getting ready

after sleeping in the car next to the bluest opaque river and me fearing for te goats caught halfway down the gorge with no apparent path to take, today was spent driving the rest of the way to te anau (tay anew). the mountains we went through are known as the remarkables and they are. a lot fo filming for LOTR happened here - as the little golden ring indicated in my road atlas. it's too bad i haven't recently seen the movies to really identify which middle earth scene i am seeing. that might eb a bit much though. just a bit.

today we got ready. which was actually making sure my pack fit me and taking out everything except what i thought i needed. so it is the lightest it has been since i started my trip out, but i haven't tried to carry it 35+ kilometers yet. i am nervous about this hike. my first real backpacking experience and i am undertaking a HUGE hike on a well known new zealand great walk, but it is remote. you take a boat to get there, and the boat picks you up at the end at sandfly point - yay my first experience with sand flies. so there is no going back and no turning around. it is a one way hike. and you have to make it to the huts to sleep as there is no camping on the track and you cant stay at a hut bc they are booked full and someone else needs that bed. and there may be heavy rains, flooding, avalanches, snow, high winds, etc. i probably should not have reread that brochure this evening. but i think it will be really beautiful and a great experience and like i was told today, if you're gonna go, you may as well go BIG. (i will try to post in four days when i return)