The last week can be divided into two parts.
The first part consisted mostly of swimming in rivers and lakes, good food, and people I will never forget.
The second part was three days of the beautiful Kepler Trek.
After the relaxed days in Zola, I had to decide where to go. The options were to continue towards Queenstown and from there to the Kepler area or to stay in the Wanaka area and continue to chill.
I decided to stay. I am happy with this choice, that I changed my plans according to what suited me at that moment and did not stick to the rational choice.
Shahar, Maya, and I crossed the bridge and settled in the camp across the road. To be honest, I missed sleeping in a van, which is basically a private room with a view of the river (or lake, depending on the day).
The three days at the camp were wonderful and relaxing. I enjoyed the simplicity of living on a trip. I think that many times, in my desire to do a lot of things, I forget to simply stop for a moment and just live.
It sounds a bit extreme or spiritual, but what I mean is that I didn’t “calculate” time during those days. For example, I repaired my bike leisurely, walked around second-hand, painted, and just idled around.
Everything was fine, even though it seemed like I was “wasting” all that precious time in New Zealand, I felt wonderful and I feel that these moments are no less good for me than the moments when I climb some mountain and “justify” my stay here.
Another moment that was meaningful to me this week was the Zola’s Friday dinner (even though we weren’t staying there at the time, we were honored past guests). Good people and wonderful food in abundance, what more could you want.
Due to lack of time, I was forced to prepare my dish in the supermarket’s parking lot. To be honest, I was waiting for this moment to arrive. The dish turned out to be miraculously delicious despite the chaos that prevailed in this field kitchen (the proof of this was that the pot that was full of yellow curry and rice was emptied of all its contents).
The last day in Wanaka was also calm. The first cross-country run in New Zealand was not bad, although it indicated that my running ability had weakened. This concept of running in this beautiful nature enchants me, catch two birds with one stone.
From Wanaka I set off towards Te Anau knowing that I did not know where I would sleep at night. I took the road calmly and stopped many times at places that seemed cool to me and probably only to me (for example: the Bra Bridge, founded to fight breast cancer, the tiny town of Cardrona, which was stuck somewhere in the 19th century, and all sorts of other cute spots).
The winding drive was exhausting. At one of the stops after Queenstown, I arrived at a very quiet and pastoral campsite on the shore of the lake.
I decided to change my plans again and stay there for the night. A dip and coffee relieved the fatigue I had accumulated.
In the evening I felt a little lonely, a feeling I had come to expect after days full of people. Suddenly there is a kind of stress drop.
I decided to make new friends in the hope that it would improve my mood. I saw a couple playing cards and suggested that we play something in the evening. Bright, the French guy, and I played a great game (nice to add another game to the repertoire) and at some point Anna, a Dutch girl who was also sleeping in the same campsite, joined in.
It was a great evening, which continued with tea and card games while watching the millions of stars that filled the sky. Anna and I connected naturally and we spent the next two days on the lake together, having coffee with chocolate toast, drawing and Hebrew lessons, and making great food. We had deep and interesting conversations and it made me think that when I’m on a trip I feel comfortable sharing with those I meet the issues that concern me in life, maybe because they don’t know me and we’ll probably break up after a few days and so I can be honest and real. Such meetings can really be like not bad psychological therapy for me.
From Kingston I drove about an hour to a small town in the north called lumsden. I must admit that I have a great fondness for small, God-forsaken places like this.
Silence on the streets as if every day is Yom Kippur and you can cross the road with your eyes closed. I took the bike for a ride and enjoyed being intrigued by every esoteric corner of this place.
In lumsden, there were also other encounters with good people along the way, which added to my understanding that most people are really nice and all it takes is a smile or a wave to someone and from there everything will happen on its own.
In the morning, after I denied the alarm clock and only got up at 9:30, I set out towards Kepler, my first Great Walk.
I parked the car in the parking lot, threw some snacks in my mouth, and set off. On the first day, the path wound through a dense forest and passed through charming streams and lakes.
The route is circular and can be walked in either direction, for some reason everyone chose to walk in the opposite direction to mine, which gave me a lot of walking time alone. I loved this time because it allowed me to think about my feelings and also about random thoughts that came to mind.
On the second day, the route climbed from the valley to the ridge, and the view of the other peaks from all sides was simply wonderful. The third day was easy and amounted to a moderate descent of about 20 kilometers back to the car.
Overall, it was a cute trip with spectacular views and a lot of time to think and admire, a great experience!
When I got to the car, I had a tire with very little air, or in professional parlance a flat tire. Great, another place for a lesson in life.
I took it easy and tried to smile at the situation as much as possible. I called my insurance, which covers changing a tire, and went for a dip in the river.
I’m happy with the way I dealt with the situation, I couldn’t change reality and taking things in a negative way certainly wouldn’t have helped.
I drove with the spare tire to nearby Te Anau, where I met Roy and Braden at the very nice camp by the lake and town. It was fun to relax for a moment after a few days of walking with a hot shower and a good meal.
The flat tire lesson expanded to a broken wheel lesson, which took me straight to the 5-unit group. To be honest, it was really annoying to find out that this was the problem, but even there I tried to take the situation as positively as possible. After all, this is the situation and getting upset probably won’t help, so let’s try to accept the situation.
Rai, the professional mechanic, welded the wheel very nicely and the fine wasn’t big and now all I have left is to hope that the problem doesn’t occur again.
I and a few Israelis (Roy, Braden, Mevaseret and Yuval) who were also staying in Te Anau, prepared a Friday meal for the occasion with curry, rice, baked potatoes and salad. These meals and the all-too-natural encounter with Israeli travelers simply makes me feel at home.
It was a successful and varied week! From here I will continue towards Milford Sound for a few day trips, nice places along the way and a cruise. After that, I will drive to Questown and start the next Great Walk, the Rothburn.