The Day of Love

What do fancy doing for Valentines day?

"Nothing overly, maybe a meal or something"

Myself and Jules had made a packt when we first left the homeland, that on such occasions that are normally celebrated but are not our birthdays or Christmas/New Year, then we wouldn't go to too much expense and do something a little bit more toned down. The only exception to this is my insistence to grow a beard for Up-Helly-Aa, could be more a lazyness thing though.

"I have an idea! Why don't we do a hike"

"A hike"

"Yeah, just an overnight one, we're working so much, we hardly spend any QT together"

"Are you mad!"

I've now reached the point where I don't suggest these things anymore, there's a lot to be said in a relationship for at least trying the things that the other person likes to do, but hiking I thought had been explored and dismissed a long time ago, not unlike my one attempt in Auckland at pilates. On that occasion it only took about 2mins 30secs to realise that 1) I'm not fit enough for this and 2) my body doesn't bend in certain directions. Likewise it only took Julia a similiar amount of time to realise 1) she doesn't overly like walking and 2) she specifically doesn't like walking up hills. Yet here she was suggesting we go on a walk neigh a hiking adventure, my quisicle nature was aroused! Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth though.

"cool, I'll pop down the Department of Conservation and have a look what we can do"

"Nothing too hard though, I don't want to be walking up hills or anything"

"righhhhtt! I'll see what I can find!"

Twenty minutes later, I was walking out of the DOC with leaflets in hand, 3 to be exact, they charge for those over here. Our options reduced to those walks we can get to from Queenstown and those which allow overnight camping. To be fair to the NZ, they do that pretty well, as long as you keep off the better know tracks like the Milford(of Vince fame) then you can get away with free camping and no real costs, wouldn't like to try it in the UK.
Fastforward to the evening before the walk, and there we were still in a bit of a bind about how exactly we were going to get to the start of the walk, an hours drive away, when in a bit of a drunken promise, up pops our flatemate Sebastian with the idea that he drives us and with a that couldn't have worked out better, smug smile I gratefully accept.
We had planned to leave at 10am, and in true NZ layed back nature it was now 11.00 and we were still in bed.

"Better get up, and make a stab at it"

"You think Sebastian'll be annoyed"

"Nah he's pretty layed back about these kind of things"

Hurridly we shower, get dressed and pack our bags.

"just take practical stuff, water proofs, food, sun screen, insect repellant. You'll just have to carry it"

Little does Jules know, I'm completely going against my own advise and hidden in my rucksack, is a bottle of sparkling wine, and a hamper full of antipasto goodies. A little heavy admittedly, but I'm sure there'll be a bin at the start of the walk to get rid of the empty bottle and packaging.

"OK, got everything"

"Yeah"

"I'll see if Sebastian is ready"

Off I pop upstairs, Sebastian is nowhere to be found, had he given up on us? to be fair wouldn't have blamed him we were 1 1/2 hours late for our own party. I hear a mumble from his room,

who is it?

"it's Gary, you ready to run us to the track."

One glance into his room and I quickly determine that he's clearly not. Sebastian had been out till 6am at the pub, and that drunken promise had as quickly been forgotten as it was conjured up.

"OKkk!" plan B anyone?

But in a true trooper way, Sebastian stumbles out of bed and with a sway, declares himself fit for action,

"Just give me 1/2 and hour, and I'll be good as gold"

Not overly convinced but with little alternative I agree

"I'll head to the shop and get a few things, and we'll get you back here in 1/2 an hour."

1/2 an hour later, Sebastian is outside waiting for us with an eager look on his face, never in my life have I met a guy with as much enthusiasm and ability to recover from the seemingly unrecoverable. But who's complaining, and with a renewed enthusiasm myself, we happily trot down the stairs and into the Vauxhall estate

"The cars older than me! still runs like a dream though" Sebastian jokes proudly

The drive to the track is a beautiful one along the side of the lake.

"Should be the turn off to the right"

"what? down that dirt track"

You ever been walking on the pavement or in your car and seen someone drive past in a huge 4x4 and give a little moan about how stupid it is to have such a beast in the city, and how it's probably never seen a bit of countryside in it's life. Well no such complaints in the South Island of New Zealand, loads of unsurfaced roads, loads of windey tracks, loads of mud, loads of snow, and if you don't have a 4 wheel drive you'll probably eventually be in a spot of trouble. We don't have a 4 wheel drive! we have a 25 year old Vauxhall estate, which I think sometime in the early nineties has been lowered in a NZ way in an attempt to keep pace with the US west coast rap scene. But with a re-appointed determined look, Sebastian increases the pressure on the accelarator and off down the track we speed stone chips flying this way and that.
A few bumps here and a few thuds there but nothing overly to halt our progress, that was until we hit the first river crossing! Ever wondered what that chimney thing coming out of the bonnet of some landrover discoveries are for, well it's for the exact situation we now found ourselves in.

"You must be joking! My baby isn't going through that"

"But we're still 5km from the sart of the track!"

"Gary, he's right, it's too deep"

"Ok, Ok, I guess the walk starts from here"

So with our thank you's exchanged and our overweight backpacks positioned we start. Our enthusiasm counter balances the midday searing heat for approximately 15mins down the road, another 15mins and the backpacks start to cause pain around the shoulders, another 15mins and I call lunch, thank god! A chance to loose some weight, and to be fair what a lovely picnic we have, quite the spread, with the pate and the olives and the salami and the sun blushed tomotoes and of course the sparkling rose all layed out in a wonderful location right by the river. Our enthusiasm for the picnic lasts about 15mins when we realise why there aren't any other valentine's picnics happening in such a wonderful location. I mean we've experienced these before, but nothing on this level,

"A lot of flies around here"

"Just ignore them, probably attracted by the food"

"NO, I mean a lot of flies"

"Bugger, one just bit me! "

"ahh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhhh"

And as quickly as we had been to stop, we have packed up the picnic and were virtually running down the road. There is no greater insentive to hike for hours than the knowledge if you stop you'll be eaten alive by the insects from hell, the sandfly. If you've experienced the wonder that is the midgie, well these are like those in number but with saber teeth and an attitude to match. It's a viscious cirlce the more you sweat to get away from them the more they are attracted and inevitably the more blood you will spill.
I've never been so relieved to crawl into a tent in my life, and there is no better sleeping pill than the knowledge that outside the thin canvas is a world that much terribler than the one you currently occupy.
When we awake with the dawn in the morning, we notice a sagging in the top of the tent and stepping outside to investigate, we're more than a little shocked to discover it's caused by thousands of dead sandflies. Ahh, the sandlfly the most noble of creatures, giving up it's life in the sole endevour to try and get blood out of a bit of canvas.
And with a renewed sense on enthusiasm and with the normal haste we set off back down the trail. Only one problem this time we haven't organised for a pick up, no drunken promise from Sebastian to fall back on, and no local transport service to call upon. But as the locals would say(and me more and more) "No worries", just as we are starting to get a little tired, a silvery saloon stops by,

"you guys need a lift"

"cool"

"where you heading"

"main road would be good, Glen Orchy if your going that way, and ultimately Queenstown"

"No worries, heading to Queenstown"

And that was that, another Valentines day done, a few problems and adventures along the way, but ultimately objective achieved, two whole days of just me and Jules spending some QT together.