13 days out and Celeste's 31st

Our hiking appetites are ferocious and back with a vengeance. A couple of days into our last stretch, we knew that we didn't have enough food. Julian inspired us to be more creative with our food. He had hiked with a Frenchman for a few weeks who taught him a lot about back country cooking. Also, Parker has lost a lot of weight. So not only do we need to eat better but we need to eat more. We talked about our new menu for over a week. It only took us an hour and a half in the grocery store to buy our food for the next three weeks (broken up into 3, 7 days sections). On the new menu is rice with lentils, dried veggies, fresh garlic and curry, just to name a few. Not to mention cookies and desert every night. Nick at Caravan Camper and Marine in Chrischurch called MSR for us and helped us get a free replacement pump. He was extrememly helpful and we were so excited to finally be able to cook without builing a hot fire in the huts. Thanks Nick and thanks MSR for standing behind your gear and coming through when really needed!

Besides a new menu, we have also decide that we are only going to tramp the south island. There is too much road walking in the north island because it is much more populated. We decided this a while back. So as we come towards the end of the south island, we have also decide to slow down and enjoy it.

We started our next section, Mingh/Deception to St. Arnaud, with HEAVY packs and in the rain. It was a short day to the hut but we didn't mind the weight because we knew it was all yummy food. Goat Pass Hut is surrounded by two rivers, the Mingha River and Deception River. The Rivers can rise very quickly with rain so we kept a close eye on the weather. There were already nine other trampers at the hut. There was a group of 7 Ozzie's and two solo hikers. It rained all night and all day. Everyone decided not to risk it and to wait it out until the rain stopped or slowed.

We were all going on different routes but it all involved crossing creeks and rivers. Waterfalls appeared all over the mountains. Our track was actually the river itself. Usually it's not too high but it requires at least 30 crossing during regular levels. Well, a huge waterfall was forming behind the hut which was flowing directly into the river that was to be our path the next day.

So we all settled in and enjoyed our unexpected day off. I finally finished Love in the Time of Cholera (brilliant book). Parker played a round of scrabble with the Ozzie group. There was also an impromptu yoga session. We ate and ate all day and made nine new friends!

We saw a hint of blue sky the next morning and the rain had stopped. We all parted ways and attempted our planned routes. For us, this meant going down the river. The river was very narrow on top and wided towards the end of the day. We crossed the FREEZING river over 40 times and most were past my waist. Our feet and legs were numb. There was not much track/trail to speak of beside the river. We basically spent eight hours crossing the river or walking down the river, then getting cliffed out and crossing the river again. We were exhausted but had to keep going until we found a comfortable place to camp. The current was quick in places but we made it through without incident. It was just an extremely tiring day.

The rest of the next 10 days (with a maildrop in the middle)was a lot of leisurely tramping through the Harper Valley, the St. James Walkway and into Nelson National Park. There were a lot of great huts along the way, the weather was perfect and we had great food. We were also treated with a few natural hot springs along the way. This was our longest stretch ever, including all of our hikes in the states. We didn't know if this stretch would take 11 days or 15 days. We had a special dinner and dessert for my birthday just incase. Even with a few very short days, we calculated that if we did a few long days and could roll into St. Arnaud Village in time for my birthday.

We both had mixed feeling about entering the realm of humans again. We have truly enjoyable two weeks out by ourselves. But we decided to make the push and made it in the morning of my birthday. We stayed at a cozy lodge and had the most delicious dinner at the Alpine Restaurant: steak, wine and a chocolate cake. What more could a girl want?