tramping

Amy and I seem to have caught the tramping bug. Now when we look in the Lonely Planet to research the next town we're approaching, the first thing we look for are the hikes. We're as surprised about that as most people.

Two days ago we drove to Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in Australasia), and while we weren't quite up for climbing that one, we did do a three-hour tramp through a valley to get a good view and another one-hour tramp to get a good view of the Tasman Glacier (pretty disappointing actually). Mt. Cook, however, was gorgeous and the scenery was quite different from what we've been seeing lately. Rather than green hills, we drove several hours through a desert-type landscape. Eventually we reached a lake of a abnormal shade of blue, cyan maybe, which was gorgeous, especially with Mt. Cook rises majestically out of the brown landscape in the distance. That night we stayed at a farmhouse hostel, which was very nice - we had actual boxsprings with our beds.

We're back in Wanaka now, and today we did the Rob Roy, which is a four-hour tramp up a valley that ends underneath Mt. Aspiring. The view was gorgeous and the water in the river was ice cold and tasted just like the snow that we could see melting into waterfalls cascading off the mountain.

After a resting day tomorrow we plan to attempt the Gillespie Pass. It's supposed to be a bit harder than the tramps we've done, and four days, which is a long time to go without showering. Luckily though we're going with boys, so we can make them carry the gas and pots and pans and all that heavy stuff. And if we're really lucky, we can take a flight out in one of those crazy tiny planes and save a few hours of walking. I'm pretty excited about that.

We only have two more weeks now until we have to return our car to Christchurch, and the days are just flying by. I'll be in Asia before I know it!