Just outside of the Mount Cook area in a place called Twizel, we passed a salmon farm and decided to buy some fresh Mount Cook salmon (a must try in NZ). There was a sale on salmon, but it turns out it was only for the whole fish, not filets. So, we bought one. They pulled it right out of the water, gutted it, put it on ice, wrapped it in paper, and gave it to us. We put it on the floor in the bathroom in case it leaked fishy goodness. We figured we would deal with how to actually prepare it when we were ready to start making dinner.

We arrived in Queenstown after dark and decided to park the camper at a Holiday Park, cheap Kiwi options with tent and camper van sites as well as basic rooms. The nice thing about them is they have showers, a laundry room, large kitchens, and nice common rooms where we can mingle with other travelers. After we parked in our spot and connected our power for the first time, we got ready to make dinner.

When we bought the salmon, we knew that we weren't ideally equipped to prepare it, but with a dull chef's knife and swiss army knife, we got the fish to a decent state, slathered it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and fired up the oven in the communal kitchen. I have to say, it just felt cool to pull out a super fresh whole fish and go to work on it right there in the kitchen. I hope there weren't any vegetarians around because it wasn't pretty.

With salad and roasted potatoes, we had ourselves a feast, including a New Zealand chilled Gewurtzraminer. An Aussie family took great interest in our salmon, as most everyone else in the kitchen was making either pasta or prepared rice dishes. They went back to their camper for us and brought back a lemon for the fish, and we gave them a sample of the fish. They were heading out to Twizel the next day, so they were planning to get a salmon of their own, but using a different technique. While we bought ours, they are just going to go downstream from the fish farm, where all the nutrients are free flowing and wild fish congregate to feast. They'll throw in a fishing rod and catch it themselves. Pretty smart, and if I had a fishing rod, I would have done it. This time, it was more cost effective to just buy it. ;)

After dinner, we cleaned up and planned out the rest of our time in Queenstown. This place is an adrenaline junkie's paradise. If you can hurl yourself on it, over it, or through it, they have a place where you can book an adventure and spend $200 per person. While a lot of the activities sound seriously out-of-control fun, our budget is a bit prohibitive right now. We'll stick to hiking until we get up to the North Island, where some of these activities are cheaper.

We were hoping to hike the Milford Track (one of the New Zealand Great Walks), but it was booked. Instead, we decided to do the Routeburn Track (another Great Walk) and then kayak on Milford Sound instead. We went to the DOC to get details about how to do the track and rent gear, since we didn't bring all of our gear on this trip. Long story short, it would have cost us $204 in bus tickets to get to the one end of the track, hike 33km, and get picked up at the other end for a lift back to our car. We could have hoped for hitching a ride at either terminal end of the hike, but after a few days in the wilderness, we didn't think we would want to leave it to chance. Instead, we came up with a great compromise. We decided to drive to one end of the Routeburn, hike to the second hut on day one, do a day hike out from the second hut and back on day two, and then hike back to the car on day three. This way, we could do about 20 km of the best hiking on the trail, stay in the huts, and we get to keep our $204.

With our plan finalized, we could now enjoy our anniversary! We decided to go out for a nice dinner. The first place we chose came highly recommended, but they decided to close the kitchen at 8:15PM, just before we got there. We landed somewhere else and had an appetizer and a beer, and then we hunkered down at our final place for the day's special and some 10PM-12AM happy hour beers. Thanks to everyone for all the happy anniversary wishes we received via email and on the message board!

The next day, we explored Queenstown and took the Gondola up for views and luging. Luging is pretty fun. There were two tracks, a scenic and a fast track, and we rode on both. A luge is like a sled with handlebars, and it was pretty easy to steer and stop. It was good fun, and I could have done it for hours! After luging, we got a hot cup of coffee in the glass enclosed bar, and enjoyed the scenery high above Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.

After luging, we went to the supermarket to get food for the hike, and we went to Warehouse again to get some warmer gear, including some wickedly toasty NZ wool socks, ear flap hats, long johns, and slippers. We weren't sure if we did the right thing in blowing off the bus rides and doing the partial trip all under our own steam, but we had all the gear and food we needed to make the trip a success. We also rented gear from one of the many rental places in Queenstown, including some waterproof overpants, a pack, sleeping bags, and a billy pot. The weather can change rapidly up in the mountains, so we needed to be prepared for any kind of weather/terrain. Aside from hoping that our plan would work out, we had something else to worry about. Bev started to feel bad during our trip to the stores, and we weren't sure she would be up for the hike. Now that it is over I can admit I was a little worried, but other than being tired the next morning, she was ready to go.

