Avoiding mental countdown

So my firstest blog ever was 10 days before leaving for New Zealand...
And now it occurs to me (as it has more frequently as of late), that I will be boarding a plane home to the states one week from manana~

Oh insanity. As my mom has phrased it, twill be a bittersweet return. On one hand, I totally grin at the thought of seeing all you super rad folks back in Ptown, pedaling the Smurfcycle or the Gremlin (these are my two fave cruisers for those of you who have not seen my garage...), snugglin with Tula (koolest kitty on this planet...don't know about the other ones of course!), and even being back at work...a little ;)

On the other hand (probably we're talkin lefty here), it would be impossible not to miss the amazing people, country, and freedom of life and thought that i've experienced over the last 2.75 months-ish. There's nothing like forgetting what time and day it is (AND NOT CARING) and letting the wind take you (but not off the side of the mountain); because, as an amazing friend of mine says, "You can't plan yer fun." ...but you'll sure as hell have a shit-ton of it if you let yourself!

Highly unlikely that i could leave EnZed without slight pangs of homesickness (because it really has been my home for a bit and has become entirely endeared to my heart...or mee hairt as the Scottish would say ;) But that's cool, luckily i left plenty of it to draw me back. The 'to-do' list that i don't have is racked with sites left unseen and adventures un-had...perfecto!

And i must say (or type, geez guyz....can you hear my lisp:) that although i've completely enjoyed every hike and backpack trip i've done and have seen some amazingly awe-imposing country....
it's really the fuckin rad people i've met and experienced that have landmarked my trip with pure and utter amazingnessosity...tee hee.

Total non-sequitor: the word "lisp" is so mean! Not only can someone with a true lisp not say it without lisping, but it's also the word "lips" ...only totally fucked with. whoa to the spelling wizards who created this harsh word! whoa i say.

Okee dokee, so now that i've made some sweeping generalizations and completely condensed wordage of my mind-thought via the keyboard, i'll let y'all in on my current adventures! READ ON.... if you dare....

So, following KiwiBurn (likely the country's bestest festivus) I headed south to Wellington with the cactus crew and have been there/here ever since! Wellington is quite like Portland in many regards, and having spent a bit more time here this visit, it has grown on me ;) But not like that, it's NOT a TUMA! Mostly i've spent my days wanderin the city, going for adventure runs along Wellington's awesome trail system, pondering anything and everything in the botanical garden (so of course coincidingly i've gotten to whiff many a rose...mmm. tasty) and hanging out with all from KiwiBurn...with even the re-emergence of Fin, who went travellin after the burn!

Although there have been many mini-adventures, think i'll choose just one recent one to report on...oh dear i'm grinning just thinking abaout it ;)

So.

I had planned on walking the Mt Holds-something-Mt Jumbo Circuit, located in the Wairarapa about an hour and a half outside of Wellington and was discussing it with the Cactus Crew over dinner. During this discussion, Aron (with whom I've been staying---CC insert additional phrase as needed) commented that he's like to come along.
And so I then remarked (quite jokingly) that the only possibility for that would be to hike the entire thing at night...

Please note, in saying this i had not adequately surmised just how crazy Aron actually is...but now i know for certain!

And so it was on (like donkey kong!). We left for the hills and began our walk around 8pm amidst waning bits of daylight and low clouds. The first section was up, up, and then after that a bit of straight the fuck up. Oh the joy of headlamps (torches kiwis, torches).

Once we were up above the clouds, the sky was spectacular! Some of the best stars, most abundant shooting stars (including one that was so close and intense you could see its firey tail trail), and a harvest moon rise that i shall never forget! With light reflecting off the ocean horizon and then later the clouds that were sitting in the surrounding valleys below us....oh sigh, the sites to behold were uncomparable to others mine eyes have previously beheld.

And so, the ridge walking section was probably the most visually overwhelming...and also the SKETCHY-EST! The wind was howling (as it does on mountain ridges ;) and we rejoiced every time we spotted a trail marker pole with our headtorches!

So once off the ridge, we headed down (down as in 'oy my knees!' down) through the beech forest with the sillouhettes of trees overhead backdropped by starry night sky! We basically ran/jumped down this section...basically. Aron and his super spry feet trail sleuthed this part and i was glad because it allowed me to keep my eyes on my personal spotlight of trail in order to even PRETEND to keep up with him on the descent!

So what an adventure, after stopping briefly to coyote cry/howl at some sleeping teenagers' tents (which must have been quite confusing since neither of these mammals exist in NZ), we arrived back at the car at 4:50 AM...just enough time to drive back to Wellington via sunrise and get Aron to work (crazy bastard). All in all, we hiked 24km...rated as a 12 hour walk...at night...in about 9 hours.

What, dear lord, compelled us to do this? Yeah i really don't know either, but it was a grand adventure and i wouldn't trade it...not even for a sour gummy worm ;)