eNZed - day 6 (20-5-5)

I woke up and went to hassle A in the van (especially since her new friend was waiting around to say good-bye before he went to work and we were never to see him again.. or will we..). They left us a huge breakfast of eggs and sausage and potatoes, which we scarfed up greedily before we did laundry, repacked the van, and headed off for our excursion to the Pinnacles Hut in the Kauaeranga (ka-rain-ga) Valley.

We were looking forward to a 4 hour hike up into the mountains with an elevation gain of 700m (2000 feet). I'd been feeling the need for a hat. Something snuggly and warm to keep the wet and wind out. So we stopped off at the Salvation Army with high hopes, but all I found was a baby hat that didn't cover my ears.Of course, it started raining as soon as we got to the start of the hike. No comment on the NZ forecast or anything, but the 2 days that we sat waiting out the flood, it didn't rain once...

Anyway! The hike started off good with a fun little rope suspension bridge. We got to cross 4 of them total during the hike. There was beautiful scenery all around even though it was cloudy and rainy..





We met some Germans and some Alaskans along the way at our self-proclaimed meeting spot and the Germans told us that the 4 hour projection was totally off and it took them only 2 hours. A and I were very happy to hear this as we were already dying from the 3000 stairs we'd already walked up, but I couldn't help but noticing their legs were the size of mine and A's put together..


Dave ran ahead while A and I tried to stay in good moods (more me than her) by singing songs and taking lots of breaks. The rain continued and we were very happy to finally see the hut in the distance after 3.5 hours of stairs.


Food was definitely the first thought, so we got some water boiling (so we could "safely" - but with no garuntees- drink it, or cook with it) had some hot chocolate, egg salad sandwiches, and soup. I had some large blisters that I tried to treat. After some work, we got the coal fire started and A and I played rummi while Dave studied until it was time for bed.

To look at all the pics from Day 6, click here!