02-Feb-2011 --
We spent four weeks in New Zealand and found out that this was really not enough time to see this beautiful country. Since we were on a fixed schedule there was not much leeway for any big detours but we didn’t want to go back home without having visited at least one confluence. Fortunately there were a few fairly easy ones along our route.
We had spent the day hiking in Abel Tasman National Park. At the end of the day there was still enough time to visit 41S173E near Marahau. At the reception of the Ocean View Chalets we met the owner and got his permission to go onto the property. It was easy to get within 70 meters of the confluence, the only obstacles being a few fences, but I knew from the reports of previous visitors that the remaining distance would be the real challenge. The dense shrubbery we encountered on the hillside leading to ground zero confirmed this. Since we had neither the equipment nor the spare energy for bushwhacking, we were satisfied for once to get within the required 100 meters. In spite of what I consider only a partial success we celebrated our first confluence in the southern hemisphere with a good bottle of Marlborough wine later that evening.