The Routeburn Track

For those of you that don't already know, I took over the management of Skybar and things have been going pretty well. We have finally built a clientele and we are now on the map in terms of bars in Queenstown; its on everybody's pub crawl. It feels so good to be a contributer to the wild and crazy culture that makes Queenstown and to show people, both locals and tourists a good time. The management has been a new challenge for me in terms of hiring and training my own team of staff, keeping the bar stocked, getting broken things fixed, and most of all, keeping it fun, busy and running smooth. There are so many of the same cycles here as when I helped run the team of engineers on my project last summer, and its fun to see how life can contain so many hidden rhythms like that. I've been attacking it hard and apparently its paying off. The bar has been busy and the owner and bosses have been really happy with my work, giving good feedback and encouragement. Whats so liberating about running the place is that the owners are crazy themselves and go out and party a lot, so they know what it takes to keep a place fun. This allow me to be crazy, dance on tables and light the bar on fire, and they dig it. Pretty unique situation!
I just got back from an amazing trek in the mountains on the famous Routeburn track. It was a 3 day, 2 night hike, overall 38km (23 miles) through some of the best scenery I've ever seen. There were serene waterfalls and pools, alpine peaks, and cascading rivers and amongst high valleys. Many scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed on this track, and I felt a lot like the fellowship trekking through the alpine valleys on a journey through the pass of the misty mountains. Its just amazing how unique this place is, like a dreamland, and it makes you wonder if Lord of the Rings was written based on this place instead of the other way around. The landscape seems to inspire a feeling of kingdoms and grueling journeys.

The best part was that it was a fully-guided trip paid for by the owner of Skybar and other bars in Queenstown, a 1200 dollar per person value! It was sort of a staff party in which all the managers of 5 bars and 4 liquor stores were invited to come. All together with the upper management and owners, there were about 20 people. It was a great chance to me to get to know the owners and coworkers a bit better.

We were bused in and out and stayed each night in these private, posh lodges with hot showers, comfy warm beds, laundry facilities, and amazing views. To top is all off, we had all our meals prepared for us, and stopped for morning and afternoon hot tea, all in the middle of the mountains! We had steak dinner with mushrooms and potatoes the last night, can you imagine? Wow, what a unique, once in a lifetime experience!

The owner also sent in tons of bottles of wine, beer and spirits for each night via helicopter so we partied each night. I didn't drink very much, but I was amazed at how those kiwis could drink so much and then kick my ass on the trail the next day. As a side note, I've noticed that most kiwis seem to be really burly and tough. They all seem to be in incredible shape and can hike fast and I was told that some people run the whole Routeburn track in one day.

The first day was perfect, beautiful and sunny for 12km (7.2 miles) of gradual uphill climbing through a dry bush landscape. We stopped for lunch and a refreshing shower in beautiful Earland falls before making it to a more moist, mossy landscape on our way to Lake Mackenzie lodge for the first nights rest, including Chicken Kiev and wine for dinner!

(Earland Falls)

(Lake Mackenzie Lodge)

Day two started out cloudy through a dark, mossy, beach tree forest that eventually gave way to hot sun and a clear hillside and steep switchbacks. We summited a pass called Ocean Peak corner (1150m, ~3500ft) where you can seen the Tasman sea in the distance and followed a mountain ridge along Hollyford face into a cloudy, windy and cold Harris Saddle (1250m, ~3900ft). We also did an optional and incredibly steep part of the trail to summit Conical hill (1515m, ~4600ft) after lunch at the Harris Saddle hut. Finally, we decended through 2 wide open valleys into Routeburn Falls lodge for night 2. Went for a dip in the ice cold waterfall before dinner too! Overall distance, 16km (9.6mi)

(Ocean View Peak)

(Harris Saddle)
(Lake Harris)

(Conical Hill)

(Routeburn Falls)

(A very cold dip)

(Routeburn Falls Lodge)

Day three was quite easy on paper, 10km (6mi) downhill, but difficult for me as I was pretty sore. It was all down hill through the narrow Routeburn valley following a deep blue rushing river. The landscape was pretty consistent mossy bush and high canopy beach trees.

(Routeburn Valley)

(Routeburn River)

It was so great to get back into the mountains and do some tramping. It has really refreshed my motivation to get into the outdoors, which is why I came here to NZ in the first place.

Milford Sound, a land of extremes

The life of a vampire, er, bartender. Up all night, sleep all day, and wincing in the sunlight. The new bar, Skybar, is going well. Chris and I have developed quite a reputation in town and every week is starting to get busier. I think we are becoming the new place to be in Queenstown! Chris has just amazed me at how well he can create a party, play the right music, and win the crowd. I’m leaning so much about people, about creating fun, and about life down here.

I feel that I have changed my outlook on things--not quite sure exactly how, but I know I have. I seem to live for the moment a bit more, treating my life as if it were short. For example, I feel like skydiving, which is something I’ve always been scared of, but I want to do it. Maybe breaking free from corporate America, and away from routine unleashed something inside me, like a personal liberation. I’ve noticed that traveling abroad generally causes one’s outlook on life to become more broad and global. Queenstown is special in the fact that you meet people that have done the same, broken away from their comfort zone. Its inspiring to hear their stories about travel and experiences.

The progression of Skybar is great but also exhausting for Chris and I since we are the only two running the bar--we are struggling to find any good staff with a bit of personality at the moment. This makes it really hard to get away and as a result, I haven’t done much outside of Queenstown which is a bit sad. However, we got someone to cover temporarily for one night and we got a chance to visit one of the icons of New Zealand, Milford Sound.

Milford Sound is part of Fiordland National park located on the Southwest coast of the South Island and a 5hr drive from Queenstown. Chris, my Scottish friend Stu, and I started the day with a five hour drive to the sound at 6am, which was completely backwards hours for us (Chris worked the night before and didn’t go to bed). However, we booked a 2 ½ hr boat cruise through the sound the day before and were looking forward to a nice relaxing day. The morning was misty and foggy and we were worried that we weren’t going to see anything when we got there, but it made for some nice photos along the way. The drive was still incredible and we still got to see some really nice scenery.

We arrived at Milford into a bunch of fog and frustrated and tired, we napped for an hour. Then, surprisingly, one ½ hr before our cruise, the sun burned the fog away, and the weather turned out perfect!

(My friends Till (GER), Chris (Skybar and ENGLAND), and Stu (Scotland))

We had an incredible narrated cruise through the sound relaxing and taking in some breathtaking sights. The massive valleys were created by extremely thick glaciers, some as thick as 1400 meters (~ 4500 ft) during the last ice age. We learned the rock around the place is mainly volcanic and thus very dense. The extreme pressure and grinding of the glaciers long ago left ‘wrinkles’ in the rock that are still visible today as evidence of the incredible force of the ice.

(Chris and I)