Mighty Milford Sound

After a fantastic three days tramping the beautiful Routeburn Track, there was nothing for it but to go somewhere arguably even more beautiful - Milford Sound. We knew we were in for another treat as we drove out to the Sound with dramatic mountains on either side of us.

The drive to the Sound from the Routeburn trailhead

Matt's planning came into its own on arrival at Milford Lodge (4 bed dorm with your husband and parents-in-law anyone?) when we opened the chilly bin to find our barbeque meat and beers still chilled from the mountains of ice we had stowed inside before departing on our tramp. Cold beers and a delish barbeque were just what we needed. The sandflies, which Milford Sound is famous for, a little less so.

It wasn't cold - this is just what you have to
wear to have a hope of not getting bitten to shreds.
Please note Clare's sock in flip flop fashion statement!

After a slightly better night's sleep (despite the phantom snorer from the Routeburn somehow having snuck into our room) we were up and off early for our kayaking adventure out into the Sound. Team Cope was very excited, particularly as Matt's planning had ensured that we were to have some cross-couple bonding with me to share a kayak with Pete, and Matt with his mummy. OK, some of us were a bit more excited than others.

Very happy to be kayaking with his mum!

Once we had mastered the basics and worked out who was captain of each vessel we set off and spent a thoroughly enjoyable three hours paddling through the enormous expanse of water in the Sound itself.

Waterfalls and atmospheric clouds

Am I really here?!?

Right at home on a boat

The time went really quickly (although our arms were starting to get heavy) and soon we were mooring up. Just time for a quick photo of us in our kayaking attire.

Yes, that's right - Pete is wearing leggings

We hadn't quite had our fill of the Sound after the kayaking so returned in the afternoon for a pint and some more pics of the stunning views.

Very happy to be here!

Moody (the Sound, not us)

Reflections

Gorgeous

 Before parting at Queenstown Airport the next day we just had time to enjoy our Christmas present from Chris, Naomi, Caleb and Esme - a trip up the famous Skyline and two luge rides!
The views and the high octane adrenaline rush of the luge did not disappoint.

Awesome view of the Southern Alps

Well, it was a high octane rush, until I got stuck right at
the end and held up just one or two fellow daredevils!

 A wonderful few days all round - definitely a highlight of our time in NZ so far.

Thanks C, N, C & E for a brill Xmas pressie!

Tramping the Routeburn

A long overdue blog... Sorry! For the last 6 weeks my parents have been out visiting us in Auckland and touring around New Zealand. Time spent with them, work and fitting in our Half Ironman training has been a wee bit busy - I'm sure you guys didn't mind waiting for the write-up though. 

There's too much to fit in one blog, so I'll concentrate this on one of our highlights of NZ so far - tramping the Routeburn Track, one of the country's Great Walks. The Routeburn felt amazingly isolated and equally spectacular; it's a 32km 3 day tramp through two national parks, staying in mountain huts and carrying all your own gear along the way. Early on the Wednesday morning, Sarah and I flew down to Queenstown to meet my parents who were travelling around in our little van, Carrie. After a pit stop for 3 days of food that we'd need to carry over the mountains, we were off on unsealed roads to the trail head.

Mountain valleys filled with a sea of clouds from the plane

We were all fully loaded and eager to get going. From the very first step, the scenery and trail didn't disappoint - although the long swing bridges over ravines tested Mum and Sarah's trust. Not trust in the bridge, but trust in me and my Dad to not get them swaying around...

Rule Number 1: Send Dad first

We left the first valley floor, heading up through glacial valleys to higher valleys. The area has an average annual rainfall of 7m (!) but the weather was amazing, and stayed that way. Luckily!

Team Cope

5 metres before this a sign said "Danger of rocks falling"
Dad decided this was a good place to chat!

The track was pretty quiet, as there's only a limited number of bunks at each cabin - which means views like this can be savoured and not shared...

Pretty epic!

And after about 5 hours of non-stop climbing, we were at our first night's cabin: Routeburn Falls Hut. How's this for a view?

Our cabin at Routeburn Falls, at an altitude of about 1000m

We were all pretty glad to take our packs off - and get reducing their weight. Time to start cooking and get drinking that 3l bladder of red wine. All in the name of reducing carrying weight, of course.

Feeding the masses

And after a good feed, some good wine and a damn good game of scrabble (well done Sarah, pretty hard going to beat my Dad!) it was time to watch the sunset over the valley.

Catching some rays

Life starts pretty early in the huts - with rows and rows of plastic mattresses in big wooden bunks, as soon as one person is up everyone else follows suit soon afterwards. We let the masses get on with it so we could enjoy the trail in peace.

And peace we had! Here we are heading up to
the top of Harris Saddle, the highest point of the trail

Lake Harris

The views were getting better and better as we got higher and higher...

And higher and higher...

Leaving our packs at the emergency shelter at Harris Saddle, we made a dash up to the top of Conical Hill for a look down into the Fjordland and Aspiring National Parks.

Conical Hill View

And here's one of my favourite photos from the walk - spot my Dad enjoying the view:

Silhouettes

Heading up and over the Saddle, we came down into the valley of the Hollyford River, hugging the steep valley sides the whole way. Moving from open rocks, to alpine scrub and trees, and then down into forest - with the bright Kea parrots circling overhead and checking what we were up to. Throughout the three days, every view was worthy of a Lord of the Rings shot - with Sarah probably cast as a Hobbit.

