Saturday at 8am, about 40 people from the tramping club met up in one of the university car parks for an overnight tramping trip called Re-Freshers. (Freshers because we were mostly noobs, and re-freshers because it’s the second semester. So we don’t get to be complete newbs. (how exactly do I spell that?)) Anyway. We were headed into Arthur’s Pass again, this time to somewhere with less snow and more hot pools.
We were warned the previous Wednesday that this trip would mainly consist of crossing and re-crossing a river until we got there, so most of us packed appropriately. (most of us…) After a two-hour long bus ride through the beautiful misty mountains, we arrived, pulled out our packs, and headed off into the bushes.
The first river crossing wasn’t too bad. I don’t have waterproof shoes, but that really only matters when the water is lower than the top of your boots. As it was, everyone’s feet got soaked, and stayed soaked pretty much the whole weekend.
Next we were crossing an area that looked somewhat like the Dead Marshes. (Alert: LOTR reference. Better get used to it though, ‘cause there will be many of these…)
We were hungry.
(Photo courtesy of Heiko Bohlen)
Maybe half an hour to an hour after that, we entered a sort of rainforest. And all of this not too far from the snowy mountains we had crossed last weekend.
There was a lot of river crossings. At one point the current looked fast enough that I thought it would be better to do a group crossing with someone. Kristina and I went together, and the water came up to our hips. We were halfway through the river when the current got really fast, and the water really high, and my feet got swept from under me. I definitely half-fell in, and because I hadn’t brought a pack liner, some stuff in my bag got wet as well. I was afraid both Kristina and I would topple over completely into the river, because we couldn’t get our footing for a while, but we ended up alright. We probably stepped on each others’ feet at least twice, and then we braced ourselves against some big rocks so we could stand up again – which gave us some very lovely-coloured bruises later on.
Well, that probably sounded more scary than it actually was. Once we got to the other side (I hyperventilated a bit and then) we started laughing. We were the only ones who fell in, sadly. Or I mean gladly, gladly. So it wasn’t that bad.
No one got a photo of it, but lots of people saw it. Here’s a photo of two people crossing at the same spot and not falling in:
Good times.
Here’s another photo of a successful river crossing:
When we finally got to our destination, we were definitely ready for some hot springs. The first order of business was to set up our tents and dig out the hotpools – because nature doesn’t always provide a perfect pool sitting area.
Luckily though, I was with the last group to arrive and I didn’t have to do any of the above. Ha. So the second order of business was to change into our bathing suits and get into the hotpools. Which I did, happily.
The rest of that night was spent sitting in hot pools and sleeping in tents, so there’s not much to say after that. I did see a possum though, which is apparently just as bad as a squirrel when it comes to digging/chewing through backpacks for food. …but he looked pretty chill to me.
There is no possum in this photo. Sorry. I just wanted to show you the tents.
The next day we woke up at 10, put our wet clothes back on, and headed out. (We’d hung our clothes up to dry, but there was too much humidity in the air. If anything, they probably just got wetter.)
Today we had two options: go back the way we came, or take a longer, easier route back to the vans. Most people chose the longer and easier route, but that route consisted of crossing the river many more times than we had the day before. So I took the shorter route.
I, Andy (from Austria), Michael (also from Austria) and Will (USA) decided we could probably make up for lost time by going quickly, since we were some of the last people to leave the campsite. We trekked quickly, and somehow ended up being the first to arrive at the vans. (or close to first)
Photo courtesy of Andreas Blöschl
Photo courtesy of Andrew Thorson
All in all, it was a good trip.
It was a good indication of what to look forward to in future tramps – wet feet and beautiful scenery. Next time I’ll make sure I have a bag liner so I can keep my stuff dry.
New Zealand Travel 