Once we were on the way to Hanmer Springs we were all beginning to reach the point of exhaustion and dirty that could only be fixed by a night of sleep in an actual bed and a nice, warm shower. We decided that even though we still had two days left with our car we would leave the next day after climbing Mt. Isobel to head back to Ilam, and for our last day we would just make a day trip to check out Akaroa. That night at Hanmer there was a light rain but we were determined to make a fire due to our boredom of playing cards for three hours every night. And we succeeded! We had to be careful though since fires are illegal in New Zealand—so if anyone asks we were never there ;) We slept pretty well but woke up the next morning still tired and somewhat not looking forward to the hike, we all just wanted to get to the top and back as fast as possible. Also our tents were soaked from the rain that night so we just left them set up hoping that they would dry by the time we returned, and also hoping that no DOC personnel were going to find them and fine us for camping there… And so we were off. The hike up most of the way wasn’t too rough, but once we got closer to the summit there was a lot of snow and interspersed around the snow were these insanely annoying, super spiky bushes that we had to jump to and from in an attempt to keep from sinking into the snow. Ankles were almost twisted, curse words were creamed, and many granola bars were chowed down but eventually we got past the insanely annoying part.
Don't let my smile deceive you, it sucked really bad....
We were initially so relieved to be done with the gnarly part but as soon as we got up on the ridge we still had soooo much further to continue climbing and the wind was brutal. I thought I was going to fall over on numerous occasions. You had to walk with your face away from the wind so that you could actually breathe normally. But we climbed on, and on, and crazy enough, the exact same Irish lady that we ran into on the way up Mt. Fyffe in Kaikoura we ran into again this time two hours south on a completely different mountain! It was absolutely crazy. We had a good laugh and then once we finally all reached the summit she took our photo again. However this time the wind was so awful that she only spent about two minutes up there and we weren't quite ready for the picture:
The wind was so strong that it whipped the wrist bracelet of the camera into the picture.
Phil peeing from the summit, as usual...
Another summit video-woo!
The way back down was quite treacherous and unpleasant due to the increase of wind-which we didn't even think was possible, and a continuation of the ankle twisting through the bushes. But eventually we made it down. We were so relieved and happy. Though the entirety of our spring break adventures were absolutely epic and fun we were all ready to go back home and finally be clean for the first time in about twelve days. Our car was beginning to smell pretty nasty...When we finally got to Ilam we unloaded all of our stuff from the car and could not even believe how we fit all of it in our puny little vehicle.
The shower I took that night was the best shower I have ever taken. It took a good hour to scrub all the dirt off my body and wash all the crap and leaves and sand out that were in my hair. My bed was the most comfortable thing I had ever slept in, it might as well have been a cloud from heaven....I was in paradise.
The next day we barely got ourselves out of our beds and drove about an hour south to check out Akaroa. But the weather wasn't super great, and our legs weren't super keen so we got some fish and chips, walked around for a bit and drove on back to Ilam, home sweet home!
Proof that we went to Akaroa--and Zak looks super happy to be our flatmate...haha.
That's the end of my chronicle of the Spring Break adventures. New Zealand has and continues to be everything I dreamed of and more. Although it seems absolutely crazy that a bit over two months have already passed here, we have accomplished and seen so much! And I still have over three months left. No doubt the adventures will continue :) And the next trips will be with Lena Gerber--can't wait!!
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