Vox On Nietzsche

When I was thinking of becoming a Christian I wanted to read some anti-Christian books. I'd heard Nietzsche was worth reading so I read The Anti-Christ and Twilight Of The Idols. If anything they pushed me towards Christ: rather than presenting arguments against Christianity, they assume it's false and then rant about the implications of that — implications which are wholly unattractive to anyone reluctant to give up on morality. So I can recommend those books to anyone :-).

I was reminded of that by this Vox piece. The author tries to put some distance between Nietzsche and the "alt-right" but only partially succeeds. It's certainly true that atheist alt-righters, in rejecting Jesus but idolizing secular Christendom, have it exactly the wrong way around (though I'm glad they understand Jesus is incompatible with their ideology). It's also correct that Nietzsche argued for demolishing the trappings of Christianity that people hold onto after rejecting Jesus. Unfortunately for the Vox thesis, as far as I read, Nietzsche focused his contempt not on the geopolitics of "Christendom", but (quoting Vox) "egalitarianism, community, humility, charity, and pity". In this, Nietzsche is on the side of Nazis and against progressives and other decent human beings.

The Vox author points out that Nietzsche himself was against racism and anti-Semitism, but those who embrace his philosophy, who "reckon with a world in which there is no foundation for our highest values", can end up anywhere. If you see "egalitarianism, community, humility, charity, and pity" as non-obligatory or contemptible, your prejudices are likely to blossom into racism and worse. Fortunately Nietzsche's philosophy is incompatible with human nature, our imago Dei; intellectuals (both actual and aspiring) pay lip service to "a world in which there is no foundation for our highest values", but they do not and cannot live that way.

Hollyford Track

Previously I recounted our Milford Track trip up to the point where the rest of our group departed, leaving my children and I in Milford. On the morning of December 12 we flew in a light plane from Milford up the coast to Martins Bay; from there we walked inland over the following four days up the Hollyford Valley until we reached the lower end of the Hollyford road.

The flight itself was a great experience. We flew down the Milford Sound to the ocean and turned north to fly up the coast to Martins Bay. We were flying pretty low and got a great view of the Sound, the rugged and relatively inaccessible Fiordland coast, and the bottom end of the Hollyford Valley. Our pilot didn't have other passengers that day, so he brought along his dive gear and went diving at Martins Bay after he dropped us off, leaving his plane parked beside the tiny gravel airstrip.

We walked for about an hour from the airstrip to Martins Bay Hut and spent the rest of the day based there. Probably my best moment of the trip happened nearly right away! I thought I'd try swimming across the Hollyford River to the sandspit, but as soon as I got into the water four dolphins appeared and swam around me for a couple of minutes until, presumably, they got bored. That was an amazing experience and completely unexpected. I felt blessed and privileged. Apparently dolphins and seals often swim from the ocean up the Hollyford River all the way to the head of Lake Mckerrow, which must be around 15km inland.

That day we also visited the Long Reef seal colony about 20 minutes walk from Martins Bay Hut. We were a bit nervous since December is calving time for the seals, and indeed we met a seal on the track who barked at us, sending us running the other way! I also saw, from a distance, a Fiordland crested penguin.

By the evening of that day five other trampers had arrived at Martins Bay Hut, but it's a large hut with plenty of room for up to 24 so it still felt very spacious.

The following day we walked to Hokuri Hut along the shore of Lake Mckerrow and had a relaxing afternoon. It rained, but only after we'd arrived at the hut. (In fact we didn't use our rain jackets at all on the Hollyford Track.) A couple of the trampers from Martins Bay Hut joined us, and we also had a couple coming south from Demon Hut. A group of four visited the hut; they had rafted down the Pyke River and the Hollyford River to Lake Mckerrow and were planning to fly out once they reached Martins Bay. Rather than stay in the hut they camped by the lake. Apparently they saw seals catching fish down there.

On the third day we walked the infamous Demon Trail along Lake Mckerrow to Mckerrow Island Hut. It's several hours of picking one's way over piles of large, slippery rocks. We took it slowly and it didn't bother us, but we were glad to reach the end. We crossed "3-wire bridges" for the first time and mostly enjoyed them.

