Nature's power

The first time I saw mountains , I had been sitting in a bus for over six hours. I had landed in Christchurch before the sun has risen, my breath making fog on the windowsill. It had been a long day of driving, most of the passengers were headed to Queenstown like myself and were taking advantage of the heated bus by pulling down their beanies and trying to sleep. The scenery throughout the commute was lovely, inner city, to farm lands that stretched out towards the horizon. I nodded off to sleep a handful of times, always waking up with a sore neck. However my discomfort was completely forgotten when I awoke to see I was suddenly surrounded by mountains. Of course I had seen photos of these things before. I had read numerous books where the landscape mirrored what I was seeing. But no words could have prepared me for the immense beauty that was in front of my eyes. I was breath taken. I glanced around me and saw that other people were looking out of their windows too, but none of them seemed to be as utterly speechless as I felt. The road wound around bends and seemed to change direction every thirty seconds or so. I knew that would usually cause me to feel ill, but in that moment that was the furthest thing from my mind. They were peaked with snow that looked so smooth from the distance between us I could imagine running down it and leaving my small footprints behind me. They tumbled and cascaded down, seeming to never end before suddenly joining another smaller mountain or hill. I felt closed in, but in a protected way. Like I was safe and warm. Little did I know if I were to step outside I would be hit by a biting icy wind. In the heated bus though, I felt euphoric. There were trees dotted alongside the slopes, so different to the great big gums that I was used to seeing in Australia. These trees were leafier and greener than I expected. Their colour stood out against the bright white of the snow. I settled in to gaze at the mountains as we flew by, hoping desperately that we would never leave their shelter. It was in that moment that I realised I felt connected to these giant natural formations. I wished I could have explained it to the other people sitting on that bus with me, but words would never had done justice to the feeling of amazement that coursed through me.