Day 3/4 - Tour and Blyde River Canyon

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12/31 – 1/1 – Tour and Blyde River Canyon

Alrighty, so I know that Bridget and I normally plan and execute our own trips and itineraries. But…Bridget had a long list of wanna-dos that included visiting multiple countries, driving over 1,000 miles, visiting multiple national parks, and staying in places that may or may not be the safest place to leave a rental car (nevermind finding a place to park it!). So, Bridget worked with a trip outfitter (Detour Africa) and built a custom tour to her exact specifications so we’d get to do everything on the list AND have a guide who would explain stuff while he/she drives. This way, we’d get to have our cake and eat it too with the peace of mind that all of the details (most meals, accomodations, excursions, etc) have been arranged ahead of time. Our trip was designed for a small group, and we’d find out the final passenger count when they picked everyone up before heading out of Joberg.

So, preamble over. Our guide picks us up after the amazing breakfast and, much to our delight, we ended up being the only two who signed up, so we got a private tour with just us and our guide! He’s a local South African who grew up in Pretoria (just north of Joberg) and is super knowledgeable about all kinds of things.

He picked us up and we drove to our first stop – Blyde River Canyon. Along the way, we stopped at a place called God’s Window. This is a trail/lookout along the edge of a sheer 3,000ft cliff-line. That cliff is along a fault line and, over time, the valley sunk over 3,000ft below the higher plate, leaving a dramatic, and dangerous, drop-off. Due to the cooler air in the higher country and the hotter, moist air from the lower country (coming inland off of the Indian Ocean), that region is typically pretty cloudy and “misty” as our guide calls it. Visibility isn’t always very good, but we made it there at a pretty good time of day and were able to see pretty far.

The Dropoff

Us :)

This was at a gas station / rest stop on the way over - It had a wildlife are with two rhinos!

The second place we stopped at that was pretty cool is called Potholes. While there are lots of potholes in the road in South Africa (which our guide keeps mentioning as we swerve to avoid hitting yet another one), this is the name of the confluence of the Blyde (Happy) River and the Treur (Sad) River. For whatever reason, where these two rivers meet, the water apparently used to swirl and over the years carved circular formations in the rock that look like potholes or tubes. Pretty unique formations. 

Potholes Picture 1

Potholes Picture 2

Potholes Picture 3

Little rascal trying to steal food from tourists...

After all of the excitement for the day, we celebrated New Years Eve with a dinner of Pap and Saus with grilled Wors, cole slaw, and steamed veggies. We were pretty pooped by the time dinner was over so we retired for the night and left the raucous celebrating for everyone else. ☺

Before we headed out the morning of the 1st, we did two hikes around the place we stayed, which is at the edge of the Blyde River Canyon, home to the 3 Rondavels (the circular hut shapes). Apparently this canyon is the third biggest canyon in the world (the Grand Canyon is the top) and was cut by the Blyde River (same one mentioned above at the Potholes area). The longer hike that we did (3 miles) wound around the edge of the canyon a bit and had some spectacular views of the rondavels along the way. The shorter hike was out to a small Tufa waterfall. Interestingly, this type of waterfall is characterized by moss covering the rocks that the water is flowing over rather than by sheer rocks that have been cut away over the centuries by the water. Apparently this water is rich in oxygen and minerals that actually add to the waterfall over time. Pretty cool.

The Three Rondavels (admittedly hard to see though...)

Us :)

Baboon across the valley

Cool-looking plant along the trail

The Tufa Waterfall

After finish up our hiking, we headed to Hazyview and Kruger National Park

Day 2 – 23hrs in Joburg

This will be short since our “day” in Joburg was less than 24hrs and we spent a lot of it sleeping. But anyway, Joburg isn’t exactly the best city to just go and wander, so we caught a Uber (yep, there’s Uber in South Africa!) to a mall to grab some lunch and do some shopping/check out the local fare. The driver who took us from the airport told us about a staple in the South African diet called “pap”, which is pretty much polenta made with white corn so it’s a white color. And it’s amazing (Bridget was ambivalent). It’s typically served with “saus” (e.g. sauce) made from tomato and onion and “wors” (e.g. sausage) made from beef or pork. Our lunch also included chicken gizzard, fish, chicken meat, and fried plantains. Needless to say, I ate the chicken gizzard. But the food was good, albeit incredibly slow (evidently the norm in Africa). But since we weren’t in a hurry, it could have been worse.

