How Ibuprofen Saved My Vacation

Greetings everyone!  My trip is winding down but I'll be getting in one or two more posts after this one.  I'll keep you updated.  As for Ibuprofen: I support it.  After all, it's supported me on my weaker moments.  Namely when I'm slowly moving downhill.  To put your worries at ease, my knees are fine despite being a little sore.  There's no real pain.  They're just in the condition you might expect from walking for a month!  And now for the journal entries.

January 18th 7:37PM

Kevin is in... Siberia??  Siberia hut that is, in the Wilkin River Valley by a little dot on the map named Makarora.  I must say, it was the most scenic day I've had so far in NZ.  I opted to take the jetboat* which reduced my walking to a measly 8km.  Spending $150 for a round trip stung but it was a fun boat ride.  I really enjoyed it!

*The jetboat.  A purely NZ invention.  It's a boat that seems to defy physics by skimming over alaramingly shallow water at even more alarming speed.  There boats are also capable of making sudden sharp turns and can thus fit through tight squeezes, making them perfect for speedy river travel.

I left a good amount of gear the the Department of Conservation office which left my pack noticeably lighter.  With only an 8km walk my knees felt fine.  Speaking of fine, the weather was just that.  Nicely warm and sunny.  I actually got a good look at the sweeping vistas of the glacial valley and looming peaks that hover above.  It's unfortunately raining right now so we'll see if this continues on into tomorrow.

And the plan for tomorrow is to hike up the steep trail to Crucible Lake OR follow the Wilkin River to the base of Mt. Dreadful (cheery name) OR just lounge at the hut.  It all is completely dependant on my knees and, less so, the weather.  I would really like to see Crucible Lake though, as it is an alpine lake that is situated at the base of a glacier and is rumored to have floating ice year-round.  Walking along the river would still be nice though.  It's flat, serene and still quite scenic.

January 20th 7:39PM

Wow!  I love the Wilkin River Valley.  If you can't tell by my excitement, my knees were feeling great yesterday so I opted to trek up to Crucible Lake.  It took a little over 7 and a half hours and I estimate was a total of 20km round trip.  There were very steep ups and downs and 3 pretty major stream crossings.  For one stream I had to take off my boots and wade waist deep through it.  Of course, it's source was a glacier so it was f-f-f-frigid.  It was all part of the adventure though.  The last half hour of the trip was a steep climb to the lake itself.  When I got to the top, I kid you not, I gasped.  It was really beautiful!

I almost forgot to mention that the sun was shining gloriously!  It got cloudy late in the afternoon but it didn't start raining until late this morning.  I unfortunately had to wait an hour for the jet boat to pick me up when the rain was at its worst.  The sand flies, of course, were also horrible.  

15 minutes late the jet boat finally showed up.  This time the driver was a bit more of a daredevil so he went out of his way to provide some thrills by suddenly changing course into a narrow channel or by turning away from the river bank at the last second and even weaving between the trunk of a sunken tree.  

I got to my bus just in time and made it over to Wanaka.  All the hostels were heavily booked except for The Matterhorn.  I asked for a single room (I'm a little tired of sharing living quarter with strangers at this point) and they said there was one room left.  "The Love Shack."  The room had a rose on the bed with satin sheets and the hostel owner made sure to point out the Kama Sutra book that was on the nightstand.

After a shower I went out for some pizza and beer and began to plan my day tomorrow.  Wanaka has some nice bouldering so I plan and renting a bike and taking a tour of all the boulders around here.  It should be a nice change grom doing all the walking.  I don't imagine climbing or biking will stress my knees excessively.

That's the scoop for now folks.  Cheers!