Day 14 - March 5

Kia ora,

We had another rainy and often slippery hike today. Our views were clouded, so we missed a lot of the scenery again. Eventually, my waterproof gear gave out and everything I was wearing got soaked. It sounds like a rough time, but I still enjoyed moving along the hike. If I had to remain stationary in the rain, it would have been much worse. Fortunately, our hike went a lot fastee than the estimated time because we were not able to take in the breathtaking views visible during good weather.

Once we reached the halfway point of our hike, we were done climbing and started more downhill hiking on very wet and slippery rocks. Some of the views in the afternoon were beginning to take shape as well. I am pretty sure we were going right through a Lord of the Rings scene at one point. We were also rewarded with a beautiful double rainbow in the sky.

Four of us reached our hut in the afternoon, but we had to wait a while to check in with the warden. The two girls who were able to use their tent last night, had a leaking tent, so they also needed shelter for sleeping. The bunk beds were taken up by a group traveling from South Korea, but we were able to sleep on our pads and sleeping bags in the shelter area. The warden was really nice and she even pointed out keas that were in our area. The Koreans were also really nice, and one of them kept offering us his food. We had plenty, but it was still a nice gesture. I let the Koreans borrow my deck of cards, and I later noticed they had a big poker game going on.

Meanwhile, the six of us from the group had a fun time eating together and hanging out until bed time. We even took a couple selfies with us all together in our sleeping bags.Read more