Day 1 - The Day of Reckoning (30/12/07)

6am and my alarm begins to beep. As I wade through the sleepyness clouding my mind I begin to realise what the alarm means today. After a frantic christmas, 2 day drive the length of the country, one days fast organisation and attending a wedding the night before today is the day. A year and a half of dreaming, six months of sporadic organisation and it will all be on by this evening. I haul myself from bed and daze through the mornings tasks. A goodbye hug for Rosie and I leave Dunedin, destination Alexandra, then Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park. Several hours mornin drive finds me at Ben's house in Alexandra. Surrealy we try to pack, realising a) we have a lot of stuff to fit in our bags and b) if we forget anything important it could be a long trip with plenty of time to regret our mistakes. Before we know it the bags are packed, our fate, food, and life sealed in the packs for the best part of the next month. Ben's parents arrive home and prepare an amazing lunch, the last good meal for a long time. It is then another 3 or so hours drive up to Mount Cook Village (where we quickly purhase a plastic spork realising neither of us have eating utensils!) then up the Tasman Valley as far as the 4wd track allows. A quick goodbye, some parting photos of the unsmelly, less fit and generally cleaner and tidier versions of Ben and I, and we are off.

Ben and Mike about to depart

A brief hour or so walk and we arrive at Ball shelter, a short start after a long day of travel and still its enough to realise we have heavy packs. As we sit admiring the view on a beautiful evening the trip is all a bit surreal. It's hard to appreciate the size of it, the fact its actually happening, how will we feel in two weeks time, where will we be and what are we going to see along the way? The challenge will be huge, of that I am sure. Ben is most definately fitter then I, and our packs seem like lead. Yet the view is amazing, the chance to reflect on God's amazing world and enjoy a simple life will be great. After the first of many dehy dinners to come and watching dusk change to darkness we head to bed.

Mike sitting after dinner admiring the view - The white patch lowest down is the start of the white ice on the Tasman Glacier (along our route for the next day)

The view back down to the terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier



BACKGROUND

Okay sorry for some of you that may be slightly confused. In January I completed a trip tramping and climbing our way from Mount Cook to Arthurs Pass with Ben Necklen (an old flatmate). This is a brief account of the journey along with photos (more of an excuse and slightly more informative way of showing photos to you all). Almost all of the photos were taken by Ben.