Mud, Bugs, and ze French

10 nights, 11 days, 125 km, one yellow-eyed penguin, one seal, three kiwis, knee-deep sticky mud, and Fred and Julie from France - not to mention beautiful beaches. That is the jist of our long, highly anticipated, Stewart Island Northwest Circuit trek. What a challenge! What an experience! At the end of a long day (18km) with super heavy packs we met Fred and Julie who were the only others in our first hut heading out for the NWCircuit. Today, after spending all our nights together (mostly just the four of us), we finished together. Without the 11 days of details to bore you here are our highlights: eating freshly caught paua (abalone), mussels, kina (sea urchin) roe, and blue cod (compliments of hunters we met), dehydrated dinners, rice, chocolate, salvaging tomato paste from dirty socks, Julie's animated story-telling, Fred's ability to roll off a joke with perfect timing, and lots of laughter and commiserating. Smokey Beach (where we lost the damn trail for 1.5 hours!) and our first kiwi near Long Harry Hut were also quite memorable. It was a long journey but we are safe and have two new friends and an open invite to France (where the trails are graded and dry). What a country. Pictures will come later this internet is $8/hr. Au revoir!