riverECHO

This weekend was a first for us in New Zealand. Instead of packing up the car and continuing our travels south, we had to ask each other the question “What should we do this weekend?” After a week of mostly work for BJ and some work, as well as a handful of walks to town and local hikes, for me, we decided to jump in the back of Brad and Gretchen’s van and cruise to the north end of Lake Wakatipu where the lake’s edge meets the mountains. We had a track (the Kiwi way of saying trail) in mind called the Rockburn, not to be confused with one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks” called the Routeburn. The sign at the trailhead actually states “Note: This is not the Routeburn track.” We plan to go tramping (a Kiwi term for hiking) on the 3-day Routeburn track over Christmas. Anyways, our track led us along a steep and slippery route through rainforest, passed treeline, and along a very spongy and sometimes bouncy route to the top of Sugarloaf Pass. From the pass we tramped up the closest ridge to find a few lakes that we saw on the map. Although the lakes were quite small, we were surprised with 360 degree views.

  We stayed in a DOC (Department of Conservation is kind of like our NPS and tends to have the cheapest camping options) campsite and enjoyed a huge pasta dinner and campfire. We awoke to the sound of raindrops hitting our tent this morning and it took a lot of effort to pull ourselves out of our sleeping bags. We quickly dismissed the idea of going on another hike and although we had brought food to make breakfast, driving about 30 mintues down the road to Glenorchy for eggs and coffee sounded like a great rainy day activity. A note on Kiwi coffee . . . If you simply order a “coffee” in New Zealand they will always ask you what kind. A “long black with hot water” is basically an Americano and the closest thing you can get to a coffee unless you make it at home. A “flat white” is basically a latte but you can still order a “latte” from the menu. When I asked a barista what the difference was between a latte and a flat white, she couldn’t give me a straight answer.

This evening brought a brief stint of sunshine which lured us outside for a hike and a tour of Arrowtown, a quaint suburb of Queenstown. We found a ton of tasty looking restaurants and a classic Kiwi cinema. Most movie theaters in the country have two types of screening rooms; one has regular stadium style seating like we have in the states while the other has couches, pillows and serves wine, beer, and dinner. We hope to catch a flick at the Arrowtown cinema soon.