Anyway, for those who may be unfamiliar, the New Zealand Department of Conservation -- referred to as "The Doc" in NZ -- has designated 12 trails (or tracks as they call them here) as official "Great Walks." Since the entire country is stunningly gorgeous, I'm not sure what makes any particular track in New Zealand a Great Walk, but the Milford is particularly famous since someone once said it was "the greatest walk in the world." Accordingly, everyone wants to hike the Milford, the DOC limits the track to 40 people per day, who stay in designated "huts" -- really more like a spartan hostel -- that are set out along the trail. You also have to book a Great Walk waaaaay in advance, at least if you want to hike it during Great Walk season, also known as anytime other than the winter.
One nice surprise about this system is that you end up bonding with (some of) your fellow hikers as you progress along the track and sleep with them (in the non-naughty sense) in the huts. I ended up befriending another American (Levi the running coach from San Francisco) and an adorable German couple (Chris and Tina) who for reasons unexplained were obsessed with building a snowman on the trail.
With that as background, let's get to the fun part -- pictures! And plenty of them. I literally took more than 200 photos and virtually all of them could have made the cut for publication here, but I've arbitrarily cut it down to a mere 20 or so. Hopefully at least a few of the pictures explain the admittedly somewhat pretentious name I stole for this blog -- there are shadows and clouds! And a snowman. And a Kia parrot that attacked me. (Seriously, it swooped down on me with talons extended, then proceeded to hop around in adorable fashion.)
Not only a calendar, but a sort of Travels With Charley narrative to publish. You have a gift.
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