After lunch we wandered the mall and realized that there was a lot more to it that we thought at first. And we found a Cinnabon!!! But since the holidays were over, I exercised my first modicum of self-control in months and just smelled them. And they smelled soooo good. Anyway, my exhaustion was starting to catch up to me, so Bridget let me take a quick nap (in the mall food court) before heading back to our hotel.

Now, this “hotel” was more like a big house that was built decades and decades ago. Fun fact: the original owner was actually a surgeon certified by the British Board of Surgery (or something like that) – the diplomas were on the wall in the office. Anyway, the house was on a nice little piece of property with a pool, a bit of a lawn, and a garden. We had a fancy little room with a balcony overlooking the backyard. Oh, and they had a Nespresso machine in the hallway so we could make coffee whenever we wanted. We didn’t really take advantage of it, but it was cool nonetheless! It was so nice to have a place to relax and adjust to the new time zone.

Pretty cool spot for an afternoon coffee

The amazing garden

Alright – back to the story. So we basically had to keep ourselves up late enough to sleep through the night. Bridget decided that 8pm would suffice. So, working backward, that meant dinner around 7pm. Since we were already back at the hotel/house and didn’t have a rental car and weren’t going to walk, we were left with basically one option: UberEats. My boss at work is a huge fan of UberEats so I figured it would be worth a try. We ordered some chicken (also a recommendation from the driver from the airport) and waited inside the house in the pouring rain until the poor guy showed up in a Tuk-Tuk scooter. Lucky for him, it was outfitted with plastic walls to keep him somewhat dry. And, the manager of the hotel opened up the garage so we could do the swap in there so nobody had to get wet. Imagine if we’d walked to dinner and had to walk back in a downpour! Score for UberEats! Anyway, we scarfed down the chicken and stumbled upstairs with exhaustion close in tow.

Our alarm never went off the next morning…because Bridget woke up at 3:15am and couldn’t count enough sheep to fall back asleep again. At 6:25am she woke me up to start packing up and to get ready for our 7am breakfast. Alright – so this breakfast (and the rest of the breakfasts we had in Africa) was amazing. The house/hotel had a little menu that you could fill out ahead of time with what you wanted to eat (both cold and hot foods) and what time you wanted to eat and they took care of the rest. Now, I realize that most hotels do this and it’s called room service, but this was different. We ate at the big wooden family dinner table in the dining room with bookshelves from floor-to-ceiling and a Persian rug on the floor (I actually don’t know if it was Persian but it did look like one of the rugs from those stores that are continuously going out of business). And they had another fancy coffee-making machine. So we loaded up on coffee, juice, omelets, Wheatbix, fruit-and-yogurt, and bacon. It pretty much ended my streak of self-control that started at Cinnabon the day before, but YOLO. 

Day 1- The Trip Over

Our journey began with the usual packing of gear for a nearly 2-week international adventure: two carry-on suitcases, a backpack, and Bridget’s purse/satchel. In addition to not wanting to risk our luggage not making it to South Africa (a real bummer since our scheduled didn’t include a few days for our luggage to catch up), our economy light tickets didn’t include the ability to check bags, so carry-on it was. And it really wasn’t a problem – stick with the “bear necessities” (Jungle Book reference anyone?).

Anyway, we rolled into SFO around 4:30pm with our e-tickets on our phones and carry-ons in tow, so we just had to get through security in less than 2.5hrs. Security was basically deserted, so we were through in more like 2.5 minutes. Good way to start.

Our first 11hr flight only got us to London at 1pm where we had a 5h layover before catching our next flight to Johannesburg, or Joburg for short, at 6pm with an arrival on Day 3 at 7am. Back-to-Back Red-Eyes. Sweet. So, since we’re the planning type, our plan was to stay up late on our first flight so we would be tired enough to get a full nights’ sleep on our second flight. That kind of happened… for Bridget. We did end up getting two seats next to each other with a window seat, which was great. After a few movies, dinner, and a smidge of work (in my defense, it was relaxing – nothing like a good ‘ole spreadsheet to unwind on the plane), sleep was sought but not really found. In fact, my new Withings watch that tracks steps and sleep didn’t even register any sleep at all. Lol. Bridget did get some sleep though so at least one of us wasn’t a zombie once we got to London Heathrow.

Before I didn't sleep at all...

