Thus Far

At first I thought I was dreaming. But then I realized I was still awake and the singing voice was coming from somewhere outside our tent. We were staying at a campground in Hokitika on the west coast of the South Island. All I heard at first was, "West Virginia." Having always been proud of my West 'by god' Virginia heritage I immediately rousted (always wanted to use that word) myself from my slumber. The voice continued, "mountain mama, country roads take me home." Clay and I were in a state of shock and awe. We never could find the singers who, I can only assume are equally as proud of their 'Almost Heaven' upbringing as well. But it is always refreshing to hear some Country Roads. We had started our day off in Mt. Cook National Park where we stood in a downpour for 45 minutes trying to hitch a ride. It was not the greatest of moments. Our thumbs out, our backs to the rain, and knowing that the only dry article of clothing I possessed at that moment was a pair of running shorts. But our luck quickly changed when a Canadian from Calgary picked us up and took us all the way to the west coast (500 kilometers). Then the next day he dropped us off at the trailhead after we found out the only other way to get there was a very expensive taxi ride. But that has kind of been the trend of this trip. Clay and I have been consistenly amazed by our continuous good fortune. From our first hitch with Dean who hooked us up with a free place to stay, to the offduty bus driver who gave us a free bus ride into Christchurch. Then there was Nathan the truck driver in Queenstown. He took us from Queenstown to Cromwell on a Friday evening and then back into Queenstown the following Monday. There have been a couple suboptimal moments, standing in the rain, walking along the side of the road for two hours, etc. But these are all overshadowed by many more moments like those previously mentioned. As we reach the halfway point in our trip we cannot help but feel blessed and be thankful for the experiences we have had and the amazing people we have met. Thus far we have hitched several thousand kilometers and hiked about 450 kilometers. We started off in Fiordlands National Park (fifth largest national park in the world..just in case you need that for Trivial Pursuit) with the Kepler Track. During this hike we quickly realized our bodies were not used to packs as heavy as ours are. (I was dragging my poles Mo) But when we started our next trip, the Greenstone/Caples/Routeburn Tracks our bodies were feeling better but the weather had changed. It rained the entire seven days we were out. We then did several trips in Mt. Aspiring National Park. The Young-Wilkin circuit was a sweet trip with some side trips to some amazing alpine lakes. We were slightly starving on that trip though. We met some super cool kiwis in one of the huts that gave us some extra food. We even ate an expired Lara Bar we found in another hut. It wasn't that we didn't have food. We were carrying eight days worth of food for this seven day trip. It just wasn't enough to sustain our energy. Lesson learned. Shorter trips and more food. We then spent a couple of days in Mt. Cook National Park doing day trips. Our most recent trip we just finished up yesterday was in Arthur's Pass National Park. During the 3 Passes Route we had great weather and saw a grand total of six people on the trail. I used the word 'trail' here very loosely. There actually is no trail, hence the lack of people. Having hiked in the Tetons a fair bit, scree travel and boulder hopping are familiar terrain to us. I have never hiked on scree and rocks more in my life than on this last trip. Every form of scree you could think of we were hiking across. All very steep and all very loose. Super neat. But we made it out with only minor injuries and many more amazing vistas etched in our memory banks. So now we are in Christchurch and for the first time in 45 days we slept in a bed. It was emotional. Clay got a haircut and a beard trim. I can actually recognize him now. I found a razor. It has all been very emotional. From here we are going to take a train back to the west coast and start doing some hiking in Nelson Lakes National Park. The first half of our trip has been amazing and we feel very fortunate to be able to be here. We are stoked for all the adventures and misadventures the second half of our trip has in store for us. We hope all of your winters are full of adventures as well. Thanks for reading and stay stoked :)

View from Browning Pass. 3 Passes Route Arthur's Pass National Park.
View looking back at Browning Pass. It is the scree slope just a bit left of the center of the picture. See.
Browing Lake. 3 Passes Route.

When the clouds parted in Mt. Cook National Park. Mt. Cook is the mountain behind us.
Fox Glacier. On the West Coast of the South Island. I could walk to the Sea in just a matter of minutes from this spot. Crazy.

Clay before vist to Barber. Clay very excited after visit to Barber.

Hike up to Mueller Hut in Mt. Cook National Park. We started off in a very thick fog and then all the sudden we popped out above the clouds. It was amazing.