Less than eight weeks to go now. This past Tuesday was the exact two month mark, and it came went fast, as the days seem to be doing now. With so much coming up in the near future, we seem to be missing the present. All of our free time is dedicated to planning and preparing for the trip, and while we're so singularly focused, we seem to be missing everything! My trip to Israel is a mere week away, Chanukkah is just around the corner, quickly followed by Christmas, and then caboosed by my 26th and New Year's. There's so much to look forward to, with so little time!
We've been doing research for the trip over the last week, and have come across some pretty good resources. We've made it two weeks into planning New Zealand. But this will be the easiest part to plan, as we've got someone else taking care of pretty much the entire trip for us (recall Stray Bus Tours from a previous post). The only thing left for us to plan is which of the Great Walks we'd like to explore. New Zealand has several "Great Walks" which are long hiking (or tamping, as they call it, a term i prefer, really) tracks that run anywhere from day hikes to week long hikes, for the beginner hiker or the professinal. Gen and i have some experience doing long hikes (think six hour beach hike in Nova Scotia based on directions given to us by a local...thanks, One Eyed Willy) and the sort, but nothing of this caliber. I've hiked in and out, but we're going to embark on two 4-5 day hikes, approx. 4-7 hours a day. The two that we are tramping are the Abel Tasman, located on the northern tip of the south island (still with me?) and the Rakiura, located on Stewart Island, south of the southern tip of the south island...south...Heading best advice, we've made reservations early for campsites as they apprently fill up quickly during the peak summer months. This is a tough chore, because in order to reserve campsites, you have to know where you're going to be along the track; where you'll start and where you'll stop each day. And, one has to take into consideration that you'll be crossing tidal streams and estuaries, which roll with the tides, and so are impassible unless crossed during the four hour window of low tide. But, fret not! The NZ DOC website which we have already directed you to contains all tidal information, times, etc. Thank you very much, DOC.
I suppose that's about it for now. I (jake) am leaving for Israel next Sunday, so there'll finally be some reading of substance on here shortly. I look forward to writing about it, and i hope you look forward to reading about it.
