Today technically marks my 4th visit to Te Anau on the South Island. It is as remote as you can go in this country and still have a sense of civilization: from Queenstown it is a 180 km drive straight south and then west to Te Anau. To go on from here to Milford Sound it is another 117 km north, completing the U-shaped road between Queenstown and Milford, with the density of sand flies increasing rapidly by the kilometer!! Entrance to the Fjordlands National Park in its west, and flanked by the rolling hills of wide (and empty) farm land in the east, Te Anau is not more than an agglomeration of under 2000 inhabitants along the beautiful shores of Lake Te Anau. Its only lifeline probably derives from its strategic location that herds streams of visitors through on their pilgrimage to Milford – last gas stop, last supermarket, last everything! At last, there is also the popular Kepler Track that starts just outside the town, and the reason why I came back here once more today.

I also met here again with my friend Kristen who just finished the Milford Sound track, and we will be traveling on together for a while.
Honestly, this has got to be my last visit here, and I HAVE to go on the Kepler track this time! After more than 3 months living so close to the Fjordlands, and fall having started, I'm in need of location change and want to move north again!

Kristen and I are meeting up in a hostel on the waterfront. While she is recovering from her 4 day trek, I have finally decided to do the 1 day return hike up the steeper end of the Kepler trek, that is: ideally 4.5 hours up, 3.5 hours down. The hostel is, even in late fall, still crowded with backpackers, many of them either waiting to start the Milford Track from here, or just having finished it. Good for me, because I found a motivated fellow trekker – Nadine from Germany – who wants to tackle the challenge together with me tomorrow.

Kristen, Nadine and I are sitting in the communal room with other young travelers, exchanging our adventures from the route, as another story is about to unfold: a man, probably in his late 60s, enters the room. His weathered appearance draws immediate attention - so unlike the traveler crowd in the room, he represents the striking stereotype of a mountain redneck. Or a character that just jumped out of a funny 1960 postcard from Austria. Or - if anyone remembers the old, white-bearded man from the Milka advertisement. You sort of get an idea of what I am talking about. Except that I doubt he has ever heard of the Milka brand.
You would even wonder if he has ever left the Fjordlands in his life! He is wearing simple hiking clothes that have seen many seasons, a very stormy hairdo, and thick woolen socks pulled over his pants. He comes and talk to us, proudly telling us that he is a volunteer to help keep the Milford Trek clean. He has apparently seen it year-round, and admittedly looks season-worn and a bit tired. Definitely a character. Rough, but kind!

Soon he disappears into the adjacent TV room and we go on with our own stories. Shortly after, however, he comes out again, seeking for help with the DVD player. He has a DVD that he is *DYING* to watch. In fact, he is so excited that he invites us to join him.
Given his looks, his somewhat shrugged way of talking, and our location (pretty much as far away from the European culture as possible), I would have expected some NZ mountain documentary, something along the lines of a “DYI – how to axe a tree down” or “Discover the insects of Fjordlands”. Well… life is teaching me right here to never judge the cover by the book, or to underestimate the person in front of you!!

I cannot believe my eyes when he hands me the cover box of André Rieu’s “Christmas concert in Maastricht”!!!
You have to understand that I grew up about 50 km away from Maastricht, almost exactly on the other side of the planet, and know this beautiful city quite well. And of course, André Rieu is not unknown to me, either. I am very well aware of the hype around him and his orchestra, though I have personally never had an appreciation for the massacring of classical waltz music by a fleet of doll-like musicians dressed in candy-colored Baroque costumes, led by an ultra-slick conductor.

Realizing that, I am going into a state torn between slight shock and fascination. This is an extreme combination of redneckness and worldliness in one single person!
Not wanting to spoil the excitement of our friend, I admit to him how close to Mr Rieu’s home town I grew up, and that Maastricht is considered by many the most beautiful old city in the Netherlands. His reaction? I could just as well have explained the difference between Haute-Couture and Ready-to-wear fashion...

I get the DVD running, and despite his renewed invitation to watch this “fantastic” DVD, I return to the kitchen common room. Here, at least, we get spared by the visuals of the show. And even if the acoustic background sound of classical music is not so bad after all, and we hate to spoil his evening, we soon have to deal with a very high sound volume, and do have to kindly ask him to turn it down a few times.
I guess you call this clash of the worlds!

PS: regarding the Kepler trek, it turns out that Nadine and I hike for 10 hours, and will cover 42 km hiking at the end of the day, ca. 15 km of which steep uphill! Poor Nadine got talked by me into doing the extra 8 km to the highest and extremely windy peak...