No Mints Adventures

Join Margy and me as we hike some of the most famous hikes in the southern alps of New Zealand. After flying into Christchurch on the South Island, we will travel by bus to the southern alps where we have scheduled 5 hikes, each ranging in duration from 2 to 4 days with plenty of rest days in between. The hikes in order are: (1) The Meuller Hut Hike (Mt. Cook) , (2) The Gillespie Pass Circuit, (3) The Mt. Aspiring Day Hikes, (4) The Routeburne Track, and (5) The Milford Track. The Milford Track, in particular, is world renown for the incredible display of water falls along its entire route. At the end of the Milford Track, we will all spend an extra day aboard the Milford Wanderer for a full exploration of Milford Sound. All of the tracks have basic huts providing beds, cook stoves, clean water, and toilet facilities. As hikers, all we need to carry is food, cook kit, clothing, emergency gear, personal items, and possibly a tent.

( From Christchurch, South Island )

March 1 - 27, 2010

27 Days - 5 to 12 Miles/Day

[ Huts, Hotels, Camping? ]

$200 (U.S.) Organizing Fee

Transportation: You will have to somehow get to Christchurch. We found the best fare with Air New Zealand, but Quantas generally has competitive rates as well. You probably have your own favorite search engine, but below are listed some other links that might help you in finding inexpensive tickets.

ITA (Incredible Search Engine for Flights) http://www.itasoftware.com/

Discount Airfares.com (Bucket Shop Directory) http://www.etn.nl/

Air Brokers International ( Consolidator Tickets) http://www.airbrokers.com/

Travel Team (Our Favorite Consolidator) http://www.travelteam.com/

AirTreks (Round-the-World-Tickets) http://www.airtreks.com/

OrbitZ (Airline Tickets) http://www.orbitz.com/

Sidestep (Good for Booking One-Way Tickets) http://www.sidestep.com

Food: It is not necessary to bring any food with you. Wherever we go, there will be plenty of markets and restaurants to keep us happy. New Zealand is a modern country with a wide choice in western style foods. While hiking, we'll have to carry our own food …..never more than 3 days at a time. When not hiking, we can eat out or prepare our own food wherever we stay. Almost all lodging has kitchen facilities for travelers to prepare their own meals, although you will need a cook kit.

Information About You and Us! As a final word, participants must understand that these are not commercial trips; you will not be supplied with the hand holding care that is generally given on "higher end" trips and therefore I expect most of our participants to be somewhat self-reliant individuals. Most of the trips tend to be of a unique nature that I seldom have done before and, sometimes, things go awry. Often these mishaps are my fault, sometimes they are beyond control. At any rate, I expect you to accept whatever unexpected and adverse conditions we meet with good humor and grace. Complaining to me about trivial annoyances is not acceptable. If you want and expect a trip that is tightly scheduled with little or no surprises or discomforts ….. this trip is not for you..

Credit and Debit Cards. When traveling, particularly overseas, we recommend that you carry both a credit card and debit card to pay for things and get cash. Changing cash overseas can be an expensive affair, but by using a debit or credit card, your rates are generally better when making currency conversions. You should have two cards, hopefully with different financial institutions, in case you have a problem with one of the cards. Credit and Debit card machines are found just about everywhere now days, with Visa having the better geographic coverage.

Travel and Medical Insurance: These are two items that some folks consider a necessity, others an unnecessary expense. If you cannot afford to have a change in your travel plans or cannot afford medical expenses outside the US, you might consider checking into both options. Diseases exist everywhere and accidents can happen at anytime. Keep in mind that we are usually not in much of a position to help you when it comes to serious accidents and medical problems. The following web site has a listing of several insurance companies. Good for quick comparison shopping: www.insuremytrip.com

Cancellation Policy - Because we are obligating ourselves in advance for quite a bit of expense related to booking the huts, trails, ships, etc. we are implementing the following cancellation guidelines for this trip.

If you cancel …... Before Feb. 1, 2010: You get a 50% ($100 )refund !

After Feb. 1, 2010: No refund !

Equipment:

-Camping Stuff: You will need a backpack, tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. Also bring your personal cooking gear such as sauce pan, plate, cup, & silverware. A stove is not necessary as most of the huts and all other lodging will have cooking facilities.

-Clothing: The NZ Alps can be quite wet, so be sure to bring rain gear as well as enough warm clothing in case it gets cool. Summers on the South Island are like the Pacific NW in the US.

-Miscellaneous: Toiletries, books, money, flashlight, insect repellent, etc.

-Keep it Light ! Come as light as you can. We will be walking all over the place with everything we own in our back packs. Don't bring multiple changes of clothing, two changes will suffice as we'll have plenty of opportunity to wash clothes. The more you bring ….. The more you will have to carry.

