Kepler

This time a month ago we were walking the Kepler Track near Te Anau. Day two was my favourite, high up on the alpine ridge, eye-level with the clouds, winds threatening to sweep us off our feet and down the mountain pack-first. It was tough going, but the views made it all worth it. Around each curve in the track was a landscape vista even more stunning than the last. That word is used so often that the power of it has softened like a blunt axe, but in the context of Mt Luxmore, I mean it in the most literal, genuine way possible. I struggle to capture what we saw in words, so I won't try. Every so often I made us stop to get another photo. And another. What I could see on the picture preview screen never came anywhere near to the stupefying beauty that we could see right in front of us, but we knew it wouldn't. The photos will serve as a reminder of this amazing adventure we did for ourselves and everything we experienced along the way. I never want to see another muesli bar again in my life. Which might be hard, because now I plan on walking all nine of New Zealand's Great Walks. I think I've got the tramping bug.