It's the Final Countdown

I'm moving fast, but I feel so slow. A line of storms was set to head through my last week on trail, but I put myself on a deadline so on we go.

I absolutely loved this last section. It had everything. It summed up so much of New Zealand's terrain in just 7 days. I made some new dear friends at the beautiful Greenstone Hut, which is more of a Swiss chalet if you ask me... flushing toilets, enough said.

I had my first and only "close call" while trying to ford a river alone in the early morn after days of rain. That was scary... Real scary. There was one last mountain pass, and I was early enough to catch the clouds part for the noon heat.

I got my tussock hiking on, and oh boy do I love those plants. There was a final farm to trek across, complete with a huge herd of sheep.

Some more road waking, too! By this time, both pairs of hiking socks were almost completely disintegrated and my heels were starting to bleed. Sean bandaged me up and I moved over to my knee high sleeping socks to finish in style.

Don't let me forget about the mud... It has been so long since I've been able to posthole in a deep bath of wet earth up to my thigh! Yes!!!

And of course, the exotic mossy forest sections I've grown to love. You'll get this here, too, right before the beach. Awe yes, the beach. I started on the ocean some three months ago, and how epically powerful to finish walking down the long flat sunrise sand.

Huts, friends, rain, fun. Tussocks, mud, a mountain pass and I'm almost done. Roads, sheep, ferns, and towns, one last morning beach walk, and I'll never forget when I almost drowned.

I'm in Tussocks up to my Buttocks

I've officially found my new favorite plant here on Earth, or at least my favorite grass: the glorious tussock... which is actually just a clump of grass, according to Wikipedia: Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are found as native plants in natural ecosystems, as forage in pastures, and as ornamental grasses in gardens. Tussock and bunch grasses, in the Poaceae family, are grasses that usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants usually, they live more than one season.

Why did it take me so long to realize your beauty? I can't think of anything more gorgeous now that you caught my full attention. You are so big and strong with a perfectly developed color combination of grayish purple, green, yellow, orange, brown... topped with a handful of golden blond highlighted tips. And when the sun hits you just right... speechless dipped in sublime. You are so soft and gentle against my leg when I pass by, not like that damn Spaniard Grass. Tussocks seem to flirt with me, too, as they protrude a bare shoulder while the wind blows back their hair... begging me to gaze at them with admiration and envy. You are just perfect. Well, perfect until I have to hike through you on some long distance trail across a country, that is. Then you can be a real bitch.