One with the Waterfalls

Maori belief is that everything has vibrations; that the water flowing through you is connected with the power flowing threw everything else. Water and flowing is very important in the culture and it is evident in their dances, weavings, and greetings.
This was my first time backpacking. I like it. I can honestly say that I didn't care I was wet. I was hiking threw New Zealand doing the Routeburn trail. I've seen more waterfalls in three hours than you'll see in your entire life.

I looked so hard core with my orange bandana. Stefanie had me make a critter face for the picture with my headlamp. My braids (plats, as they call them here) were a big hit. I also just happen to be wearing a real, live NZ army shirt. It's a wonder the things I can find in my closet.

The first night we stayed in a hut and bunked with people all over the world. The man accross from me was from Holland. We played Mafia while listening to water crashing down the mountain.

The next morning we looked out to the view and discovered that the night rain had brought a few more waterfalls. Such was the case throughout the entire tramp. So we all geared up in our multi-colored rain gear, believing it would be impenetratable by little drops of water.

*****
I have sometimes wondered how anyone can be as connected with water asMaori culture presents. Such is no longer a mystery.

I lived in a cloud for three days. It rained more than I've ever seen rain. I've hiked up waterfalls, down waterfalls, over waterfalls, under waterfalls, and I have become a waterfall. For the first while we were all stepping on rocks in streams. After a while we didn't care. My socks were wet. And I'm sure my rain gear helped some, but after the third swim I was wet.
















That day we hiked a good 5 of 6 hours, meeting a man from Germany in a rest hut. This rest hut is just a small room with a toilet on the other side. This man was shivering and wet and so he crashed there during the night instead of making it to the bunks. He was dry when we met him but we told him not to bother putting on dry clothes. Best he just starts out wet.

The second night we camped in tents. We hung our long johns around the pavillion (as you can see in the backround of the pictures) and proceded to heat up our water. Stefanie Tanner, Erin Muir and I ate a feast of rice over our bunsen burner. We had some chicken soup in our tin bowls and it was so nice and warm to hold! Naturally we used it to heat up our cold noses.












We set up camp and all got ready for bed. It was only 6pm. Stefanie, Me and Erin decided to pitch our tent under the pavillion. We got a lot of grief from Jackapo saying that we weren't hard core. I say we were using our resources.

To pass the time we chatted and ate chocolate-covered almonds. I loved the chocolate-to-almond ratio.

The next morning we heated up water and had oatmeal. We lit Katie Paxton's shorts on fire. Well, we didn't mean to. It just sort of happened. This was the last day hiking. We only had to go 4 hours. We crossed through a massive waterfall, so massive we had to take the flood detour and even then I felt like I was in a hurricane.

It's kind of funny how your legs stop working the minute you're done tramping. It's a miracle I can walk. My poor little legs have been abused. All in all, it was the best tramping experience I've been on!