It worked out perfectly. The huts all have mattresses, gas, stoves, and running water, so all we had to do was bring packs just like we would on a regular back country trip, minus tents and a stove and gas. We got to the DOC visitors center in Glenorchy (28km from the Routeburn trail head), and packed our bags there. We didn't pack the night before since Bev fell asleep and there was no room to pack and let her sleep. We got to the trail head at around 4PM, at least four hours later than our original plan, but we still hoofed it and got to the first hut fifteen minutes before dark. We were supposed to go to the second hut on night one, but we had to change our plans due to the late start. There were two other parties at the hut, and everyone was super friendly. One guy had extra food, and since it is "pack it in/pack it out," he offered the extras to us rather than throw them out. Bev passed on the offer, but I dove in and devoured the nasty rehydrated meal, happy for some nutrients.

The next morning, we chatted some more with our hut mates, and we learned that they were supposed to be at the second hut as well. They went there first, noticed that it was really crowded and decided to come down to the relatively quiet first hut. Based on their suggestion, we changed our plans and decided to leave our gear at the first hut, pack a day pack, and hike to and past the second hut. We would return to the first hut at around sundown to avoid sleeping at the crowded second hut altogether. It was a gorgeous day, and we arrived at the second hut right around lunch time.

Each hut is staffed by a DOC warden, and the warden at the second hut was a really nice guy named John. We told warden John that we were about to have lunch, and he invited us to join him in his quarters. He made us some tea, and we had a fantastic lunch with him, each of us eating our own food, but we listened to music, chatted about a variety of subjects, and even had a bit of a sing-along. It was great fun, and if we didn't have a tight schedule to ensure we weren't hiking at night on the trail, we could have hung out with Warden John for hours more. After many Johnny Cash tunes, some Cheap Trick, Simon and Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen, and more good music, we shared some biscuits with Warden John and said goodbye.

Once we left the second hut, we ascended for the better part of two hours, crossing over the tree line and passing an other-worldly landscape of boulders and bald mountains. The payoff was superb, though, as a beautiful mountain lake slowly peeked out of the valley to our right, and as we continued to climb and twist it grew and grew until we had a full on view of Harris Lake, with sea-fog covered mountains providing the backdrop. We arrived at our final destination, Harris Saddle, at around 3PM, and just as we were preparing for a side climb to Conical Hill for views of the mountain valley and Tasman Sea, clouds rolled in and completely obscured the view. While waiting to see if the clouds would clear, we saw our first Kea, a native NZ bird, and we met another couple of trampers, Rob and Mariam from the UK. We chatted with them for a while, and they gave us a ton of travel tips.

We hiked with them back to the second hut and thoroughly enjoyed the company. With Warden John and Rob and Mariam as potential company at the second hut, we were regretting our decision to leave our gear at the first hut. But, alas, we had no choice but to go back to the first hut, and we had to leave in short order to get back before nightfall. We said goodbye to Rob and Mariam and hurried away without chatting with Warden John again.

A few minutes down the trail, we ran into Warden John again, who was coming back from taking care of the trail. He stopped in his tracks and told us he was hoping to get back to the hut in time to meet us for a cup of coffee. We would have loved to, but we needed to leave soon to get back in time. He quipped that we wouldn't have had this problem if we stayed at the cool hut. We chatted with him a little more, exchanged information, and he invited us on a tramp in early May called the "Siberia Experience" which includes a flight into secluded bush, hiking, and a jetboat out. It sounds cool, but he is not sure if he'll be doing the trip. He also invited us to stay with him and his wife in Dunedin, in the southeast of the south island. We really liked Warden John, and we hope we might get to see him again!

We continued the hike down to the first hut, and the warden there met us and informed us we had the hut to ourselves. We laid our stuff out, changed, made a bare bones dinner, and played cards until we were ready to pass out. We had a great sleep and woke up the next morning ready to tackle the final leg of the trip. Just after we took off, we saw Rob and Mariam descending from the second hut. We hiked and chatted with them the rest of the way. At the end of the trail, we invited them to check out our camper, and we whipped up an impromptu celebration meal in the camper of crackers, salami, cheese, chocolate, and wine. It totally hit the spot. Rob asked a German girl who was hanging out in the parking lot to get our picture. Afterwards, she jumped up into the van, and we shared some wine and food with her and chatted for a while. It was a great way to cap off the hike.

Rob and Mariam decided to forgo their bus tickets back and rode with us to Queenstown, where they have a flat. We met up with them later that night for dinner, a UK-style roast (with parsnips, lamb, mint jelly, potatoes, the whole nine yards) and beers, and then said goodbye.

The next day we enjoyed Queenstown for one last half day before we took off for the four-hour drive to Milford Sound for our kayaking trip.