After getting off the plane and not taking a wrong turn (like we did in Beijing…), we grabbed some lunch, perused the duty free stores, and waited for our gate to be assigned. Oh, and there was free WiFi. ☺ Since we were running on less than half of our normal amount of sleep, we found a bench without armrests and took turns catching a quick catnap to keep the oppressive exhaustion at bay for a few more hours. That part worked out beautifully – the nap was great and I was felt more like a human being.

The second flight was even more comfortable than the first – we had a window seat, the next seat over, and a free seat next to that. So we could really spread out and sleep. My watch still gave me the worst sleep score I’ve ever gotten, but at least it could verify that I slept! ☺

So, after 27 hours of travel, we made it safe and sound to Joburg! And with no checked bags to lose or wait for hours to be pulled off the plane, we walked out and caught our ride to our hotel. We have both officially been to all 6 inhabited continents (one of Bridget’s life-bucket list items is also to go to Antarctica).

New Adventure Begins!

It's been awhile since we've blogged about an adventure so we figured it was time to go somewhere to provide some ongoing entertainment to you all. :)  Enjoy the upcoming posts about our latest trip to South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and London! We'll be posting a bit here and there as we get organized after returning late last week.

- J & B

Day 26 - Around Sydney

We really only had an afternoon and evening in Sydney by the time it was all said and done, but we still got around a bit. We were staying in the neighborhood called "The Rocks" which was right near the harbor and the opera house. So, we got to see that a bunch, which was cool. And we saw two cruise ships docked in the port. Those boats are mindblowingly enormous! They just look plain big in pictures or commercials, but in person it was just amazing.

Opera House

Anyway, Bridget had been to Sydney a few years ago and said we had to do the coastal walk from Bondi beach south. So we caught a bus over there and walked down the trail and back. The sun was out and there was a nice breeze off the water. The path weaved in and out of the beaches and bluffs along the coast. The rocky bluffs looked otherworldy. It looked like those rock formations used to be underwater and slowly were lifted (or pushed) up and out of the water. It was wild.

Rock Formation

Another Rock Formation

After the walk around, we grabbed dinner and a jacket and walked over by the Opera House after the sun set. We sat opposite the Harbor Bridge and watched the boats go by as we soaked in our last evening before heading home.

Opera House at night

The next morning came early but was started with a nice hot breakfast included with our room at our hotel. Sweet.

Breakfast

Then it was off to the train to the airport and our flight home. We bid farewell as the plane rolled back from the gate. We are both happy and sad - its always great to get home after being away for a while, but it's sad that our Pacific Adventure is over. You all know how it goes.

Day 22/etc - Around Queenstown

Queenstown
As I mentioned in the previous post, we spent a bit of time in and around Queenstown before and after the Routeburn tramp. Queenstown is a relatively small city considering the sheer number of activities and people that go through. The activity list is a mile long - bungee jumping, skydiving, canyoning, rafting, river-boarding, cruising, kayaking, speed-boating, etc. etc. etc. We had our adventure-sports fill in Wanaka, so we just walked around. And, to be honest, after 4 straight days of adrenaline sports in Wanaka, we kind of needed a bit of a break (and by "we" I mean I). So we just walked 10 miles all over the city and around the lake. :)  The views across the lake were fantastic - the water was so blue and the gentle sunshine felt great. And it felt great to walk around without a pack on! During our walk around the lake, we saw a poor plane try to land three or four times before getting on the ground. Apparently it is so challenging to land in Queenstown that only 59 pilots are certified to land there! It was nice to find that out after we safely landed without incident. :)

Lake view

Queenstown is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains - kind of like most of New Zealand. The mountain range to the south is called the Remarkables - and with good reason! The jagged peaks tower over the valley and are just awe-inspiring. The backside is home to a ski resort in the winter time.

Sun clipping the tops of the Remarkables

Queenstown has a cool gondola that goes up a small mountain right above town. Since we wanted the exercise (and didn't want to pay for the gondola), we just hiked up. The views were totally worth it. The sky was clear-ish, the water was blue, and the breeze was refreshing.

Pano from the gondola viewpoint (click to enlarge)

For the more adventurous types, there is a "luge" at the top. These were like mini go-karts (without engines) that race around downhill then catch a lift back up for another lap. And there were downhill mountain bike trails from the top to the bottom. These trails were intense and people were flying down them. And incidentally kicking up alot of dust at the same time. Anyway... the downtown area had a nice selection of restaurants and shopping to burn a few hours. One of the more unique places is a place called The Winery. The have a huge selection of over 80 wines that can be tasted at the same place. The tasting is a la carte, so you pay for each individually but most are only a few bucks. And if you like any particular wines, you can get a half or full glass.

