We were only in Christchurch for 3 days after the earthquake, not a lifetime by any means. But, even after 3 days, it seemed to have gotten to me more than I had thought it would, or more than I would admit, even to myself. For those three days, we had aftershocks every half hour or so, and I think it got to the point where I was constantly expecting the next one. It had worn on me, mentally. I could feel it. Mariel felt it too. A loud truck or a strong wind, anything that made the ground vibrate or a window rattle, or the tent shake, and my mind became alert, eyes darting from side to side to check for dangers or for the need to move somewhere. But now, instead of a torn up city, they saw the ultra blue waters of Lake Tekapo, tall mountains, and green grasses. It would take a while, but we were starting to relax again. I suppose nothing puts your mind more at ease than being surrounded by beauty. We even had this friendly little duck who kept coming over to hang out. He especially liked Mariel.
After a few days of camping out at a backpacker there, we drove on to Mount Cook, or Aoraki (Ah-O-RAhki) which is the Moari word for it, and what seemed a much better fit to me. We were warned to keep our expectations low. Apparently the vast majority of visitors are greeted with a mountain caked in fog and low cloud. Some were privy to the first half of it, if they were lucky, but most were turned away disappointed altogether. Well, apparently our luck had changed. As we rounded the bend and made the final stretch into the valley, the sun made one final push and burned away all the remaining fog and clouds. All that remained was one stellar view of Aoraki, tall and powerful as it jutted out before us endlessly into the unbelievably blue sky. A thick layer of glacial snow covered its towering peak as deep blue ice clung to the sides on its way down. It was truly an incredible sight. I felt lucky and even giddy to witness something so unbelievably magnificent.
We camped right at the bace of the glacial mountain range, which was a beautiful place to camp. Small "avalanches", for lack of a better word, happened about every hour or so that made a rumbling that would get anyone's attention, and especially ours. We were in no danger whatsoever, and it was actually a very cool thing to witness knowing that some of those avalanches contained glacial ice that had clung to those rocks for thousands of years, only to fall of at this moment in time. Very humbling...
We hiked up the valley toward the base of Aoraki. It was the most incredible day. We followed the river, mountains towering on both sides with glacial ice on top. The bold, blue sky above us, deep forest greens in the bushes and trees, light yellows in the grasses and sun, and of course, the river, with its mud-like texture and color. I kept getting the strangest urge to jump in what seemed the most silt-filled stream I had ever seen. Like oatmeal without the oats... or something like that.
We stopped to take photos, and it was actually difficult because it was too beautiful. It was so beautiful, it was just plain confusing about what, exactly, was supposed to be photographed. I remember taking a photo and actually getting a little misty eyed as I I looked into the camera, the sun's rays beaming into my eyes.
Camping that night was unbelievable, but not in a good way. Heading to bed and I was literally awe-struck by the number and clarity of the stars in the sky. The milky way couldn't by any more plain to see. But I could barely stand still for 5 minutes to gaze as I was so incredibly cold. I think we woke up about every hour that night, just so damn cold. At one point, I woke up to find myself in a ball at the bottom of my sleeping bag like a god damn cat, just shivering and exhausted at the same time.
The next morning awoke to yet more sunshine and blue skies. What luck to have such a streak of good weather. We had another full day of hiking ahead of us, so off we went to a glacial lake named the Tasman, and began hiking around. At one point come, we came upon a large piece of glacial ice that was on the shore of a lake we were walking around. We broke off a piece and put it in our mouths to suck on.
"I can't decide if this is really cool, or really not that cool." I said. "I mean, its really cool that its thousands of years old, but hasn't all water been around since the beginning of the earth as we know it?"
She replied, "I think the cool part is that this piece of ice has been ice for thousands and thousands of years, but just now, right now, its changing into water, right inside my mouth!"
Ya, that was pretty cool.
I did one more hike by myself that evening, while Mariel rested an aching knee she had. I had this sunset shot I really wanted to get to at the bottom, but ended up missing it as I had to help a girl who had hurt her ankle down the long steep trail. I was lucky enough to get a beautiful view at the bottom though anyway, maybe a little good karma for a good deed!