Or a dwarf. Probably a dwarf. That's less offensive.

And there we are at our hut for the second night of the tramp, at the sides of Lake Mackenzie. After a quick dip in what is some of the coldest water I've ever known, we were back inside and ready for some supper.

Lake Mackenzie Hut

And here's where I slept. 28 years old. Married. And sharing a 4 bed bunk with my wife and parents. That's just not right...

Department of Conservation luxury accommodation!

With a fantastic (I made it) Thai curry for dinner, with rehydrated nearly everything. Lush.

And to bed - for a terrible night's sleep with all 32 people in the room kept up by my Dad's snoring!  But again, the next day's views made it all worthwhile...

Slow motion falls

Hugging the valley side further, we headed along to The Divide.

Aotearoa - Land of the Long White Cloud

The first day had swing bridges and valley floors, the second was full of stunning vistas and lakes and this third and final day was defined by the waterfalls. Big big waterfalls.

A mere trickle

The Holidaymakers

Tramp nearly over, one last optional hill to climb: Key Summit. More lovely views. This is getting a bit repetitive now isn't it?

A Cope Frame

Me and the wife

And heading back down again to rejoin the trail...

Lush forest in the final kilometre

And there we are - a lot of photos in this blog, but it's been hard to whittle them down to that number. We've been lucky to have done a lot of hiking in some spectacular places around the world, but as a multi-day hike this is the winner for us. So great to be able to share it with my parents during their trip here - hopefully we'll still be tramping round mountains in 30 years too!

Routeburn Finishers 2013

Cycling the Coromandel

Well, we're without our campervan at the moment - so it's time to get out there exploring under our own steam. With our half-ironman training ramping up (6 weeks to go - gulp!) our legs have got some miles in them, so we decided the time was right to cycle around the Coromandel; a peninsular about an hour's drive from Auckland which is full of gorgeous beaches, towering ranges and sleepy little towns.

With a bank holiday weekend about to start, we set off on the ferry on the Saturday morning from Auckland City to Coromandel Town, with 125 miles to travel with 6450 feet in altitude to climb. Eek! Water bottles filled, lycra hoiked up, feet clipped in, and we're off.

Day 1 from Coromandel Town to Thames was a lovely, flattish ride along the coastal road. Not really much to say, and very few photos - but a lot of it looked like this:

An atypical NZ road - missing the frequent possum roadkill

Arriving in Thames was a bit odd. I came here 10 years ago as a backpacker with Al and Pete, and it turned out we were staying in exactly the same youth hostel! But then realised there was only one youth hostel in town... We were cyling with only tiny running backpacks, so off comes the day lycra and out comes the evening change of clothes and flip flops. And that's it. A pretty light three days are coming up it seems!

Turns out Sarah doesn't enjoy Jenga... I do!

Day 2 was billed as the big mileage one, with two big peaks to get over the top of before rolling into Whitianga town. It was a pretty relentless day...

Another atypical road - I'm sure there was more roadkill than this!

But our saviour could be found in the bottom of some big fresh coffee... Sarah used to scoff at me when Al, Chris and I would go for a ride and stop midway through for a pastry and a coffee. But now she gets it - proper cycling etiquette. Not sure having a nap on the table is good etiquette though...

Comfy.

Onwards, definitely upwards and fully charged - we carried on to Hahei, home of the tourist attraction that is Hot Water Beach. An inventively named beach of... hot sand, with boiling hot spring water bubbling up just either side of low tide. This section of beach is a tiny portion of a stretch of a good couple of miles, but everyone crams into the warm bits. With our bikes resting on the sand, we joined the action...

Glastonbury-a-la-Hahei

 Before jumping back on the bikes and heading North to Cathedral Cove, a gorgeous bay with stacks out at sea, small islands, caves and tunnels carved into the rock over thousands of years. it's been one of the first beaches we can swim at in a quite a few months which didn't have a huge rip or undertow running along it, time to get out of that manky lycra!

Bliss!

Cathedral Cove

Sarah stood outside the other end of Cathedral Cove, a vast roofed
cavern which stretches from one bay to the next

 Back on the bikes, and the last bit of the day to do... Up to the ferry terminal on the Whitianga River Mouth for a short trip across. One problem...

It's milking time at the local farm. Stay back...

 But we made it!

Ready for the 1 minute ferry ride across to Whitianga

 And we're there, day 2 of 3 complete - most of the miles done, with just the biggest hill of the lot still to do... Time to relax, find a steak and ale house and enjoy the evening sunshine. Tick, tick and tick.

This picture makes me worryingly happy

 No sore heads in the morning, as two beers pretty much made us fall asleep in the pub (plus the chicken wings, steaks, extra sides, and massive ice cream sundae. Hey, a man needs to eat) So, the only thing left is to call in at the beautiful bays and get back to Coromandel Town by 4pm.

But these big boys are in our way.
Chin up Sarah...

Nearly at the top...

Boom! Worth it for the views, and for the amazing downhill...

 We've been saving a visit to the Coromandel for the right occasion, and it didn't disappoint. Such a great ride, lovely roads and I even got a bit of peace and quiet from Sarah on the ferry on the way home...

But she still had to cycle home at the other end!