Travel log of Eli and Anna Bendersky

Hi all,

We had great two weeks in which we explored the south island, and did a lot of tramping (the Kiwi (New Zealand-ish) term for trekking, bushwalking, hiking, etc.).

On January 16th we left Christchurch to Arthur’s Pass national park.

The “Southern Alps” area has only one road to pass between the eastern and the western coasts of the south island. This is the road we drove, and in its middle there is the Arthur’s pass village.

We stayed at the “Mountain House” lodge, which was very nice. It is a small house containing a kitchen, a lounge (with a fireplace!), two bathrooms and toilets, and four rooms. The high quality of the accomodation just surprises us each time anew.
We find the places to stay here using a free BBH booklet - it contains a list of all of the hostels that belong to the BBH organization, and each place has a “BBP” rating. So far we stayed at places with rating over 79, and all were really good (the Mountain House had rating of 85…).

In the Arthur’s pass area there are many treks to choose from. On the first day in the area we did several short walks, and on the second day we did the famous “Avalanche Peak” walk which is considered as the most spectacular day-walk in the south island.
The walk was basically 3 hours climbing up the mountain (from 700 to 1800 meters) - watching the views from the peak - and 3 hours climbing down the mountain. The day we walked was cloudy in the morning, so on our way up we did not have much view, and when we got to the top, we had to wait for an hour for the clouds to dissolve. It was really cold at the top, and we wore many layers of clothes (and it was still cold!). But the views were surely worth it:

There was one bad thing about this trek, though. Anna forgot to put sunscreen on her ears (it was cold! and windy! and cloudy!), and they got burnt pretty badly. But they’re OK now, don’t worry

New Zealand has unique wildlife. One of the native birds is the Kea - a big, green and red parrot that lives in the mountains and is very inquisivite - keas usually aren’t afraid of humans and will even steal food from backpacks and tear down the rubber around car windows as a “game” (they’re quite big and have a strong beak and claws). Signs everywhere say not to feed them, because this makes them dependent on humans (and hyper-active).

After Arthur’s pass we drove to Lake Tekapo, and from there we visited Mount Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand - about 3800 m). Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad that day so we didn’t get to see much. We did a short 2 hour walk under the rain and saw a couple of glaciers, however. When we came back to Lake Tekapo the sun was shining again - the weather here is very unpredictable and changes quickly.

On the 21st we arrived to Queenstown - a small town with a very developed tourism industry - right in the center of some of New Zealand’s best trekking areas (in summer) and ski slopes (in winter). We spent a couple of days there walking around - and did a day walk that climbed onto one of the hills behind the town.

On the 24th we began the 3-day Routeburn Track - one of the “great walks” of New Zealand, stretching over 35 kilometres in Mt Aspiring and Fiordland national parks. The track began with a hour long ride from Queenstown (where we left our car), and from there we plunged into the bush with the backpacks on us (including dishes and food for 3 days).

The first day of the Routeburn is the easiest and we reached the first hut shortly after 1 PM. As the weather forecast for the next day wasn’t too favorable, we were adviced to climb uphill to the Harris Saddle, which is actually part of the second day, to enjoy the view before the rain comes.

We did the climb (leaving our backpacks in the hut, so it was easier), and added another side walk (a steep climb to Conical Hill), but it was cloudy so we didn’t get to see much and came back down. Instead of an easy 3.5 hour day we got a 7.5 hour one, but still it wasn’t very hard. The huts on the track are quite nice - the kitchens have gas stoves and running water (very cold !). There are about 25 people sleeping in the same (large) room in 2-level bunks, but when you’re tired after a day of walking it’s still easy to fall asleep

On the second day the weather was indeed far from optimal - it was very cloudy and drizzling most of the way. We reached the second hut - at lake McKenzie at 1 PM and had the rest of the day to relax. Luckily, the skies cleared and we could catch some nice views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.

The 3rd (and last) day was also quite easy. The weather was excellent so we climbed the Key Summit for a few panoramic views. There was also a very beautiful (almost 100 m high) waterfall along the way.

We reached the end of the trek (The Divide shelter) at 2 PM and our ride back to Queenstown came at 4:30. All in all we found Routeburn quite easy, and we surely could have done it in 2 days without overstretching ourselves too much. It was nice to take it easy though, and just enjoy the quiet nature - an almost complete retreat from civilization.

We spent the night at Queenstown and in the morning packed the car and headed east - to the Otago Peninsula. We have a lodge booked here for 3 nights (a very small hostel on a sheep farm, with a wonderful view of the bay and the ocean).

Here’s our route so far:

That’s it for now. There are more photos at the photo album.

Hugs,
Anna & Eli

Hi all,

After a short flight (3 hours) we landed in Christchurch, on the south island of New Zealand.

Christchurch is one of NZ’s largest cities, with the population of Haifa (about 300,000 people), though it is spread over a larger territory because most of the buildings here are private 1-2 story houses.

We picked up our rental car (a battered Mazda Lantis approximately 10 years old with 200,000 km on the odometer) and settled in Dorset House, a backpackers hostel near the city center. This hostel is much better than every hostel / motel we’ve stayed in Australia (and for a much lower price), so our first impression was very positive.

The weather wasn’t very good in the first couple of days, it was cloudy and raining, but we still walked around the city a little, shopped for some food. The supermarkets here are cheaper than in Australia, almost as cheap as in Israel, except for the vegetables of course, which cost a fortune (9 NZD, that is 27 shekels for a Kg of red peppers…).

On the 11th, we drove to Akaroa (80 km south-east of Christchurch) to begin the Banks Peninsula track. It is a private track, which means that most of it goes through private land, and the booking price includes accomodation in huts, pickup to the starting point, and a pre-set schedule. There were two options - to do the track (which is 35 km long) in 4 days, or in 2 days. We decided we’re fit enough to go for the 2 days option… There was another couple doing the track in two days, and about 12 people doing it in 4 days.

The track begins in the evening - a bus picked us up in Akaroa (the local town / village) and drove us to the first hut, where we spent the night. The huts on the track were very nice and clean, with gas stoves and cooking equipment. There was also an option to purchase food on the way, but we decided to take all the food on us, to practice for the longer tracks we’re going to do later.

In the morning we woke up to begin walking - the track starts with a very steep climp up a hill from sea level to 700 metres, and most of it was inside a cloud.

After hard 1.5 hours, we finally emerged above the clouds, for a gorgeous view of the harbour filled in thick white clouds - it really looked like a swimming pool you can just plunge into.

The first day was very difficult, and we walked for about 8.5 hours, not counting a lunch break. So naturally we felt quite exhausted after it. But we did get to see a lot of beautiful views, as well as a multitude of local fauna, which consists mostly of sheep, but also dolphins and seals, ducks, cows, hares and geckos.

The second day began with an easy walk along the coast, and then we began climbing again - to a 600 metre saddle point between peaks, through a beautiful forest, passing over countless little streams. The climb wasn’t as bad as on the first day, but the way down was very difficult, and took us longer than expected. When we got to the car we could barely walk The second day was a bit shorter in total - 7.5 hours. Conclusion: we probably should have walked the track in 4 days. As a first track in New Zealand, with big packs on our backs, it was pretty difficult, and we took the next day off in the hostel - just doing nothing and letting our legs and backs recover.

So far our impression of New Zealand is most positive - the country is beautiful, the people are very nice and the hostel is exceptional (and we heard from other travelers that other hostels are not worse). The weather is not that good most of the time - it’s quite unpredictable. At least we had luck on the track - it wasn’t raining. Tomorrow we are leaving the Christchurch area, and heading south-west towards the mountains.

Bye bye for now.