August 8th-13th
I was walking along the road in a light drizzle toward a
spot that would be ideal for hitching. As usual, I had my 75-litre pack on my
back, 22-litre hanging from my front. I put my thumb out and turned to face the
cars as they went by, never missing an opportunity. About 2 minutes into the
walk a towering tractor-trailer truck whizzed by, and the driver must have had
an abrupt change of mind since he swerved to the left, slamming on his brakes.
A truck that was hot on his heels did a quick maneuver to the right to avoid a
rear-end accident and continued on his way.
The truck driver hoped out of the cab and came around to open
a side door to the back to throw my large pack in. “You heading to Taupo?” I
asked.
“Yip, hop on in.”
In the cab, I chit chatted with the man. Nice guy though I
wouldn’t envy his life. Apparently he has spent the last two years of his life
driving the same 8 hour round trip loop 5 days a week. “I enjoy it. Roads are different
every time. Yeah know, snow, wind, sleet…” Hmm
exciting. Beats his last job of dairy farming, I guess…maybe. He at least
thought so.
As we got near Taupo, he hopped on his radio and began to
banter with the driver that had been behind him before and who was now in the
lead. The conversation went quickly to the moment of picking me up.
“Ah
yeah bro, talk about split second decision. I nearly hit you.”
“Yeah,
it was split second decision, but it wasn’t close.”
“Ah
bro, it was my good driving that saved us. I reacted so quick…”
“Ok
it was close, but not that close. Ahh, I thought you were complaining about
wanting a new truck. If you hit me, at least you’d have one then.”
So
went the last 10 minutes of the drive.
He dropped me off at a parking lot next to the lovely lake
of Taupo. 20 minutes later Shinee, my hostess and friend of a friend, picked me
up. While I waited, I meandered into the liquor store to buy some red wine for
mulling. Couldn’t come to a stranger’s home empty handed. Later we learned, to
our surprise, she wasn’t much of a stranger after all. When we arrived at her
house after grocery shopping, I had a moment of de je vu when I walked into her
living room.
“Wait,
did you live in Wanaka in 2011?”
“Yes.”
“Did
you have Emily and some other folks over for the rugby world cup?”
“Ah
yes, I think so.”
“Ha,
no way. I was there.”
Small world. Funny neither of us recognized the other at
first.
Shinee cooked up dinner. She told me to relax and make
myself at home. So I supervised with a cuppa (cup of tea) in hand. Her husband
Carl and their friend Victor returned just into time to join us. Carl is mechanical
engineer and was fixing up Victor’s helicopter to get Victor back to work. Though
Victor was not actually interested in going back to spray fertilizers on
hundreds of kilometers of farmland. He was more keen to join us for a weekend
of climbing. Sadly, he had to return the next day since there was a weather
window. My good friend Emily and her partner Hanza (from the Czec Republic)
arrived late that night however and spent the weekend dedicated to climbing,
hanging with friends, and delicious meals.
It was an amazing weekend. Carl and Shinee were
exceptionally hospitable folks, feeding me and allowing me to stay Sunday night
while I waited for news on my car. The climbing in Whanganui Bay was great. The area was down a
washed out dirt road that ended right on lake Taupo. Stunning views, sharp
painful pockets, friction and yet sometimes mossy climbs with bolts that were a
bit spaced. Generally falls were still safe as long as you clipped the first
bolt. Chit chatting with Emily felt like 2.5 years hadn’t passed since I last
saw her. I almost forgot how much I enjoy climbing with her. Laughs, problem
solving, and trip planning.
Come Monday morning I went with Victor (who returned Sunday
night) to pick up my car in Turangi. From Turangi, we carpooled down in my car
to Tukino, a small club ski field on Southeast side of Ruapehu. Got to test my
car on rough dirt roads for the first time. It handled it well, minus a soft
suspension. The dirt carried by the high winds probably took away that last
waxing coating the previous owners put on it.
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| Victor with the view we enjoyed on our hike |
There was supposed to be some ice climbing very close to the
ski field that we hoped to get on. Upon arriving to the road’s end, parking my
car behind a giant rock (in the hopes of preventing rocks from flying up and
shattering a window), and exiting the car from one door because the wind kept
the others shut, we adapted our plans. We enjoyed a yawn with the people
huddled in the club building, a cup of tea, and lunch before hitting the road
again. We looped back to Turangi,
taking the long way round and stopping at lookouts. We snuck in a 3-hour hike
in the freezing rain where we enjoyed the view of mist and tussock within a
100m of us. Upon finishing we went straight to the hot pools and enjoyed them
for an hour or so before returning to Turangi.
Tuesday I meandered back to National Park, staying at Kaj’s
place again to do yet another average ski tour at Whakapapa. This time the wind
was too bad to go above the top of the first lift, so I did short runs
practicing my transitions about 5 times over. With no luck in being able to
shadow patrol, I decided it was time to move on. Upon finishing my laps I
headed south to see if I’d have better luck at Turoa Ski Field.
 |
| The River from the train Bridge |
On the way, I had stopped to enjoy a view of a river and train bridge. Sure
enough, 10 minutes after stopping, I go to start the car…rrrutdadadadadada. The
next half hour I intermittently let the car rest, ate (mainly spoonfuls of
Nutella), tried to admire the views a bit more, and then repeatedly tried to
get it to start. Two German men came over to check on me. One was a mechanic
but had no idea what the problem could be and he had no tools. They waited
around with me until the car reluctantly started. I booked it down the road a
mere 10ish km and pulled off at Horopito Vintage Vehicles and Museum to have a
mechanic check the car and to explore their enormous collection of cars
(supposedly 2nd largest antique car collection in the world). A
friendly mechanic came out to check out the car. 10 times in a row he attempts
to start the car and of course, it starts perfectly every time. He examined the
engine and the parts that make it run, gave me some guesses as to what it might
be. I strolled through the museum to give my car a chance to fail again. 20
minutes later, it starts with no problems. Damn.
Giving up on my car failing for the mechanic I drove on to
Ohakanie, the town before Turoa ski field. I walked into a ski repair shop to
be greeted by a man about my age with dread locks maybe a foot shorter than I
am tall (ok, may 1.5 feet shorter). I asked about finding ski touring partners.
“Ah, not until Sunday.”
“Sunday? I thought the weather was
supposed to start clearing Friday and be lovely until Monday?”
“Yeah, but I’m only off on Sunday.”
“Ah right. Sweet then. Where can I
find a partner for Friday and Saturday then?”
He (Callum) tells me to find a
gentleman named Nick. When I wandered into another ski shop, they immediately
said the exact same name and even gave me directions to his business.
I knock on the office door of Ruapehu’s Cabins, and a middle-aged man
with a slightly weathered face opens the door. I tell him I’m looking for Nick
and turns out he is the man I’m looking for. When I told him I’m looking for
ski touring partners for Friday, Saturday, and Monday, he became giddy with
excitement. For the next hour or so, I listened and watched as he started
looking up the weather, pulling out maps to show areas he was excited to checkout,
talking about ski conditions, and skiing powder in Japan and NZ. Find a local who knows the mountain
and keen for touring: Check.
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