Land of the Long White Cloud

When early Polynesian settlers arrived on the shores of New Zealand they named the mini continent Aotearoa--meaning Land of the Long White Cloud. NZ is still commonly known as Aotearoa, and now I understand why.

Yesterday 9 of us loaded up our backpacks and headed over to the Pinnacles, an area about an hour and a half away from EcoQuest. I couldn't really tell you how many miles away it is because Kiwis tend not to measure distances in miles or km, but hours. So, fittingly, a sign at the trail head told us that our campsite was 3 hours away. The trek started out rather flat but soon became a steep ascent. My friend Lee compared it to the never ending staircase in Mario 64. I've never played that game, but the name of the staircase is fitting. Of course we were rewarded with spectacular views every time we came across a clearing in the trees. Oh, the trees! After learning a lot about NZ trees in class, I could identify a few. There were many palms and ferns, lending the forest a very tropical feel. We came across an extremely large tree trunk that was hollow inside and knocked sideways, which of course I climbed through.

Every so often we came across rope bridges extending across a river. These were really fun and could get quite swingy and bouncy if you wanted them to. The water is so clear you can see every pebble underneath it. If only it were warmer I would've pulled on my togs (kiwi for swimsuit) and hopped right in! At one point some of us climbed along some stones through the river, which reminded me of the river in front of the elf city Rivendell in Lord of the Rings--which was probably filmed somewhere quite similar.

We made it to the Pinnacles hut, a large, comfortable looking hut where 80 people can sleep and there is a dining room, bathrooms, sinks, and showers. Obviously we're much hardier than that and walked right past it to our campsite. After setting up camp we completed the ascent to the tippy top of the mountain. Short stairs stretching up and up for ever, talk about a stairmaster! My hamstrings are definitely feeling it today. After the stairs there was a tricky bit involving some ladders and scrambling over rocks. There is something so exhilarating and terrifying about being so high up that the slightest slip of the foot could send you hurtling thousands of feet into trees. This is living!

The view was easily worth the risk. It seemed we were the highest point in the area. The Pacific extended to our east, endless and azure, dotted with tiny islands. On all other sides of the peak we were surrounded by green mountains, with sheep pastures visible beyond. The sun was beginning to set in the west, and we each found a nook in the face of the huge rock and watched. As we climbed down we looked back over the ocean and saw at eye-level an enormous, single flat white cloud extending across the whole eastern horizon--the long white cloud.