Our tramp of the Rees-Dart Valleys over Easter break began like most - heaps of rain, some river crossings, beech forests. the usual. Four days and 70 km later and I've officially seen, as James Taylor put so well, fire and rain...that and the best views of my life so far.

I set off in the rain with my buddies Charlie and Danny, picking up a couple more along the way. After the first day, and not a piece of dry clothing to be sighted, we opted for a night's stay in the huts. NZ huts are complete with mattresses, wood-burning stoves and an eclectic mix of people. This is where the fire part comes in. Despite his checking of his stove before we left, Charlie's stove apparently had a leak in the line...before long, the flames scorch the roof of the hut as myself and about 9 others stand there dumbfounded. (I do have bad luck around fire so I just figured it was the end of me...haha). Luckily the fire was put out, not without infesting the hut with ash and leaving an aura of awkwardness between our group and the others the rest of the night.) It was a good thing we had picked up some extra trampers along the way or we'd have been eating raw macaroni all weekend...

Day two = more rain. blah. Luckily, the sun peeked out on day three - this is where the best views of my life come into play. An opportunity to make the 10 hour trek to the Cascade Saddle and back, where rumor had it we catch a glimpse of glaciers, Mt. Aspring, the Matukituki valley...literally a bowl of mountains.

And that we did.

The climb itself was a bit overkill on the quads, but well worth it...and rewarded by lunch and a nap on top of the world. nice in nz that you don't have to worry about the storm clouds rolling in at noon like you do in CO. As for what we saw, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. (although I must point out that nothing truly captures the 360 degree views and the amazing weather that accompanied it).

I had never seen a glacier before, let alone up close and personal (complete with sound effects of cracking ice cornices).

Finished out our tramp by squeezing two days of hiking into one (which by the way included a four hour tramp through a cow pasture...and muchos cow dung up to our knees at times...needless to say, i've been scrubbing my chacos quite a bit lately). And finally toasted to our efforts in Queenstown.

I've been replaying the scenery in my head since we left that mountain top. It's quite the feeling when you realize you've never seen anything quite as amazing.