NZ Hike Day 8: Punishment and Reward

The eighth day of the hike was a mixture of clouds and sun, except when we undertook a 3 hour hike further up the valley, which ended in a roaring downpour. I don't think I've enjoyed getting wet as much as I have during this trip. As my clothes and I got fully drenched, absorbing the falling rain like thirsty sponges, I skipped happily across the longest swing bridge of our entire hike. You are not supposed to stop on the swing bridges but I could not help briefly halting in the middle to take it all in: a roaring glacier-fed river, bucketing rain and me: dangling several hundred feet above and below it all.

Yes - you can literally play with your plate afterwards...

This was our last night at the Welcome Flat. And we had a surprise guest appearence in the form of cheescake on a frisbee. As I've mentioned before - frisbees are extremely valuable, up there maybe even with the much ballyhooed towel as a travel accessory. We played a modified game of Charades in 3 rounds as we munched on our graham biscuit based cheesecake. As our laughter echoed off the walls and we made fools of ourselves in trying to describe famous and infamous historic personalities, I had a twinge of sadness creep in. 8 out of 10 days. It was 80% over. There were only 2 more days to go before letting go of this experience, these people who I had gotten to know in the past 8 days and felt like I could spend another 80 with.