We'd been warned that Mckerrow Island Hut was dirty and rodent-infested, but despite the hut being a bit old (built in the 1960s) it seemed fine and the location is wonderful — a very short track to a beach with great views down Lake Mckerrow. We saw no sign of rodents, though they may have been deterred because we had six people in the hut that night. Two of them were pack-rafting from the Hollyford road end, down the Hollyford River, out to Martins Bay, then carrying their rafts to Big Bay, over to the Pyke River, and back to the Hollyford confluence.

Our fourth day was pretty easy, about six hours of walking to get to the Hidden Falls Hut. On the fifth day we walked for just two and a half hours to reach the Hollyford Road end, a fine riverside spot to wait for a couple of hours for a shuttle to pick us up.

The Hollyford was a harder walk than a Great Walk, and would have been harder still with less perfect weather, but it was a bit quieter and the Hollyford Valley is just as stunning, so it was well worth doing. As you'd expect the trampers we met were, on average, a lot more hard-core. Apparently we just missed meeting a couple of Chileans who walked from the road to the ocean and back carrying surfboards, which sounds crazy. We met a few guys who had done the pack-rafting round trip from the Hollyford Road end to Martins Bay to Big Bay and back down the Pyke River in just over 24 hours, which is also crazy. We took it relatively easy and I'm happy with that.

Milford Track 2018

Earlier this month I spent 11 days in the South Island walking the Milford Track and then, after a short break in Milford, the Hollyford Track.

It was my second time on the famous Milford Track. I took my kids again, and this time went with some friends from Auckland Chinese Presbyterian Church. We booked it back in June in the first hour or two after bookings opened for this summer; it's the most popular track in New Zealand and books up very fast. Note that despite being popular, because you have to book, it's not actually busy on the track. There are only 40 unguided walkers allowed per day on each section of track. There are another 40 or so guided walkers staying at the Ultimate Hikes lodges, but they start an hour or two behind the unguided walkers each day, so you seldom see many of them.

Once again we were lucky to have mostly good weather. Unlike last time, the weather on our first day (December 7) was excellent. The boat trip up to the end of Lake Te Anau to the trailhead is a wonderful start to the experience; you feel yourself leaving civilization behind as you enter the Fiordland mountains via the fjords of Lake Te Anau.

Our only rainy day was the third day (out of four), when we crossed Mckinnon Pass. Unfortunately this meant that once again I could not see the view at the pass, which is apparently spectacular on a good day. I guess I'll have to try again sometime! Next time, if the weather's good on day two, I should go as fast as possible up the Clinton Valley to Mintaro Hut, drop my gear there and carry on up to the pass for a look around before returning to Mintaro. I guess a reasonably fit person without a pack can probably get to the top from the hut in an hour and a half.

Bad weather days on these trips don't bother me that much since I will probably be able to go again if I really want to. I feel bad for foreign visitors who are much less likely have that chance!

I did get a chance to explore Lake Mintaro and its streams this time. It's very close to the hut and well worth a walk around.

I'm not very good at identifying wildlife but I think we saw a number of whio (blue ducks). They're still endangered but it appears their numbers are rebounding thanks to the intensive predator trapping going on in the Clinton and Arthur valleys and elsewhere. Apparently it is now quite rare for the trappers to catch stoats there. There is a beech mast this season which will probably mean large-scale aerial poison drops will be needed this winter to keep rats down.

Overall I really enjoyed the time with family and friends, met some interesting people, and thanked God for the beauty of Fiordland both in the sun and in the wet. We had a particularly good time stopping for over an hour at Giant's Gate Falls near the end of the track, where the warmth of the sun and the spray from the falls mostly keep the sandflies at bay.

After we got to Milford on the last day most of our group checked into Milford Lodge and cleaned up. The next day we did a Milford Sound cruise with some kayaking, which was lots of fun. Then the rest of our group bussed out to Te Anau while the kids and I stayed another night before starting the Hollyford Track on December 12. That deserves its own blog post.