I'm writing this blog entry from the town of Oterehua, which is about mid-way on the 150km Otago Central Rail Trail. This was something we've had our eye on for several months now and just like a lot of what we're experiencing, it feels like it's been a long time in the making. And it's so funny to talk with our sailing friends and know we're all rushing around using every bit of daylight to see all we can before we have to leave in May. So here we are.

We're really enjoying NZ and have met so many friendly people. Even today, we were trying to adjust Jon's bike gears before setting out and this nice guy from a local bike shop stopped to help. Jon learned a few things from him, and he fixed the bike! And then this little lodge is so nice. It's like a little oasis of green in what is otherwise a pretty dry area. The owner has a lovable cat named Whiskey and the garden is home to a cute hedgehog who didn't mind being patted! We just got back from dinner at a local restaurant and had a burger that was a good 6 inches tall. I asked the owner if the "big biker burger" came with lettuce & tomato and he looked at me like I was nuts. He said yeah, it comes with that along with a beet, pineapple, carmelized onions, a hash brown, fried egg, bacon, cheese & mayo on it! I ate all of that and now I feel ill, but comfortably full just the same.

The rail trail is probably the most remote trail we'll ever biked on. At times we were nowhere close to anything or anyone except sheep, cows and deer. They raise a lot of deer here for meat. We'd thought we were lucky to have such a continued great weather forecast right on the back of such fine weather for our backpacking trip but we realized today that this rail trail is basically in the desert- like they haven't had any rain in weeks! Consequently, we got a lot of sun today and the trail was a bit dusty. Dad, we think it was slightly old west too. Haha. The landscape actually reminds us a lot of Utah. Dark ledges of rock against golden grasses. I suspect we'll get to the end of it tomorrow and then decide if we want to ride back over it to get back to the van or take some sort of transport. It feels like too muh sun to ride back. Not to mention, not having our van means we're without our rolling home. The van has a big sunroof right over our heads when we're lying in bed. Nearly every night I wake up and look at the Southern Cross, the same constellation I stared at on so many nights at sea. A big part of me can't wait to set out for Fiji. It really is an entirely different world.

So, this last backpacking trip was called the Gillespie (? sp) circuit in Mt Aspiring national park. It was 4 days and included 1 pass, about a zillion unbridged river crossings, beautiful alpine scenery, lovely valleys with crystal clear blue mountain streams, a little snow, some friendly hikers and far too many blackflies. I'm covered in bites. The pass was near two mountains with funny names- Mt Awful & Mt Dreadful. No one really knows why they are named that way. We did some grumbling at times but did have a really nice hike. So much so that 24 hrs later, we booked the Routeburn Track for next week! We thought we'd "rest up" with this bike ride. It took us some time but we think we figured out why NZ has so many huts. For one reason, the bugs will drive you insane. But also, they've put the money into the huts and left the trails pretty rugged. We still find the tramping tracks more bony than what we're used to, especially with our US style packs. We carry everything we need and then pitch a tent but our trails are more engineered and Kiwi's don't worry about a tent, sleep pad or warm sleeping bag because they're inside the huts. They can also walk more freely up a rougher trail because they don't have a heavy pack on their back. Both have their pros & cons. On the nights we camped on our own we loved the solitude but the bugs drove us nuts and on the night we stayed next to the hut and cooked inside, the couple that was in there went to bed at 8:15 so we had to eat our dinner in silence and then head back out to the tent to commune with bugs so as not to be rude. But the couple redeemed themselves the next morning when they left us chocolate since they were trying to lighten their packs.

The last day, as we packed out, Jon said I had a perma-frown on and that is because we hiked for 7 hours through cow pasture, on cow paths, not a tramping track. It seems that taking a helicopter, jetboat or small plane into the backcountry is popular on some trails and if you choose to use your own leg power for these stretches, you will earn it and possibly wish you'd spent the money on the transport! I do have a better sense now of the life of a cow and they're definitely privy to some gorgeous scenery! Plus, I can finally look down at my legs and recognize them once again as my own since they'd suffered over the past year with all the sedentary passages. We enjoyed being able to make the hike a loop too since for the Routeburn, we had to book transportation at both ends. On one of the days, we were in a valley called Siberia and we took a morning hike from our campsite to Crucible Lake which lies in a glacial cirque. The water is a milky blue and icebergs float upon it. The little tail-less rock wren lives up there among the rocks. Beautiful! We hadn't seen so much floating ice like that before. All in all, a very nice trip.

And yesterday, we did a day hike to the Rob Roy glacier. It was a lovely drive in itself to get to the trailhead, with nothing but livestock set against incredible mountain views for miles & miles and then the glacier was up a pretty trail and you could get right up to it. I think we both agree that Wishbone waterfall that was there is one of the prettiest we've ever seen, especially late in the day as it was.

When we weren't gawking at the scenery we were stuffing our faces since we have quite an appetite these days, plus, we fall behind while backpacking. We had to replace the air mattress in the van since the old one developed a tumor so that required digging into the area under the platform to get out the new one. So Jon discovered all the food we have stashed away under there that we've collected for backpacking. He exclaimed that we must be sick in the head as he was piling it all on the picnic table.... and it got us into hysterics. How DID this happen? Oh well, we just stuffed it back in there. We'll use it.

Well that's the update. Jon has for once fallen INTO bed, which is a switch since both on the boat & van we have to climb up, and I'm headed there too. Will let you know how our first official NZ Great Walk goes!