So we're done with WWOOFing. Nice views, lots of learning, a few decent people. We used a knock-off website called HelpX as well, but it's less a way of learning about organics and more a way of just working for room and board. HelpX hosts still refer to use as WWOOFers instead of cheap labor,but generally have crappier jobs for you to do.
So in the households with children we've been to, we've learned that there are two ways of raising children. You either teach them discipline or park them in front of the TV. The families we've stayed with have been fairly alternative-minded and thus don't believe in TV, but as it turns out, don't believe in discipline either. This doesn't work at all. It's tough trying to enjoy a 5th generation farm on a hillside where the view is 150km out to sea and up the coast when there are screeching devil-spawn children to be dealt with.
We finally made it to Queenstown. Turns out its in a pretty nice location and it's not done up quite as heavily as Whistler or Banff. But aside from its location, it's basically a place to party, spend a lot of money trying to purchase that ever-elusive adventurer image,or in our case feign complete disgust at the second-hand bookstore's buyback and resale prices. And it'sa good place to get supplies. Distant contacts of Amy's retired there, so we had a nicelittle base of operations for a few days and went on a little driving tour of the valley.
Milford Sound was sweet. The road to get there was even better, despite tour buses every 2 minutes passing by. We'd love to go back and do a dayhike around Fiordland, but are finally starting to feel the crunch of time. Only 5 weeks to go!
And then there is the town of Gore. Once a quite prosperous town, now it's the equivalent of everything you fear that a small town would be like in the Deep South of the U.S. We saw low-rider trucks, heard rumours of white-power groups, and saw teenagers driving laps around town for lack of anything better to do. At least they only heckled us on the 2nd lap. We would've gotten where we were going that day, but our ride had to bail on us when her brakes started smoking. So we got to spend a night in Gore.
We've only had one ride offer from anyone in a rental backpacker van (despite seeing them non-stop), only one ride offer by Asians, and no a single ride from a Lexus, Mercedes, or BMW. Every other ride we seem to have landed a few times. We even got a ride from an ex-pat of Georgia (the country), warning us not to google the cancer and birth defect rates in that country from the fallout of Chernobyl.
Spent a few days doing the wildlife-watching thing, though we never did spot any Albatross. We also rented a car for the first and only time. Turns out we could've just hitchhiked it anyways, but I guess it was nice to have a break, and following up a tip from a Canadian couple who'd given us a lift, we found a great little off-the-beaten-path (it still exists!) lighthouse, where we were practically tripping over penguins and seals, all free of charge and empty of tourists. Before returning the rental car, we drove up the
steepest street in the world. The little rental 4-banger barely made it up and was actually one of the highlights of the trip, short though it was.
I'd forgotten our cell phone in that Canadian couples' car and had to spend $35 in taxis to retrieve it. That night I promptly, but accidentally, put it through the washing machine as well. Days later I finally tracked down some precision screwdrivers to open it up and dry it out, and despite the naysayers, brought 'er back to life. Giddy up!
Finally got to do some proper tramping. Did a 5 day circuit in almost-great weather. Had to sit out a day for the weather warning, but otherwise had some darn scenic days. Unfortunately, being the first good stretch of weather we've seen in this La Nina year down here, and this being one of the most popular trails, everyone else had the same idea as us. Only by fluke accident did we end up walking the track in the opposite direction from everyone else, so that it was only crowded for us in the middle of the hike. The main hut's capacity is 32. There were 58 people, plus 12 more camping. 25 were Israeli.
Now young Israeli travellers have a bit of a reputation. Imagine every bad stereotype you've ever heard about American travelers. It's something like that. One group hiked through a weather warning in jeans without rain covers for their packs, played music on speakers in the hut, played a handheld Playstation, failed miserably at starting a fire in the stove and smoked out the whole cabin, later shoveling on so much coal and heating the place up so much that they walked around in their underwear, and brought ridiculous food (considering they'd be carrying it for 5 days). That was one group.
We came across another group of them crossing a creek where a girl was thigh-deep in the water and had to be practically dragged across. We assessed the stream and Amy crossed about 5 meters downstream from them by herself and only got wet to her ankles. That's not luck. We're not exactly river-crossing experts yet, but we have at least tried to learn the precautions.
Several groups very transparently trying to dodge out on their hut fees as well.
After that busy night, the warden told me he collected a burlap sack full of garbage left in the hut. Think about that. That's 30km over 2 days that people brought in excess packaging and decided it would be ok to just leave it behind, as if it were a hostel with paid housekeepers and town conveniences such as landfills.
Now if we'd only met a handful of Israelis throughout our travels, the usual "bad apples" analogy might work. But they're everywhere. The common thread for them all seems to be that they've all just finished their compulsory military service. Must be a rite of passage. I'd like to think that's the contributing factor. There's actually hostels out there that bar Israelis from entry.
They're arrogant, selfish, rude, obnoxious, exclusionary, and dangerously inexperienced when it comes to being in the backcountry. If the problem were only a quarter as bad and not spanning every country I've spent enough time in, maybe I'd just keep my causal observations to myself. I feel as if it would be dishonest of me NOT to mention the problem and just pretend like I hadn't noticed the trend. But this is spanning 3 trips for me over 4 years. Of course we've met a few exceptions to the rule and to their credit, Israelis do pick upmore hitchikers than others.
The actual two Americans we met at the hut were well-expericned, friendly and soft-spoken.
So as you can tell, there was a lot to be unimpressed about on the that hike. The views are supposedly and understandbly some of the best in the country, but with the crowds, it certainly wasn't a really down-to-nature experience for us. And that's not even a Great Walk.
There are 9 Great Walks in the country, earning their special designation because they were so popular that special bookings system have been put into place. The Milford Track and the Routeburn are two orf the more popular. The Routeburn sees 12,000 hikers per year (mostly in the summer). The nice thing about them is that they are controlled so as not to have a situation where 25 people have to sleep on the floor. Every stream is bridged. And it's about $40/night, or less to camp. Our annual hut passes, which cover almost every other hut in the country for 6 months, cost $90. More thoughts on that later.
-Dan