Our AirBnB was situated up on a hill a bit east of downtown Queenstown with a great view. The host was great and the breakfast spread was amazing! We definitely didn't leave hungry in the mornings!

View from the AirBnB porch

Breakfast spread!

Sunset from last night in Queenstown (click to enlarge)

So, this gets us to the end of our time in New Zealand. Bummer! But, alas, the end was inevitable.

We've got one last night over here (in Sydney) before we fly back across the Pacific. Until then!

Days 23 - 25 - Routeburn Tramp!

I know, I know. We're out of order a bit. I'll do an "around Queenestown" post after this since we spent some time around the city before and after the tramp. Ok, back to what you're more interested in anyway. :)

Routeburn tramp stats
Pronunciation - "root-burn"
Distance: 26.4 miles (including both optional trails)
Elevation gained: 6,459 ft
Days/Nights: 3 days / 2 night
Trail type: One-way


Day 1 - Up to the falls
As the tramp start date approached, I started keeping a closer look at the weather forecast. Which, as you might be able to guess, forecasted rain. Of course. Not buckets and buckets of rain like Tongariro, but it could be "heavy at times". The timing kept swinging back and forth, but the update the night before we started suggested it would clear later in the day. So we shifted our transportation to the trailhead to later in the morning (with the side benefit of getting to sleep in and enjoy the fantastic breakfast at our AirBnB). We got picked up around 10:45am from Queenestown and headed off into the mist. Literally, it looked like we were driving into the clouds and rain. Lovely.

Guess where we're headed...

We arrived at the trailhead around 12pm or so and the wet stuff was falling, and trampers finishing looked pretty damp (soaked through). Since we weren't in a huge hurry, we hunkered down with our lunch and Kindles and waited to see if the clouds would break. Slowly but surely, around 1pm, the sun started peeking out a bit between the rain showers. We gave it another hour and then set out with our hopes buoyed by the sun. The first part of the trail was a pretty flat jaunt along the valley and the Routeburn stream all of the way to Routeburn flat, which was (surprise, surprise) a nice flat area at the base of the surrounding mountains. There was a nice shelter and a smattering of campsites with spectacular views looking up in just about any direction. We had our afternoon snack and soaked in some sun before heading up to the Routeburn Falls hut (our desitation for the night).

One of the many swinging bridges we crossed

One of the many reasons we had bridges

The climb up was pretty steep at times scrambling up and over the rocks, but totally worth it. We arrived at the hut a bit quicker than expected (always nice!) and just beat the next wave of rain (even better!). And the word "hut" doesn't really do it justice- alpine lodge is a bit more appropriate. There weren't fireplaces and rugs everywhere but it was clean, had a bunch of cooking tops, and organized bunkrooms. The rain kept coming in fits and starts with the sun almost taunting hikers between the spells. The nice thing about rain and sun, though, is rainbows! We were treated to a few rounds of rainbows across the valley!

Spectacular, eh?

Tree at Routeburn Falls

We finished the rest of the afternoon sipping hot chocolate before making dinner and playing a few rounds of Dominion. We got quite a few stares with our piles of cards all over the table. "I love it, pure addiction" was the comment from the hutmaster. Ha ha. It's just one of the few games I have a prayer of beating Bridget at... Anyway, the sun started setting around 9:30pm, but the sky wasn't dark until after 10:30pm.

Day 2 - Up and over the saddle
Per the hutmaster update last night, the forecast for today was supposed to be rain early and easing in the afternoon, so we planned a lazier morning and waited until the weather broke again. However, the weather flip-flopped and switched to fine in the morning and isolated showers forming around midday. By the time we saw the change, ate, and re-packed, it had started raining. We waited around for about an hour until we had a break in the rain and set out on the trail. The trail climbed up and past the Routeburn Falls, into a valley, and then up to Harris Saddle in the mountain range that we would cross to get to the other side. As we hiked along, a few small drizzles popped up for long enough to stop, put on a rain jacket, and start sweating. Oh well. Better to have a rainjacket than to not. The trail up ended at a large alpine lake with a day-use shelter.


