alive and.. hobbling

We survived it!

Haha it's been an amazing 3 days.. very tough hike, must be said - lots of uphills, downhills, and a 50km trek is nothing to be sneezed at, especially when carrying around 18kg each on our backs. It's impressive how clean and natural they keep these places - you have to carry in all your food and carry out all your rubbish - there's no shops, nothing - just huts for people to sleep in (if you manage to get a bed, which we didn't) or grass for the tents at set places (which we did). It's been a crazy three days, and though we are absolutely shattered and can't wait for bed.. WORTH IT! :) Here goes..

Day 1

Tiring but suprisingly 'short' walk - only around 14 km. Our bags were too heavy, and we realised we would be carrying them at the same weight (bar some tiny amount of grams gone in food) for the next 2 days.. never a nice thought. Still, we didn't take a single milligram of unneeded stuff, and we used every single thing we took with us - camp, sleeping bags - it all adds up and becomes rather impressive! We put up tent at around 2PM and just lazed and played cards...until the rain started and we continued inside. Always cool to be in your tent and be visited by a small family of ducks :) Andrew was hungry and wanted to roast them.. but we did not have any oranges for a lovely dish. So they lived to see another day.

Day 2

Waking up feeling cold is never too great - crazy how hot the days were (I'm slightly sunburnt I think) and how cold the nights were. Having to walk another long uphill/downhill walk doesn't make it too much better. Increasing that walk by around 1.5 hours because we woke up late and had to take the long route because of the tide.. *sigh*. Let's say that after these three days, my t-shirt fits me better than my previous photos. (it's not having such a hard time after all!! ;) )Oh, and falling into a stream along the way was NOT funny. Still....















It kinda paid off....


Day 3

Ah yes, the final day.. today. Of course, we had to have a big adventure. Let me put you in the picture - we wanted to get to a certain spot 3 hours away as fast as possible to try make it before the tide comes in to make it to the water taxi.. so we were happy we managed to find another shortcut (because the tide was out) which would shave ten minutes off our walk...

Yet when we saw a stream of water separating us from the bit of the track we wanted to access, we realised we had a dilemma, which we both decided to deal with slightly differently... While Dru was busy attempting to wade across and not get TOO wet, I was busy being attacked by an angry thorny bush, and kinda losing. After around half an hour both lost in two different worlds within around 500m of each other, we both turned around to find the other one missing, and decided to trudge along the first path we saw. Luckily, and happily, we met somewhere along the way, one looking like a wet duckling and the other one with a look which would make a hedgehog blush. My legs will NOT thank me for a couple of weeks to come. Anyway.. we STILL managed to make the tide (just another short stream involved, no falling into it this time).. and made it.. 4.5 hours early.. to our target. A 2 hour water taxi ride, a couple of seals and penguins, a damn good pizza, and a good beer later.. and now this post and off to bed!










It's been brilliant :) Wish you were here!

We're off to Kaikoura tomorrow.. hopefully do a spot of whale/seal/dolphin spotting..then off to Wellington.. North Island, here we come! :)

Good night!