What You Get for Your Money:

Our Organizing Fee: Your $200 organizing fee pays for all the various expenses involved in running our web-site, mailing, printing, and phone costs, etc. On the trip, Margy and I act as guides and make many of the arrangements for transportation & lodging.

Your Other Expenses: The BIG one is flying to and from New Zealand from your hometown. Beyond that, you need to pay for your food, lodging, huts, local transportation, and other miscellaneous things. On tourist or rest days, you pay for all expenses having to do with traipsing off to some local scenic wonder. If, on occasion, you choose to find more comfortable accommodations, you are responsible for that extra expense. All in all, you can expect to pay $60 to $100 US per day for your in-country expenses, depending on your eating, sleeping, and other spending habits.

Passports, Visas, Etc.: You will need a valid passport for travel to New Zealand. If you don't stay longer than 3 months, have plenty of money, and a valid passport that does not expire 3 months after your trip, you don't need a visa. However, rules change, so check out the following website for up to date requirements. www.traveldocs.com

Guide Books and Maps: It is not all that necessary to have any guide books or maps in advance as I'll have a set of maps and a guide book for the trip. However, if you plan to travel a bit on your own or you simply need to have information in advance, here are two books for you to check out. Again ….. The more you bring …..the more you will have to carry.

Tramping in New Zealand. (Lonely Planet) Nov. 2006

This is the reference I have used along with my own personal knowledge for planning all the hikes. It includes maps and complete details for doing the hikes.

New Zealand's South Island (Lonely Planet) April 2009

A larger volume containing general information on traveling in places throughout the South Island. Recommended if you will be traveling independently from us either before or after the hiking trip.

No Mints Adventures

(Wayne Martin & Margy Marshall)

1335 Rocking W Dr. #390

Bishop, CA 93514

Phone: 1-760-872-7630

E-mail: nomints@opriusmail.com

Web : http://www.nomints.com

Roster: We'll send out a roster by email as soon as we have a pretty firm idea of who is going. Sometimes, knowing who is on the roster lets you share equipment, flight bargains, etc. The roster will be sent out several weeks before the trip or as soon as the maximum number of participants is reached. We generally include each person's name, physical address, email, and telephone number.

Physical & Skill Level Requirements: (Moderate) We will hiking anywhere from 5 to 12 miles each day over terrain ranging from quite easy to strenuous at times. The strenuous sections are fairly short while most of our hiking will be on moderate terrain. Anyone in good physical hiking condition with no physical problems can handle the New Zealand trails we have picked. You should have some experience with carrying a backpack on multi-day trips. If you have any concerns about your ability to do this trip, give us a call or write and we'll sort things out.

Lodging: We will use a combination of various types of lodging as well as the option to camp. When we are hiking, we will use mountain huts that supply us with beds, cook stoves, water, and toilet facilities. When not on the trail, we will choose from a choice of hostels, hotels, and campgrounds. The campgrounds usually have inexpensive cabins as well as tent sites. Though it is not necessary to carry a tent for this trip, I would highly advise bringing one as it can reduce your expenses. Additionally some of the huts can't be reserved in advance, so there is always a possibility that they might be full. A tent is good insurance. When we hike trails that have reserved huts we can leave our tents in town. Most of our accommodations, including the huts, require that you share the accommodations with others. If you are uncomfortable with sharing rooms …...this is probably not a trip for you.

New Zealand Dates and Time: All our dates and times are stated as if we were in New Zealand. This is important, because New Zealand is on the other side of the international dateline, which means they are a day ahead of us. So, when you make your bookings make sure your times reflect the dates we have indicated …. down there. Time Zone Map: http://www.worldtimezone.com

Sign Up Maximum and Minimum: The maximum number of hikers we can have for this trip is 8 including Margy and myself. When you sign up, indicate if you want to be placed on a stand-by list if the trip is full. For those of you who have never been on one of our trips, we would like to talk to you on the phone somewhere along the line before you are officially accepted.

Please Note: The Routeburn & Milford Tracks require reservations months in advance. If you think you might be seriously interested in joining us for our New Zealand trip….sign up early or contact us and we can take steps to reserve a place for you on these hikes..

-Email or Phone Us - You can use the "Sign Up For A Trip !" form using links found at the top this page. We work better with email when we are on the move.

-Our Reply - We will then reply, either to accept you on the trip, or possibly we might have a question or two for you first. If you have not traveled with us before, we will need to talk to you, so we'll give you a call.

-Money! After you have signed up for the trip, we'll get a hold of you and tell you how to send the money to us. We need a deposit of $200 in advance