Kepler Tramp

My brother and I completed the Kepler Track, a four day walk that includes tramping through the rainforest, a day above the treeline and walking along the lake. It is classified as a 'great walk' and it certianly was great. I was happy that I walked the two-day Nydia tramp in preparation because I left behind those things that I really didn't need to carry all those 65 kilometers.

Mike had some great food ideas and our meals were really nice. We took pita bread instead of a loaf. How brilliant, instead of trying to avoid smooshed bread, we just brought smooshed bread! We also had cous-cous, pancakes, pork stir-fry and cucumber & cheese sandwiches.

The weather was great, or was amazingly better then weather predictions (forecasts were for scattered thunder showers almost every day). We had a couple spots of rain but mostly the weather was perfect for hiking. The second day was spent in the alpine and the clouds were high enough that we could see mountain tops for miles.

Mike was the perfect hiking partner, who let me walk in front and keep a (slower) pace. If Mike was irritated with pauses to catch my breath or my pace, he never uttered a word. Even still, we were on the quick side of the estimated hiking times so I felt good with myself. Unless you were going to skip a hut there was no need to rush there anyway. The reading material at the hut (I left mine out of the pack to conserve on weight) included a January 1978 and March 1972 issue of National Geographic.

It was a brilliant birthday gift, Thanks Mike!

Sureal Adventures

Traveling with the family was good. I did a little dance of joy watching my parent's ferry pull into Picton. Two weeks later, after saying goodbye to my brother in Dunedin, I felt a void and was homesick all over again.

I stopped at Watsons Way backpackers with mom and dad. I was back in a place I lived for a while doing the things I used to do on a daily basis, like reading the paper and writing in my journal - only I would look up and see mom and dad. Talk about surreal! I was happy that they had a chance to see a past home (expecially since the viewing of my Franz home included the biggest mess I ever saw).

The second half of our adventures took me to places I'd never seen and it was excellent to catch a glimpse of where I want to spend some more time before I leave. I jetboated with Mike, an example of New Zealand's adventure tourism. The scenery was amazing from the boat and the 360 degree turns were a thrill.

Now it's time to settle back into work and I'm not so sure I'm in the right frame of mind. We are understaffed and the workload is out of control. Good for my pocketbook, not good for my soul.

Nydia

I completed my first multi-day hike, fiording thigh-high rivers and all. The weather came and went with minor showers to disrupt me but plenty of clouds to block the views. Day 1 was a huge mental battle and I spent a lot of time cateloging everything in my pack and mentally noting things I didn't need to bring. I even thought about eating all the food I had just to lower the weight!

I was a bit more ready on Day 2 (and lots of the food was gone) so it was easier going. I even beat the estimated track time by 45 minutes! Some of the views of the bays and sounds were pure magic, vastly superior to Day 1.

The highlight was hand sdown the backpacker in the middle of the tramp. I have never seen hospitality like that! There were a total of three backpackers (all doing the tramp) and our host cooked up flounder, pork, venison and a number of fresh salads. After that amazing display I thought it couldn't get any better, until they mentioned the magic words "chocolate cake".

Welcome to the Future

Some of the family has touched down on my side of the world and getting used to the 'funny money', driving on the 'wrong' side, numerous sheep and all the other querks I almost don't think about anymore.

I have been getting used to being on leave. Let me tell you, this is the life. I'm two days in and have gotten a much needed massage, spent heaps of time on the net, ate some good food, caught up on my sleep and organized my journey up north. It's been an easy breezy couple of days. Right now I'm going to go out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine!

Kyaking

This is from my kyaking trip last week. The weather held out for us until after we got back to town. The views of the mountains came and went, but it was an amazing time and the water was so still. I loved it!