mud and leaves (part one)

Everyday I ask myself, why did I come here to study? It's so much fun just to play!On Thursday (24th), my friend Arista (nickname: Rue) and I set off on a 2.5 hr drive to the ferry dock, right past Invercargill. We'd decided to go tramping on Steward Island, a relatively tiny island off the southern coast of the south island. Sorry about the triple use of 'island'. Originally it was going to be a group of four, but the two others ducked out Wed. night. Rue and I decided to give it a go anyway. First off, just outside of Dunedin, I recognised two hitchers as my friends Josh and Josh (we all came to NZ through AustraLearn) so we picked them up. They decided to ditch their plans for the weekend and come to Stewart Island with us, but tramp on a different track.We barely made it in time for the ferry ($90 return) and settled in with our complimentary tea for the dreaded hour ride. Blessedly, it was calm. The moon was nearly full and I spent the majority of the ride standing on the back deck, relishing in the opportunity to exercise my sea legs again. I could just make out the silhouettes of small, uninhabited, rocky islands when the clouds parted to let the moonlight stream through. It was a glorious and calm evening. We arrived, uneventfully, at the wharf and made our way to Ann's Place, the backpacker that came with raving recommendations. Ann was a lively women in her 60s who greeted us with joy and offered us her last spot - a double bed - which we gratefully accepted. That night was fun except for the mice in the wall that awakened me at 5:30 am. Friday morning Rue and I walked in the pouring rain to get our $10/night hut passes. We had to fill out an intentions form letting others know where we would be and that form included a police notification date, so I felt pretty safe :o) I'm sure it's standard procedure, but I felt special nontheless.We were on the trail by 10:30am and managed to avoid the approx. 4 mile walk to the trailhead by hitching a ride from two of the 350 island locals. "Best of British luck!" our driver offered and his wife waved us a goodbye. We were on the trail by 11:30 am. It rained ALL DAY but it was warm. Rue and I were too excited to be dampered by the rain. We yakked the whole way there, climbing up muddy inclines and sloshing through bog-like territory. We stopped briefly for a snack lunch with three other people that we'd caught up with on the trail. They lived in Wellington, but definitely had British accents. One of the men had lived in Moscow, ID and attended the U of I! Small world. During this break Rue and I discovered that we'd forgotten toilet paper. Of course, being the outdoorsy girls that we are we decided we'd just use leaves for the weekend...or bum some paper off others!We walked along the beach for quite some time before crossing the first swing bridge which was great fun. Rickety, but great fun.