Harris Lake just under the saddle


Harris Saddle with some small alpine pools full of fresh rainwater

There was an extra spur trail for those wanting more leg burn, so of course, I went up there. Bridget was kind enough to watch my bag inside the rainproof shelter while I went up. The trail up was pretty touch-and-go in spots. The rain had made the rocks pretty slick, so scrambling was a bit more exciting that usual. By the time I got to the top, the clouds had descended once again, and I was having flashbacks of Tongariro. The visibility was pretty close to "just forget about it" with a light drizzle accompaniment.

All socked in

However, not more than 15 minutes later, the clouds had broken and pockets of sunshine were poking through. I could see the mountains behind to the East and sort of make out the range across the valley to the West. The photos don't really do it justice, especially since timing was key as the clouds moved so fast.

Somewhat cleared up

Everyone says the weather in the alpine can change quickly and they aren't joking. It was surreal to sit and watch the clouds come and go, rise and fall. After my break in the clouds passed and the rain began to fall again, I headed back down to the trail. The rain this time, though, was much stronger and I was pretty well drenched by the time I got back down to the hut. We had our lunches and waited for the next few waves of rain to pass before getting back on the trail. When we saw a break in the clouds, we went for it. The rest of the trail for the day snaked its way along the mountainside slowly descending below the treeline before one last climb over the ridge to Lake Mackenzie (our destination). Our timing was pretty impeccable. We seemed to line up with the break between the showers lining up down the valley. The clouds across the valley slid their way up and along, giving us glimpses of the peaks shrouded behind their cover.

Clouds clearing across the valley with some glaciers peeking through

The trail ended at Lake Mackenzie, but not before winding back down through a "fairy" forest on the north aspect of the ridge lining the lake. This forest was quite unique in the incredible amount of moss all over the place. Like all over. It blanketed everything in sight. It almost looked like a nice layer of soft, green snow. Maybe that's more the snowboarder in me than the hiker, or maybe not. Anyway, this happens due to the 18-24 feet of rain they get here every year. It rains over 200 days per year and is considered rainforest, so the moss gets its favorite damp environment to grow. And grow it does. It actually creates a deep enough layer for the trees to grow into. So it wasn't uncommon to see huge boulders covered in moss with trees growing out of the top with moss on the tree trunks and hanging from the branches. It was wild.

Moss Forest

Anyway, the hut/lodge was a welcome sight after truding nearly 8 miles by that time. It is located just next to the lake, which was refreshing to soak my feet and wash up a bit. The hutmaster gave his evening talk after dinner, and he was hilarious. He probably talked for 30 minutes about the geology of the region, the park's work to eradicate the pests (he even had a stuffed stoat as a prop), and the history of the trails we walked. Quite educational and entertaining. Oh, and two of the fire exits in the hut are windows that you just jump out of - seriously. We finished the evening on the front porch sipping hot chocolate and watching the sun try to cast some color on the clouds.

Lake Mackenzie nestled in the valley

Lake Mackenzie from below

Sunset

Day 3 - And back
Despite having plans to wake up early and make sure we had time for a bonus trail on the way out, the hustle and bustle in the cabin didn't wake us until well after our alarms were set. Oh well. We packed, ate, and got out in the trail without too much of a fire drill. Luckily, long legs make for fast walking, so we made up the time. The trail climbed back out of the valley where Lake Mackenzie sits and wound its way down and around to the parking lot at the end but not before passing by cascading waterfalls, alpine lakes, and majestic views of the mountains in the Fiordlands.

Earland Falls

Lake Howden

We also had enough time to catch the bonus trail up to Key Summit. This was quite an anomaly. The summit is actually relatively flat and home to its own ecosystem complete with carnivorous plants, ponds/peat bogs, and trees. All on top of this big hunk of rock jutting out into the valley. Totally wild, eh?

Alpine lake at Key Sumit

Can't get too many pictures of that view!

After exploring Key Summit, we finally finished the last few kilometers (total distance of 10 miles for the day) down to the end of the trail where our shuttle back to Queenestown was waiting. Since this route was a one-way trail and not a loop, we had a 3.5 hour trip back to Queenestown. But our shuttle driver was pretty funny as well, so he made the trip go more quickly. After an extra 30-minute delay at some bridge construction (funny story as to why it is still under construction), we made it back to our AirBnB and started prepping to pack up and head out the next day.

Anyway, all said and done, another excellent tramp for sure!