Ok, so I'm back from our little 'tramp' up Mt. Fox.  I don't really know what to say about it since it was such a crazy combination between absolute wonder and miserable pain.  This trail (actually what they'd call a 'route' b/c there isn't much of a trail, just orange triangles admist the rainforest) did not mess around.  The trailhead starts on  highway 6 and just shoots straight up the mountain.  Straightup a jungle gym of tree roots and rocks.  It was the most 'climbing' I've done while hiking and Hilary and I both had all of our gear for a month in NZ, so it was tough.  But an awesome hike unlike anything we've done before.  We got to the top and could see the bottom of Fox Glacier that runs down nearly  to sea level, but its source was in the clouds.  We set up our camp in a teeny valley before we spotted FLAT camping places on the other side of the hill.  Then dragged out sleeping bags out on a ledge and read while the sun went down over the ocean.  Right before we went to bed all the clouds magically disappeared and we could see Mt. Tasman in the moonlight, which is a pretty wicked and snowcovered mountain.  Mt. Cook was still under it's own layer though. There was frost on the tent when we went to bed, but it didn't feel that cold.

Of course we woke up to the sound of rain and the hike down was miserable.  Our legs were so tired from the day before and now there was even more mud and it took us way longer to get down than it did to go up. Thankfully two British girls picked us up by the highway and brought us back to town.  So, we made it back thoroughly soaked.  Good time overall and I'm glad we got to get out into the wild here.  No one was on the trail which made it even better.  I must say that New Zealand got more than its fair share of scenery but certainly got gyped on the wildlife.  We saw 3 birds of 2 different varieties the whole time.  No frogs, rodents, insects, nothing.  Makes grabbing tree branches and putting your hands into holes a lot safer, but it would have been nice to see some cool animals besides the cats that stay in nearly every hostel.  Tomorrow, Hilary and I are going to go down to Wanaka.  I'll stay there and she'll go back to the north of the south island to work for week. It's been so fun hanging out with her and since we have some similar intrests we've been a good pair to travel together.

Today I am at the Fox Glacier with Hilary.  We caught a ride with a German girl from our other hostel.  Tiny town and a lot more older tourists than the young crowd we've normally been seeing.  We're going to climb Mt. Fox and stay up on a ridge tonight.  It's not really that high, but its apparently steep and beautiful and less used track than some others.  We've seen people from the Ice everyday so far, so we are eager to go at least a whole day 'by ourselves'.  My feet feel much better, but these sandfly bites are tremendous.  It's raining like crazy here on the west coast, but it is letting up today so far so I hope we have good weather!

Wow, the girl who has had internet nearly 24-7 for the last half a decade is now hopping from one cafe to the next PAYING for minutes at a time.  Ridiculous.  Anyway, the Abel Tasman trail, especially the north end of the trail was absolutely phenomenal.  Rainforest type hiking until you bust out back onto another remote beach, which were all gorgeous.  Each beach was so different with its own kind of sand, shells, water, rocks, etc.  Fine sand, coarse sand, no sand, bugs, no bugs, birds, no birds, etc.  It's heading into their fall season so its not exactly hot.  Maybe chilly would even be a better word.  But it is sunny and breezy and better than snowy and zero degrees.  Unfortunately I pushed myself too hard with a pack that was too heavy and my feet suffered the brunt of it.  I have huge blisters, that went beyond blisters to bruising all over the ball and heal of my foot.  The third day I was trying to walk to Ezra's rental house which was still 5k from the end of the trail (and up a  hill) before it got dark so I was walking over the pain and used all my pain reliever up.  Yes, stupid, but they were expecting me that night and I didn't want people worrying about me, and there wasn't really anywhere to camp anyway, and it was raining.  But I hadn't see rain in 5 months, so that was actually a welcome event.  But I made it and now haven't been able to walk straight for the past two days.  I stayed at Ezra's with some people from the Ice for Friday night and Saturday and then Hilary and I hitched to Montueka and camped out in the back of this really sweet hostel which has a farm and fruit trees in the back yard.  Now we plan to go to the west coast today to Greymouth and then the next day hike near Arthur's Pass.  So, I'm trying to prepare myself for cooler weather again.  Hopefully my feet will be well on their way to recovery by then, but I still can't walk very well.  Good thing Hilary is laid back enough that she doesn't care if we're walking half as fast.