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This morning, I got on a bus in Te Anau before the sun rose—which is not so much a testament to my ability to wake up early as to the sun’s ability to wake up late, here and now. I was returning from another three-day hike (or “tramp”, as they say here, or walk, if you prefer)—the Kepler Track, in Fiordland National Park, which is another Great Walk (“Great Walk” is secret code for “pretty easy, but still multi-day, hike”). Here’s a play-by-play from the last few days, with quotes from my journal and pictures and the ever-important eating regime:

Thursday night, while packing, to Sandra: “You don’t need to worry about Kari running out of food. Maybe, is Kari’s pack too heavy? Or, did Kari even bring an extra pair of pants? But I’ve got plenty of food.”
Saturday: 
“The hut is huge and lovely for its simplicity: now I’m in the kitchen, by the woodstove, and around me people are speaking strange languages. I’m wearing two pairs of socks. The weather today was truly astounding—this morning the fog was heavy and thick over Lake Te Anau, but now it’s lifted, and we can see from the hut all the way down to the lake, and the mountains surrounding it.”
breakfast: dried apples; snacks: dried mango, Cadbury energy chocolate scroggin (energy chocolate was invented in New Zealand, and is apparently dark chocolate with some malt to make it sweeter. I like it because it comes in metallic red packaging with lightning bolts on it. Scroggin has raisins and nuts.); lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, crackers with hummus; dinner: cold pasta with olive oil and salt and pepper, carrots, gorp
Sunday: 

“I’m tenting tonight. I don’t know if that’s a good decision or a bad decision, but it’s mine, and I made it. My tent is set up outside on the damp grass with all the black flies that I hope will go away when the sun goes down.”

breakfast: dried apples, peanut butter and jelly sandwich; snacks: dried mango, gorp; dinner: cold pasta, carrots, Backpacker’s Kitchen chocolate cheesecake (that almost sounds classy, doesn’t it?)

“After sleeping for two hours I wake up to have a fight with a pair of kea (alpine parrots) who are apparently trying to steal my tent stakes. The fight mostly consists of me slapping the side of the tent, then sticking my head out the door, taking flash photographs and saying “Why do you want my stakes? Don’t take my stakes” until the kea fly away.”

Monday: 

“I have four blisters on my right foot—I think my biggest blister has little blisters inside of it, and at any rate both of my feet feel like they went through a meat tenderizer. So I’m stepping lightly.”

breakfast: dried apples; snacks: scroggin, dried mango, gorp; dinner: carrots, crackers with hummus

“That said, today worked out really well. A flock of kea woke me up, and I talked to them while packing up my ice-crisped tent.”
So there you go: my weekend in a (large) nutshell. Now it's back to the usual grind of schoolwork, cooked food, solid shelters, indoor activities. You appreciate it more.