Author: Michael Eaton

Anytime you leave a country it’s bittersweet. You feel like you’re ready for the next adventure but at the same time, it’s hard to say goodbye.

New Zealand definitely lived up to my expectations. The hiking I did here was by far the best I have ever done. I challenged myself in ways I had never challenged myself before. I went camping for the first time. I hiked up mountains and down mountains. I hitchhiked and met some incredible people along the way.

And that last bit is the key point.

I met a couple from Seattle just a few hours ago and the woman, Susie, asked me what my favorite place is of all the places that I’ve traveled to. It’s an impossible question to answer really. I like so many places for so many reasons. But the common thread is that I met amazing people in each of those places.

You don’t like a city for the architecture, the nightlife, or even the food (okay sometimes the food). What really hooks you is the people. The conversations you have, the ideas you share with each other, and the ability to be open with others, the ability to be human. It’s something, at least in my experience, I don’t get at home most of the time.

In short, we fall in love with the energy of a city or a country. And the energy is created by the people that both live there and are visiting.

Sure, I could say the highlights of my travels in New Zealand were hiking the Kepler Track and stargazing in Tekapo. Those were experiences that I will remember for a long time. But the reason they were special is because of the people that I shared them with.

I met so many authentic individuals and had so many open and judgment-free conversations these last few weeks. I wish I could list all the people that I met here but it would be impossible. And I know that for the most part, this will be the only time I will ever see them and I am at peace with that. I would like to reconnect with some of them in the future but that is out of my control to a certain extent.

The journey continues and I can only keep moving forward. More experiences and more beautiful people await me in Australia. I am sure of that. I just need to keep being myself because that’s the best gift I can give. Everything else will work itself out if that is my starting point.

Goodbye New Zealand! Until next time!

Turns out that my new German friends, Nina and Mahoni, were moving along to Tekapo. So I waited a while around the lodge and jumped in the car with them once they were ready to leave. Tekapo isn’t all that far from Mount Cook. Maybe an hour and a half car ride.

We had to drive around Lake Pukaki and we ended up stopping along the way to take in the scenery. The lake was this crystal blue. It was irresistible. So we decided to jump in and have a swim. The water was fairly cold but the sun was out and that kept us in the water for a while.

Their plan was to visit the hot pools in Tekapo and I decided to join them. It wasn’t originally in my plans to visit but I was having a good time with them so I decided to join. We jumped in the sauna and they helped me understand the right way to use it. There’s a certain way you should increase and then decrease your body temperature so you don’t do harm to yourself.

The view from the pools was also quite beautiful. There doesn’t seem to be a bad view in all of the south island. We just hung out in the spa for most of the day until it was time for them to close at 9 o’clock.

Lake Tekapo is very famous for its stargazing. And we decided to take advantage. The town is so small and this area of the country doesn’t have any major cities so there is very little light pollution. After checking into the hostel I jumped back into the car and we headed out of town so we could get away from all the lights that remained in town.

We drove towards the observatory, which was closed oddly enough. We parked the car outside the gates and hiked up the hill and found a nice place to lie down. The forecast predicted rain but we got lucky and the clouds stayed away from the area. At one point it seemed like the clouds were everywhere around us except where we actually were.

The stars were absolutely amazing, even better than when I was on the Kepler Track a week or so earlier. At one point the clouds covered up the moon and we were in total darkness. We were mesmerized by the number of stars in the sky. The Milky Way was totally visible and it was just awesome. I’ve only seen the stars like that once before, two years earlier in Peru when I hiked Colca Canyon.

We stayed for a while and spoke about all types of things. Whether we believed aliens existed. If human beings had a soul. Politics and the future of our earth. It was just very pure and open. It felt good to communicate with other people in that way.

I started my day early, grabbed a coffee with Dirk before he left, and hit the trail. The start of the trail was at the White Horse Campsite, about a half-hour walk away from the lodge. I got to the campsite, stretched a bit, and started the ascent.

The track is quite steep, ascending to 1,000 meters over a 5-kilometer stretch. To put it in perspective, the Kepler Track, which I did a week earlier, ascends 1,200 meters but over roughly 12-kilometers.

The first half of the climb is mostly up a staircase built into the mountainside. The first step greets everyone with the note “2,200 Steps” written on the wood paneling. I didn’t do an exact count but that number seems fairly accurate to me. Obviously the first bit was a challenging climb but it is manageable as long as you pace yourself and take rest when you need it.

