The highlight of our Easter vacation was undoubtedly our three-day trek through the Mount Aspiring & Fiordland national parks. New Zealand has nine "great walks" (one of which is actually a river journey), and ideally I'll conquer them all before I'm done here. While that may be a needlessly lofty goal, at least I've managed to mark one off the list.
Lydia and I picked up a few stray travellers on our bus ride to the trailhead, and the five of us made a pretty good team. Jamie, a recent college grad from NYU, had never really done any hiking before and was the least prepared, in terms of gear, for what was ahead of us. I would NEVER have tried to hike the trail in sneakers! Tim, a South African working in Sydney, and Peter, a Danish man who recently finished his mandatory stint in the army, were both vacationing around as well. We made a good team over the 33km hike (the shortest of the great walks, although definitely not the easiest), with Peter blazing trail when necessary, and Tim patiently waiting for me or Jamie when we'd fall behind. We all took so many pictures that we consistently missed the Department of Conservation time estimates by hours, but it was a great trip! (Although I was VERY grateful to get back to Queenstown Friday night for a shower!!)
It's hard to describe the experience, so instead I'll give you pictures - lots and lots of pictures.
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