Travel: A spectacular hike to Brewster Hut and Mount Armstrong
A young, quiet, German boy sits next to Maggie and I to eat dinner.
He briefly mentions a hike that’s technically in Haast but more in the middle of nowhere.
Dylan du Ross, from Hawke’s Bay, is sharing his travel experiences around New Zealand.
But when it's only a 45-minute drive from where we were in Wanaka, it’d be silly not to undertake.
There's only one way … up.
After three glamorous days of Wanaka, a packing of bags, and a tying of shoes, we were ready for the ascent.
What we weren't ready for was the immediate river we had to cross. The shoes were taken off and we stiffly navigated over.
It wasn't particularly deep, but what it lacked in depth, it made up for with an intense coldness that left Maggie and I dancing on rocks trying to get some blood flowing. We looked up at the path ahead, tree roots were the track. Never a good start.
Not long had passed before we hear Eminem rapping in the distance.
Two things I’ve never seen in my life are someone playing music out loud on a track, and/or seeing Eminem hiking from Brewster Hut, so no matter what happens, I’m in for a new experience.
Two young kiwi guys appear from the beech forest with their UE boom playing ‘slim shady’. These were the first two younger Kiwis I’ve ever met on a trail, which is surprising considering we are in New Zealand.
I think many of us are so keen to travel other countries, we’re almost naive to the incredible landscapes that's in our own backyard.
A view to come.
An onion aroma from Maggie’s bag tickles my nostrils. Normally I’d welcome the smell, but in this case, being able to practically taste your dinner for the remainder of a hike was pure agony.
We still had long way to go. Eventually the tree line was passed and we found ourselves in a tussock lined trench which made the smell worse as it had nowhere to escape.
Who knew that when I was hiking a mountain 2174m tall, the battle with my nose would prove to be the most testing part.
At 1450m we see the Brewster Hut. A 12-bunk serviced hut that would be our home for the night, as well as a brief lunch stop on our adventure to summit Mount Armstrong.
In all honesty we were satisfied with the stunning views and the journey that the hike had given us so far. We almost didn’t bother with the climb. Although ignorance is bliss, I remembered it can also lead to regret. Off we went to the top.
Rocky ground left no chance for a track so a choose your own path situation occurred. Unfortunately the choice of an easy route was not an option. There was no avoiding the need to climb up rocks, hoist up ledges, and tread carefully along scree slopes. A couple of Italians that passed us earlier found themselves stuck for 30 minutes attempting the ascent. Thank goodness we didn't follow them.
6 hours ago we were sitting inside a car, complaining about the broken mirror and broken boot. Now we’re over 2kms in the sky, towering above mountains, looking over a slice of ocean that’s 68kms away (despite Mount Aspiring National park being in between), surrounded by huge glaciers, Mount Brewster above and a view down Haast valley that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Pictures don’t give it justice. This was one of the most astonishing things I’ve ever seen, if not the most astonishing. It was pure ecstasy.
On the way down we watched the moon rise, and the sunset. An incredible display of nature's palette took place and left me wondering, can it get better than this? With Queenstown, Milford Sound and Mount Cook still to come, I’m guessing we’re going to find out.
Normally a rooster may wake you up, up here a Kea does. This is another world.