That night I was stone-cold determined to not have a repeat of the night before. I started dressing like I was going in for battle. I had heard that actually the less clothes you wear, the warmer you are, because you are able to take advantage of all the body heat. I don't know a ton about insulation, but I've installed it in many a house, and I've been covered in it, head to itchy toe more times than I would like to remember. And, everything I knew about insulation, said that more was more, so that theory was about to best tested.
I put on both pairs of long underwear I had, both tops and bottoms, then some pajama pants, then my jeans, then my socks, then a t-shirt, followed by a long sleeve, followed by another t-shirt, and yet another long sleeve and then a final t-shirt, then my gloves, then my beanie tied down tight under my chin, then my hooded sweatshirt, with the hood tied even tighter over that under my chin, then I wrapped my towel around my waist, and THEN, slipped into my shitty sleeping bag which had a hood, that I tied tighter than anything, and which basically left a hole big enough for my nose and mouth. I was a little hot, but felt prepared for that night's epic battle! Me against the relentless COLD!
That night we realized that we were out of food and hours away from a supermarket, so we decided to just go out to dinner. Restaurant after restaurant had closed early, until finally I stumbled into the last one, and thank god, it was open! I peered inside and saw that it was unbelievably fancy. I actually started to walk away, but just then the host asked,
"Can I help you sir?"
I was wearing the same clothes I had worn for days, hadn't shaved in weeks, and didn't particularly smell that great, but what the hell, it was worth a try.
"Yes, a table for two please?"
"Right this way," he replied in typical fancy restaurant fashion.
We ordered two entrees, water, and scarfed down the free bread, looking like, well, two people that had just come from camping all week. Needless to say, we were out of place...
It really was delicious, but at 25 bucks a plate I guess it should be. The restaurant was full but dead quiet except for Mariel and I cracking up as we imagined bringing in the loaf of white bread we had in the trunk to beef up our meal a bit.
"Excuse me sir, did you bring that bread in from outside?" the waiter would ask.
"Well, ya man. I mean, I needed something to soak up all this god damn au jus BRO."
"Sir, this is an 5 star restaurant, you can't bring in your own loaf of white bread..." he would scoff.
"Well what the f***k do you want me to do with all this au jus dude?! I mean, can I get this delicious au jus to go or do you wanna cough up some more of those tasty rolls you brought out earlier?"
I think we were half delirious from hunger at that point, but we were busting up and kind of causing a scene. Lucky our waiter seemed to appreciate our laughter even if no one else did.
"Your desert..." he said smiling, bringing the check and two mints.
I woke up super early the next morning with high hopes of taking a sunrise shot at the glacial lake we were at the previous day. It was a long hike off the beaten path, over piles and piles of large rocks and boulders which had fallen off the mountain tops.
I started taking some shots, but then saw what I thought would be an even better location, just over the next hill. There was a small river that I would have to cross, but there seemed to be a spot I could jump over without a problem. I soon realized this was much more than a little jump… the colors were starting to fade. It was such a long walk around... Plus, it didn't look that deep. I took off my shoes, rolled up my jeans, and started to wade the unbelievably icy glacial stream. You know when you're in the middle of an idea, and realize that it was a very bad one?? Well, it was a whole lot deeper and colder than I had thought, and before long I was thigh deep water, jeans soaked, and with a very long walk back. Ironically, it was the exact SAME VIEW!! I took a few more snaps, and tried to take in the scene around me. Too often I get so wrapped up in taking photos, that I forget to enjoy it with my own eyes. I took some deep breathes and started to look around and just appreciate the first light on a brand new day. Wet jeans and all, I was incredibly grateful to be there, at that place, at that time, watching the world turn at a glacial lake at Aoraki, not another soul in sight.
Once I got back, I called the mechanic. After all, I didn't know if I should head back to Christchurch to get the van or keep going? I mean, I had his car for like a week now and was getting further and further away. No answer. I left a message.
"What should we do?" I asked Mariel.
"Well, we're all set to keep going, and things are going well… lets just keep going!"
And that was that, I filled her up with gas, and off we went. Next stop, Queenstown!
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