Aspiring to Paradise

21 -25 March 2011

As we traveled inland and away from the wet, west coast the scenery quickly changed from dramatic and deserted coastline to steep glacial valleys where wide blue lakes are filled by impossibly wide and braided crystal clear rivers. From my perspective, one of the best things about New Zealand thus far are the wide, braided, and glacially fed rivers. Wow, I think I’m in love.

In Wanaka we visited the awesome Mount Aspiring National Park (but what is it aspiring to, we wonder?) and Rob Roy Glacier. After huffing and puffing our way up through dense southern beech and fern rich forest we were rewarded with a view of the retreating Rob Roy glacier. Over a lunch of our favorite PB&J sandwiches we kept an eye out for the Kea, a large, friendly alpine dwelling parrot, and watched as large chunks of the glacier paraded down the steep mountain sides in true avalanche style. After soaking up some Vitamin D and without a visit from a Kea, we reluctantly marched ourselves back down through the beautiful, lush forest and onto The Matukituki River floodplain.

After Wanaka we spent a few nights in Queenstown avoiding the advertisements for bungee jumping, sky diving, parasailing, bungee jumping while parasailing, and honestly any way you can imagine to throw yourself off something-- they probably do that here too. Instead of emptying our bank accounts on the promise of 15 seconds of true bliss a la freefall (and there is something truly blissful about it—I jumped off a bridge here when I came to New Zealand in 2004), we went hiking and I found myself a much needed yoga studio.

We spent a day hiking near the town of Glenorchy, a quick drive from Queenstown, just on the other side of the hill from the famous Milford Sound, where the multi-day Routeburn, Greenstone, and Caples, traks start or end. Without tent, sleeping bags, or stove, (and 30+ days of trekking behind us) we have pretty much ruled out any overnight treks- or tramps as they call them here in NZ (Shucks, I guess we’ll just have to come back).

After bumming around along the Dart River on some nice gravel roads, we walked the deserted trail to Lake Sylvan soaking up the beautiful beech and fern forests (as usual) and taking in the perfect reflections of the mountains in the lake. After our walk we headed up another gravel road toward the town of Paradise and while we didn’t reach the town we certainly feel as though we made it to the destination- paradise. Or maybe that’s the delicious brownie served up at a Glenorchy café talking…