Grand Traverse Guided Walk Greenstone and Routeburn Tracks ‍New Zealand Day1

杜薇霞 海伦

I arrived in Queenstown New Zealand on 07/01/2025 and was ready for Grand Traverse Guided Walk Greenstone and Routeburn Tracks

‍Grand Traverse ~ 大穿越岩石面的攀爬地带

Pre-track briefing at 12：45 pm on 8th Jan. The briefing is held at the Ultimate Hikes Center.

We met at the Ultimate Hikes Center in Queenstown at 7：30 am on 09/01/2025 ready for departure.

My backpack is very heavy, weighing about 20 kg, and contains the following items:

- Raincoat

- Bed sheet

- Warm layers (top and bottom)

- Thermal pants and tops

- a half dozen underwear

- Winter gloves

- Woollen beanie

- A dozen Merino socks

- Phone

- 2 portable power banks

- Sunscreen

- Sandfly cream

- Medicines.

- 3 litres of water bottles

-lunch

The bus took us an hour to reach Glenorchy and 14 of us and 3 guilds had a chance to meet.

Our group included 14 people:

- Alice: A professor at WA University, teaching Chemistry and Biochemistry. She loves ancient history and plans to take an ancient history course while teaching.

- Joao: Alice's husband, also a professor at WA University, specializing in Geography.

- Julian: Alice and Joao's 29-year-old son, a primary school teacher in Wellington for 7 years. He graduated from Dunedin University and loves teaching and living in Wellington, New Zealand.

- Bec: A 44-year-old primary school teacher in Warragul, Victoria, Australia. She is a mother of three children aged 28, 21, and 18.

- Matt and Jacs: A husband and wife; Matt is a high school math teacher, and Jacs is the deputy executive of the council. They live in Auckland, New Zealand.

- Wendy and Less: A mother and daughter. Wendy is a teacher, and Less, 21 years old, studies Psychology at Macquarie University in Sydney. They live in Mosman.

- Ben, Edie, and Fred: A father and his children, Edie (21) and Fred (20). Ben works in the economic and financial field. Edie is going to Germany to study Biomedical Science, while Fred will study Engineering in Melbourne.

- Debbie: A former central banker and the bank resource manager, living in Washington, DC, USA.

- Scott: A 45-year-old CTO of a large company with 15,000 employees in Philadelphia, USA.

- Wei: A retired bus driver living in Campbelltown, NSW, Australia.

-Lindsy, Nik and Georgia： Our track guides, all in their 20s.

I had my first elegant fall on the first day of the track. Fortunately, there were no injuries. I had many close calls due to the heights, the difficult track conditions, and the heavy backpack.

This is Nik, my private guide. He is at the rear, as I am the second to last. The front guide will lead the group up the track, another guide will walk in the middle, and there will always be a guide at the back of the group.

This is our lunch break spot. The helicopter lowered the gas cylinder here, allowing us to use it to boil water for coffee and tea.

We experienced a track that gradually climbs throughout the day, featuring both uphill and downhill sections. There are tree roots, small rocky areas, and grasslands that can be muddy.

Eventually, we all completed the 18 km track for the first day.

On the night of January 9, 2025, Julian, Wendy, Less, Scott, and I slept in the same room at the Steele Creek Lodge which is run mainly on solar power and is rustic. Each of us had our own bunk, and Less was in the top bunk. 😊