Best Day of My Life..Part 1
Kia Ora and good evening friend,
I am writing to you from the interislander ferry that takes you on a 3.5 hour journey from the South Island(Picton) to the North Island(Wellington). We just departed at 6:30 pm. We will be crossing the Cook Strait. My time on the South Island of New Zealand has come to a close…and it almost didn’t let me leave! Onward and upward! Literally! More on that later…let’s catch you up on the happenings from a few days ago…specifically..the best day of my life. I will probably break it down into three parts but I might make it two. I have 3.5 hours..and it’s dark outside..can’t see anything. So to the blog we go.
Kia Ora by the way…is how you are greeted by airline pilots, hosts at restaurants, on the train, and when you enter a taxi, etc. Not everyone uses it..but you do hear it a lot. It is a greeting wishing good health. The way the kiwis say that is so nice to hear..it genuinely feels like they are happy to be speaking to you and glad that you are wherever you are..It is a wonderful greeting.
In the last post…I ended it…on a high..on fire for life. I knew I had found a special place and that I was about to be able to visit it again the next day.
That is exactly what we did..but before we went back there..we explored another place. Even though Wharariki Beach is beautiful in the rain…I wake up this morning and it is absolutely pouring…nasty..I see a gap in the rain later in the day. So I head into town instead to grab breakfast..the sign on the wall says..”We don’t have wifi..talk to each other like it’s 1995”..this is the courthouse cafe in Collingwood..a lovely little place. I would give anything for it to feel like 1995 again..except..I wouldn’t want to do it as a one year old..already did that before..couldn’t understand a word any was saying! I’d love to be a 21 year old in 1995..I’d like to be a 25 year old in 1995..and I’d absolutely love to be 29, 6 months, and 6 day old in 1995. So…put up the phone…enjoy breakfast listening to the sounds of the only cafe in town..and strike up conversation with the table next to me..and then the barista. 25 minutes later I’m in the car headed to place near the baristas house. She said in the rain this place and the “bush” really comes alive…if you’re willing to go out there. Lets hit it.
We take off in the little Mazda..I originally thought it was Mitsubishi. It’s not the best for the gravel roads but it survives. Rain lightens up but doesn’t completely stop…driving through farmland, sheep/cattle, a house every now and then..getting closer to the green mountains in the foggy distance. She did say when it has been raining as much as it has lately that sometimes parts of the trail can be uncrossable. So I could be headed out here just to turn back around. The river is raging! Its muddy! Its a 6 mile long trail..I was only able to make it about 2 miles in. This place…is freaking fern world. I have been referring to New Zealand as fern world as of yesterday. I love it. I didn’t know that I had a “fern fantasy” but apparently I do. It really does it for me.
The only hiker on the trail in the rain is Zack Houston and he couldn’t be happier about that..and he couldn’t be happier that the “bush” is truly alive in the rain! The sounds of a raging and gushing river mixed with chirps of birds and then waterfalls trickling down and pouring down…fern world is alive! The trail sits up higher than the river on a ridge and then it dips down next to it..and then veers right higher up the mountain again. The river is on your left the whole time…it slowly becomes more visible the further down you go. You cross a couple “natural bridges” and then you cross several mini waterfalls..where you have no choice but to walk through it. Just before the biggest waterfall…a smaller(but still amazing) waterfall has just completely take over the trail…I could have fought hard to cross down lower..but I didn’t trust it. Its tough…when you know something amazing is that close..you can hear it..you can taste..and there just isn’t a way to make it happen. I think it’s a strong urge to fight…and I imagine that is how people get hurt doing these things…by forcing it and not picking up on the signs. I have no doubt pushed it in many situations in my outdoors life over the past 6 years…but I think I know my limits and trust my gut. Turn back around..and I swear as soon as I turn back around…the sun shows its face for the first time of the day…the ferns really come alive now….everything slowly turned from a dark beautiful…lush green…to bright and shiny! Green is my favorite color..and in nature…it overrides every other type of terrain…and I’m walking through a green paradise. It’s refreshing walking under a canopy of ferns mixed with palm like plants. The sun keeps on coming..I make it back out and the sheep have come out for early lunch…they don’t even know that they are making the day even better for me…because about an hour earlier..I wasn’t so sure how my day was going to pan out. See…I made a little mistake that morning…at the courthouse cafe…my uh…my……my breakfast consisted of 2 scrambled eggs on toast with hotsauce, one thick chorizo sausage, a side of yogurt, a cappuccino, and a raspberry fizz soda(I know.. the soda was a curveball even for me) So unfortunately, about halfway through a glorious walk in fern world…I had no other choice but to become one with the sheep. I know this wasn’t the news you hoped to wake up to but…is he gonna say it…I think so..shit happens.
Honestly, It made it all even more special. I took more videos than photos on this one..not of that..but the waterfalls.. I’ll dump the ones I have below anyways. I have been on many special hikes and walks in the most scenic places on this trip..and when I left this one…I think I texted my Mom top 3 experience of the trip. There was something about the beauty in the midst of all the rain…I just thought…this place really has it all..and I’m the only one seeing it right now. And now you, reader and future Zack, get to see it too.
The sun is shining..and I’m headed back to the place I stayed at to book another night because there is no way I am leaving this town today…this place is special.
Part 2 coming up..I’m going to go look around this ferry for a sec. The boat is rocking. I’ve heard people do get sick on this thing..I’m wondering if looking at this computer screen is a bad idea. Fresh air sounds nice.
