kym and Graham for putting us up in such a beautiful holiday cabin.

The Stairs

The Stairs
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Here is Brooke on one set of the thousands of stairs along the Raikura Track.

Mike at Lookout

Mike at Lookout
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

This is at the highest point in the trail where there is a lookout over the island.

Beginning the Raikura Track

Beginning the Raikura Track
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Here is Mike and I at the beginning of the treck around Stewart Island. Beautiful beaches and forests.