After two hours I reached a lookout point called Sealy Tarns. Most people stop here and for good reason. The views of Mount Cook and Hooker Valley are incredible, especially on a nice day like it was. I took some lunch here on one of the less frequented overlooks in the area. There was only one man sitting there and we got to talking. I forget his name but he was from Australia and he worked for the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

He gave me some tidbits of information about the park and the surrounding area. Then he started unpacking his paraglide which was a bit of a surprise. At this point, I was committed and decided to hang out to watch this guy jump off the side of this mountain. He got everything set up and twenty minutes later he was gliding his way back into the village.

The second half of the hike is where things got really hard. The going was just as steep, if not steeper, but no stairs were provided. This was a true rock scramble. More often than not I had to get on all fours to climb up the rocks or else I would lose my balance. This part of the climb took another two hours. Breaks were plentiful but I enjoyed this part more. Climbing stairs gets boring. You really have to concentrate when scrambling and that makes it fun.

Finally, I arrived at the ridgeline. Again, I grabbed a little bite to eat, took some pictures, and then started off along the trail, the homestretch to the hut. It only took 30 more minutes until I was where I wanted to be. Man, was I exhausted!

The views were totally worth the trip though. Not a cloud in the sky. It felt like I was at the top of the world. I could look down and see the village in the distance and it felt odd to think that I had started from there in the morning. I went a little further and hiked to the peak of Mount Oliver which provided a 360 degree view of the surrounding area.

Then I heard a loud crack, something similar to thunder. But I was forewarned that this would happen. I took a look to my left and the glacier was breaking apart. Snow and ice started falling down the mountain, gathering in a pile at the base. It was an amazing sight. We don’t realize how powerful the glaciers can be. They literally break stone and shape the landscape.

I decided to head down after hanging out by the hut after two hours. Along the way, I met a German girl named Nina. We got to talking because I pointed out that she was wearing sandals. I figured her feet must be killing her but she said she was feeling great. She even told me that she normally goes on hikes without any shoes on!

After about an hour we arrived back at Sealy Tarns and waited a while for her other friend to catch up with us. This usually happens. I hike up the mountain by myself and by the time I get back to the bottom I’ve made two or three new friends. We continued down to the camp together and made good time. It’s always quicker going down (obviously).

They were thinking of heading to Lake Tekapo the next day as well. So I told them that if they were that I’d appreciate it if I could hitch a ride. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to the lodge. Not much to report on after that. I was happy to get a good meal in me and head to bed.

I took the early bus from Twizel to Mount Cook National Park which houses the largest mountain in the country. You guessed it, Mount Cook. It stands at roughly 3,700 meters high. About 12,200 feet for all my Americans out there. I’ve been trying to get better with the metric system since I’ve started traveling, seeing as I won’t be in the states for a while. I’m still having trouble making the conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius though.

To my surprise, one of the men that I met at the hostel in Twizel was also at the bus stop. His name is Dirk and he is from the Netherlands. He was to be my travel companion for the day. The ride into the national park was quite scenic actually. The lakes that are fed via the glacier water are so blue. They are almost turquoise in color. The bus rider stopped along the way and provided some commentary which was welcomed.

We arrived at the lodge in the park at about 11 o’clock but we weren’t able to check-in until 3 o’clock. So we decided to do the most popular day walk in the area, the Hooker Valley Track. It wasn’t a challenging hike at all. Maybe a 2 and a half hour round trip with no elevation gain whatsoever.

You meander along the river towards the base of the mountain, crossing some suspension bridges along the way. I am not too keen on heights to begin with, so the bridges were a bit scary to cross. They did not feel very stable to me. Especially when Dirk, who is 6′ 5″, decided it would be fun to jump up and down while we were crossing!

The views approaching the mountain were only beat by the view at the end of the trail. The glaciers feed into a small lake at the base of the mountain. We hung out there to eat lunch and chatted up a few people. Then we made a beeline back to the hostel to get settled in.

There were no grocery stores in the area and the accommodation had no kitchen. So we were forced to eat at the restaurant in the hotel. But the food was very good and fairly priced. Nothing exciting happened after dinner. I was already tired and wanted to get a good night of sleep. My plan was to hike up to the Mueller hut, which is considered the most strenuous hike in the area.

We’re approaching the home stretch here. One more week until I leave for Australia. People ask me if I am tired of traveling after about a month and change but I’m not at this point. Of course, I conquered the Kepler and that took a whole lot of energy. But being in Te Anau itself for 5 days in total helped balance things out. It’s necessary to stay in a quieter area with no plan so you can regroup and prepare yourself for the next adventure.

I am in Twizel now, a small town about a one-hour bus ride from my next stop, Mount Cook. I left Te Anau yesterday and spent the night in Queenstown just to split things up a bit. One of the receptionists at the hostel in Te Anau was heading to Queenstown and she gave me a lift up there.

