Kepler Track and the Attack of the Killer Sandflies

We started the Kepler Track on Tuesday. It's one of New Zealand's great walks. We hiked for 4days and 3nights for a total of 70km. The first day we hiked in the bush up a very steep incline. For the last 45minutes the hike was on top of the ridge. One could see for miles and miles. There were huge mountains, steep valleys, and beautiful lakes. I keep saying that the lighting is different in New Zealand. It has a way of playing with everything that it touches in such a magnificent way. We reached our hut for the first night. We hung out with a bunch of Israelis and continued hanging out with them at each of the huts. The hut warden told us that the sun rise was at 6:20 so I got up early to watch it rise. It was sooo cold but worth it. I've never seen a sun rise quite like it. I got up about 1 hr before it rose and saw the progression of the colors. I was on top of the ridge with a huge lake in front. The lake and valley was created by glaciers. I saw the colors go from the dark night sky with lots of clouds to seeing every color of the rainbow in the sky. That day we hiked on top of the ridge and it was a clear day so we could see a great distance. The wind was sooo strong. We almost got blown away a couple of times. I hiked to the to of Mt. Luxmore and could see even more of the view. I had to brace myself so I wouldn't blow away. There was one point where I got a little ahead of Sara and just stopped and sat. Wow...amazing...incredible. It's hard to describe. What a great feeling of being so small but also on top of the world! There was one point where we had to stop and put all our weight in our feet because the wind was so strong. The second night we stayed in another hut. This one was by a great waterfall. The also began the attack of the killer sandflies. They were everywhere. Our third days hike took us through the land of the firns. Sara said they are the hairs of forest gnomes and that they were all at a rock concert. I saw lots of rocks so of course of believed her. It was an easy flat hiking day. The hut the third night was my favorite of the 3. It was a lot smaller and on a beach(this was a great thing except for the killer sandflies). We had a fire on the beach. There were people from all over the world sitting around a campfire talking as the sun was setting over the mountains. The last day was torture on Sara and my feet. It was a great hike. We ordered 2 large pizzas to celebrate a great hike.

....in the end the sandflies won...both our feet and legs look like connect the dots