Of Wasps and Waterfalls

SoPac: This entry is written by Jennie (Trinity Christian College)

It is the tradition of CCSP to orient their students for a little over a week and then set them loose in the country. Everyone made it back alive despite having been here less than two weeks, and New Zealand itself seems relatively unscathed, so I'm marking it up as a success. Many adventures were had over student trip weekend, but this is the story of mine.

I went to Nelson Lakes National Park with a few friends (Amy, Darin, Jonny, and Kaitlyn H.) We considered cities and towns and coasts and hostels, but eventually realized that we wanted to see mountains. We originally wanted to hike up into the mountains, but found out a few days before our trip that unless we had ice hiking equipment and quite a bit of experience, it was seriously inadvisable for this time of year. So instead, we made a meandering loop of Lake Rotoiti, which is fantastically hemmed in on all sides by snow capped peaks.

Some highlights:

Just as we started walking from the carpark (note the correct kiwi term!) to the trailhead, it started to flurry! It was hardly anything, and obviously nothing stuck, and it lasted about three minutes and then the sun came out, but it still counts! It snowed while we were tramping in NZ! Then we came to this dock from which we had an amazing view of the mountains all around Lake Rotoiti, and Darin realized that he had seen it before in one of those default wallpapers that computers come with. We didn't really believe him, but he took a picture and we put them side by side when we got back, and sure enough - it was exactly the same. There was more snow in ours, but it was taken from that very dock. Cool.

Anyway, once we actually started tramping (hiking to those not fluent in kiwi) we stopped almost immediately to taste all of the trees along the trail. Yes, you read correctly. Here in this wonderful country, there are these crazy wasps that live just under the bark of certain trees (where we were tramping, beech trees) and they suck out the juicy, sugary phloem. Then, the digested sugary stuff has to go somewhere, so they essentially squirt it out the other end and it collects in these tiny droplets on the ends of little strings on the bark. Isn't nature fun? Anyway, then, a bee or bird or uninhibited college student comes along and collects the little droplets to snack on! It is so sweet and syrupy and you only get a tiny amount at a time, so it sort of reminded me of honeysuckle. Also, if bees are the ones to collect it, they can make honey out of it, and it turns into a thick dark kind of honey that's lovely on english muffins. For the record.

Moving on, we got about halfway around the lake that day and stayed in our very first (hopefully of many) NZ huts, Lakehead Hut. It was quite cozy with a wood stove and four other people to talk to while we made dinner and ate it by candlelight. Never in my whole life have I seen as many stars as were shining that night. It was absolutely freezing outside, and it made the air so clear. I'm trying to learn some southern hemisphere constellations, but until such time as we know the real ones, Jonny and I made some up. So now there is a mythical tortoise that rides the milky way.

The next morning everything was covered in a sparkly layer of frost, and we cut across about eight small rivers (one deep enough for us to shed our shoes and roll up our pants to cross) to take a "shortcut" to the next hut: the aptly named Coldwater Hut. Then we dumped all but our lunch and cameras and headed off to the swing bridge. Ok, I admit it, I had my New Zealand forest guide with me as well. Don't make fun. It's really cool. And so was the swing bridge! We played on it for a long time, and then found the tree roots that the hobbits hid under when they were trying to escape the black riders. That's another thing that is so fun about tramping in this place. We know that nothing was filmed in this particular spot, but that doesn't stop anyone from pointing out probable locations every two minutes. So fun.

That night we were all tucked away in our sleeping bags by about 6:30 when the sun went down, but we stayed up talking for a long time after that. We talked about first memories, important and shaping events in our lives, and the best superpowers. So all the important stuff. The next morning we got up in time to be off by the time it started getting light. We made it to Whiskey Falls a little before 7:30 and climbed up all of the freezing and slippery rocks toward the top. Kaitlyn and I climbed the whole way up to stand next to the pool of water at its base and got completely drenched from the spray. The wind that a 40m waterfall generates is also incredible. We had to be careful that our feet were firmly on those hazardous stones so we weren't knocked backward. When we climbed back down, we hung out for a while to take pictures and dry out a little, and just at that moment the sun's first light crept over the tops of the eastern mountains and *poof* turned us all to stone! (Guess that movie.) Ok, not really, but it did light up the entire crown of the forest, and the top of the falls itself with this incredible golden light. What a way to spend a Sunday morning. So we sang some songs and continued on our way.

We stopped to eat small mountains of fish and chips and ice cream on the way home, and stopped again to chase some waves and watch a baby sea lion do the same, but other than that, the way back was fairly uneventful. It was a completely smashing trip. Except for one thing.

Low Lights:

Sand flies. If you do not know what a sand fly is, consider yourself lucky. Very lucky. Mosquitoes don't really bother me, and even if I do get bites, they aren't that bad. Sand flies are different. They have a special taste for ankles. My ankles. I had 24 sand fly bites on my ankles. And they itch about a thousand times more than your average mosquito bite. Ick. But they are completely better now, and were seriously the only downside to a really amazing weekend. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.