We talked the whole way and I learned a lot from her. She has an amazing story. She is from Italy but has lived and worked in so many different countries. We connected because we share a similar perspective concerning work, travel, and just life in general. She was also similar in age to me so we had more in common with each other. A majority of the people that I have been meeting are in their early twenties, which is fine, but we are just in different stages of our lives.

Mount Cook looks like it’s going to be a really awesome time. There is a very famous hut there called the Mueller Hut that is supposed to have an amazing view of the mountain and the surrounding area. Similar to the Milford Track it books out months in advance so I won’t be able to stay there. But you can camp for free around the hut if you’d like.

I was considering camping but I don’t think that is the best option for me. I would have to rent a tent to do it. And since I am not coming back to Twizel, logistically I don’t think I can make it work. That won’t stop me from hiking up there during the day and making the return journey back to town. My understanding is that the trip is five hours total (there and back) which is very doable.

I just need the weather to cooperate. It looks like it will rain tomorrow but it will be clear on Sunday. Today was the first day it has rained since I’ve been in New Zealand which is extremely fortunate. Hopefully, I can take the good weather with me to the mountain. We will see. Either way, I will make the best of it. If I have to hike through the rain, so be it.

Similar to Day 3 the last day of the hike was mostly flat. It was sad to leave such a beautiful place but at this point, I was ready to get back to Te Anau.

For most of the day, I walked alongside the Waiau River. The river is quite large and powerful. Lake Te Anau feeds Lake Manapouri via this waterway. And Lake Te Anau, being the largest lake by volume in New Zealand, has a lot of water to pass along.

There were some viewpoints off the trail and I visited the first few. But on the last one, I got a bit turnaround and I eventually saw someone that I had passed a short while before. I asked her where she came from and if there was a loop track in the area. That seemed like the only possible explanation for why I was seeing her again.

But she helped me realize that I took a wrong turn and that I was heading back towards the hut! It was fortunate I chatted with her or else I would have had a much longer day. We walked together for a while and she was quite interesting to talk to.

Within 30-minutes or so of splitting ways I reached Rainbow Ridge which is a shuttle stop for people that want to do one-day hikes in the area. There’s a nice little suspension bridge over the river and it was a nice spot to have some lunch.

At that point, I was on the home stretch. Three more hours of walking and I would have completed the trail. I really kicked it into overdrive that last five kilometers. Before I knew it I was back at the trailhead.

I laid down in the grass just to have some time to reflect on the entire experience. An older couple emerged from the trail and started talking to me. They were starting on it in a month’s time and were curious about how it went. They offered me a ride back into town and I gladly accepted. My original plan was to walk the 5 KM back to town but I decided my legs had had enough.

It was nice to have a day in which I could sleep in. The hike on Day 3 was mostly downhill and the total time was about six hours. So I wasn’t in too much of a rush to get going.

The walk was mostly through a thick forest. It was good to have some cover after being exposed for most of the previous day. Not that it was too hot or anything but I always prefer to walk in the shade if I can. The sun in New Zealand feels so strong because the ozone layer is much weaker here than at home. You can burn so easily here.

No interesting stories to report on Day 3 but my body was tired from the day before. It wasn’t that my legs would give out. It really came down to my back and my shoulder cramping up. Especially my shoulder. The day before I tweaked it a bit when trying to brace myself going down some steep rocks. So I took more breaks than I usually would.

But there were a lot of nice quiet spots to take a break. Waterfalls and little streams littered the landscape. The area gets so much rain throughout the year. And the water eventually has to come down the mountain and that is why all the waterfalls form.

About five hours in I started walking along Lake Manapouri and I knew the hut was close by. When I arrived I was greeted with an unexpected view of the lake and the mountains. It was so beautiful. I got my things organized and then I took a swim in the lake. It was cold but so satisfying after a few long days of hiking (and no shower). I sat on the beach, reading and meditating until the sandflies chased me back inside for dinner.

At each hut, there is a ranger and each night they have a talk with the people staying there about a relevant topic. Our ranger talked to us about the history of the lake and how in the 1950s and 1960s the lake was in danger of being compromised. A large power station was built and the company utilizing the electricity wanted to raise the water level by a significant amount to increase the energy output.

The problem was that raising the water past a certain point would destroy a large amount of the plant life that surrounded the lake. A local movement to protect the lake soon turned into a nationwide campaign. When the general election came this ecological issue was one of the major points of debate. Thankfully, the voters thought conservation was a good idea. And now people like me can enjoy this beautiful area today.

I purposefully stayed up late in the evening because I wanted to see the stars when night fell. The sky stays light until well after 10 o’clock because New Zealand is so far south. But when the night finally took over the sky the stars came out. And it was incredible. Sometimes you forget how many stars there really are in the sky. Especially if you live in a large city like New York.