Had all of the flashbacks to my New Zealand adventures while hiking out at Starved Rock today 🍃🌳 #starvedrock #nationalpark #hiking #exploring #adventurefish (at Starved Rock State Park)

Spent 9 hours walking up the river instead of 6 hours on the trail. Why? Because the water is my happy place😊🐢 #teararoa #tramping #newzealand #riverwalking #adventurefish #happybirthdaytome

We left Nelson, The Bug Hostel, and our newly found friend Oscar on February 27th and set off walking back to Hacket Junction, where we would begin the Richmond Ranges. We walked from Nelson to the neighbouring suburb, Richmond. Could have taken a bus, wilderness mentality, being dumb. In Richmond, as our last meal before getting back to the wild, we got a disgusting lunch of soggy potato wedges and suspicious chicken nuggets. After lunch we promptly lost our way and had to ask directions. The man, Terry, we asked for directions offered to drive us all the way to Hacket Junction!! Nicest people on Earth here. He went on and on about how much he loves America and Americans which was a refreshing change of taste. Back in the wild and on track, we hunkered down at Hacket hut for the night. There was an old man staying in the hut too and he must think we are the worst, damn hut-mates on the planet. First of all, the mice in Hacket hut somehow got into Ellie's bag and she wasn't feeling well, so instead of solving the problem like a champ, she tied her bag to the bunk and every time a mouse stirred within, she loudly punched and banged it around. Then she started throwing up into a giant, metal pail. The LOUDEST puking ever. Like, BELCH, SPRAY OF VOMIT, COUGH OF WRATH!!!!!!!!! And I'm dancing around shushing her and trying to help her somehow and madly giggling because of the absurdity of the situation, with an ancient old fellow trying to seep five feet away. Sorry old Dude. We suck. As does food poisoning. I don't recommend The Pub on the corner of the City Center in Richmond. 

Today we hiked from National Park, in the ever intensifying heat, fifteen miles into the wilderness on our way to Whakahoro. I felt great in the morning. I'd had a shower and coffee, life was grand. The path was easy and long. Half way through the day I spotted an old abandoned and rusting cottage down across the valley and, with a little convincing, got Ellie to stash our backpacks and descend to investigate it with me. I was able to climb inside through a wooden window frame which was long void of panes and into a small bedroom. There were two decaying cots in the room and a dresser crammed full of books. Some magazines on the floor dated back to the fifties!  The rest of the house consisted of another small room with some stained and aged child's drawings on the walls, a canning room, a kitchen/ living room and what must have been a tool room. There were boards and trash everywhere like the place had been gone through many times over. Ellie called from outside that if this turned into a horror movie her intuition was telling her to leave me and run. After our fun little detour my blisters became absolutely unbearable. I spent the rest of the tramp wearing my sneakers folded down in the back and tied around my ankles.I could feel each stone and stick. It was awful. I was constantly having to stop to adjust the damn things. The Fisher's Track is intended for mountain bikers and well seasoned Te Araroaists or "TAs" as I've found people call us, but having started at the Tongariro Crossing we are not quite seasoned. We were supposed to hike fifty kilometers all the way to the Wanganui river but alas we could not. We collapsed in the secluded corner of a farmer's field and cooked dinner while I gave Ellie a stick n' poke tattoo, making her a Freedom Expert!! It's a club/ gang I invented in San Francisco a few years ago. Ellie is the fifth Freedom Expert!! Pretty cool. We have a handshake and everything. We slept in our hammocks, to be less conspicuous, in a grove of pine trees and went to bed with the sounds of farm animals bleating and mooing goodnight. 

10 miles!!! We are the champions my friiiennndddd. My whole left foot is a blister. I felt great today though. Wake up and walk, it's that simple. We've been meeting tons of people from all over the world! Most of whom seem to think we're nuts! Every time I stand up it's a whole new experience of soreness.... Luckily I like new experiences, though it's not necessarily a nice one. Tonight we will camp in large shrubs by the road in a human taco.

Six miles. Awoke with a fucking parade of hikers passing five feet from our tent around 5 am. We managed to finish our hike by 11 am which we deemed awesome for our first day with 50 LB packs. The blisters are beginning and the insects are so loud they are actually changing my heartbeat rhythm. Most of the day was grassland leading to mountain rivers and lush forests of Birch, Pine and Cabbage trees. We reached a beautiful mountain resort village where we got some coffee and gin :). Eventually we packed on to a spot where we crossed a rushing river and found a secluded isle to set up camp. We frolicked in the sunlight, bathed and did our laundry in the river and played cards after dinner. A beautiful day to be alive. So much time I don't know what to do with myself.

Today we hiked the Tongariro Crossing! 12 miles without our packs and we were feeling the burn! I've never seen anything like it in my life. Smoking craters and sulfur winds blowing egg smell in our faces. Soft, light volcanic rock tundras were like walking into history and feeling silence. The landscape made me feel like I was in a dinosaur movie. Exhausted, we decided to camp off the trail in what we thought would be an inconspicuous spot. In the morning a parade of noisy hikers passed not ten feet from our bright orange tent which Ellie says is "cheerful". "Think they can see us?" We whispered hopefully before bursting into hysteric giggles. We were all too visible. Like, right there.