The Island of a Large White Cloud
New Zealand
01 CHAPTER
SOUTH
ISLAND
At the very edge of our planet, there sits an unusual island of a large white cloud: New Zealand. My journey begins with the exploration of the southern part of the most picturesque place on earth.
Queenstown
Queenstown is a small town located on the South Island, near the Lake Wakatipu of glacial origin, surrounded by picturesque mountains. It is considered to be the center of extreme tourism in New Zealand. The thrill-seekers come here for such adrenaline activities as bungy-jumping, paragliding, river surfing, rafting, and so much more. When you walk around the city, the Skyline cable car is noticeable from almost all viewpoints. The gondola takes all the newcomers, who want to get a dose of adrenaline and tickle their nerves to the top! In the meantime, we are trying to come to our senses after a 48-hour flight, relaxing in a nice hotel that is overlooking a lake, while being fascinated by the local beauty.
Queenstown is a strategic point from which numerous devotees of trekking go to the Routeburn Track. The track, which usually takes three days to complete, we managed to do in one and a half days. We walked for twenty-three kilometers during the day on steep climbs and descents, with alpine views. We started our ascent from the opposite end of the track, which allowed us to avoid human traffic and immerse ourselves in the surrounding beauty.
Routeburn Track
The surrounding landscape is continuously changing. First, we make our way through the winding forest paths covered with moss, then we climb the steep rocky slope, and finally, walk around the mountain. We are fascinated by the unearthly views of the mountain giants. At some point, a steep uphill began, and then a narrow path started to sweep the mountainside. On one side, there is a cliff and alpine species, on the other - the slopes bloom with local vegetation.
A few hours of continuous ascent, hard mountain sun, and a bottomless abyss stretching just a few inches apart from me, caused a small panic attack but the spirit of adventure forced me to go on. My pace began to slow down gradually, and a load of a heavy backpack, which ruthlessly pressed against my shoulders, started to bend my body closer to the ground. The sign on the trail notified us that we must reach the first mountain shelter in the next hour, but that hour stretched to infinity, and when after another steep climb up the mountain, nothing was visible on the horizon, except for the continuous stretch of the hills, I was overwhelmed by despair. A line of thoughts flashed through my head: I cannot do this anymore; my back hurts so badly; this humongous backpack does not allow me to move any faster; I will just sit on the path now; those boots are rubbing my feet, and I am in agony, especially on the ascent; how much longer do I have to walk; the backpack pulls towards the abyss, I hope I will not lose my balance; can I just cry; how much behind am I from the rest of the group; I will continue to move no matter what, even if I move very slowly.
We spent the night in specially equipped mountain shelters, as we affectionately called them: huts. The living conditions were super unpretentious, with all the amenities outside, and no hot water. There are several such huts on the trail, and you need to book an overnight stay in one of those in advance. Surprisingly, there are much more people wanting to spend the night under the roof, rather than under the stars. Forest rangers guard each shelter. They keep track of those who just arrived as well as those, who parted, recording all the names and passport data, as well tracing all upcoming rest stops in other shelters, for the remaining time on the track, to make sure no one gets lost.
The shelter consists of one continuous sleeping space, filled with two-story bunk beds in dozens of rows. There is a small kitchen, adjacent to the sleeping area, with several gas burners. You can quickly cook up a dinner consisting of tightly concealed dried mountain food that is usually the best options for the trekkers to carry around in their backpacks. We, on the other hand, preferred a better nutrition option and therefore decided to take vegetables and boiled eggs on the track with us instead. The rest of the trekkers were puzzled big time when we began to take out our well-preserved tomatoes from the heavy backpacks and lay them on a table one by one.
At a certain hour, a shelter turns off the lights, which means that it is time to call it quits and go to bed. Anyone who didn’t manage to get into their sleeping bag before it gets too dark has a risk of stumbling upon the neighbor's sticking feet. There is this very distinctive smell in all of the shelters on the track, similar to the odor of stinky socks but even more disturbing, since those are the sleeping bags that stink – all 20 plus of them. Such a turnoff does not set you up for a good night sleep. Though, this is still half the trouble. You can adjust to the smell pretty quickly, but if you have a snoring neighbor, then you can forget about the good night sleep for good! The first night in such a hut was troublesome because we had a snoring person right next to us. With the most astounding trills produced by his snore, he managed to keep us up almost all night long. At one point, I just gave up and fell asleep for a good few hours.
We’ve learned that there are no predictors on the island. This Island was populated initially only by birds and sea creatures, and now there are also sheep, cows, lamas, horses, opossums, and rats. By the way, all the mammals on this island were brought to New Zealand from various continents by humans. These species multiplied in size so quickly that now New Zealanders have to take percussions and exterminate them by placing special traps up in the mountains. Hence, if you end up alone, with no roof under your head at night, in the middle of the forest – it is pretty much safe, and can be a very good option to spend a night at, especially if you really don’t want to listen to communal snores in one of the shelters.
