Pre-Kepler Track Tramp

Twenty lbs heavier & ready


We moved south from Whangarei to get closer to Auckland. Nevertheless, we were still an hour or more from the big city. We like to position ourselves at a safe distance from places of concrete, the multitudes and noise. Of course, it has its drawbacks—we don’t often get to the ballet. Our reasoning was to have a restful Shabbos in a small town and lessen the distance to the airport for our flight to the South island. We allowed additional time in the unlikely event that we suffered a directional glitch. Not possible you might think.


Commencement: Trying to look brave
All went off very smoothly, for a change. Shabbos was terrific—it is very special ‘on the road’, too. We left early on Sunday morning, returned the rental car, boarded a plane and collected another rental in Queenstown and then drove a further two hours to reach Te Anau—our gateway to the Kepler track. We are about to traipse around the Fiordland National Park for four days, three nights to be spent in our sleeping bags. We are not prepared for low temperatures and only half-prepared for rain. Fortunately, it ‘only’ rains in these mountains two hundred days of the year. The odds are very good that we are going to be wet. It brings to mind what my Dad often said to me. “Butch,” he called me, “you should stand out in rain more often—the rain makes everything beautiful.” It’s too late for the beauty part; nevertheless, we’ll give it a ‘go’. What do we have to lose?

Here we are, in the week of our double chai (36th) wedding anniversary and embarking on this potentially exciting and breathtaking adventure. One can’t help but wonder about our editor. She flew halfway around the world, on and off three planes, traveled up north in New Zealand and back down to catch another plane to hike forty-odd miles in a few days, probably be cold and wet and forego most of life’s regular comforts. “If that ain’t love me then all I gotta say, G-d didn’t make little green apples and it don’t rain in Indianapolis in the summer time.”
Brian Marcus posed the question. ‘What have you learned of each other on your travels,’ he wanted to know. We gave him an answer but he was clearly not satisfied. Subsequently, our editor had given it some thought. “You are showing a youthful characteristic, especially since we commenced the adventures,” she mentioned. “You still find us interesting and amusing,” we answered, trying to be suave and cool. “What is this youthful characteristic that has obviously surfaced in this stage of life?” we wanted to know, trying hard to suppress a self-satisfied smile.
“You’re breaking out in pimples again,” she swiped. As the renowned detective Hercules Poirot might retort, ‘You damp the spirit.’
Always some housework 'on the road'.

We are packed and ready to go and as we write this, the night before departure, the wind is howling and the rain has joined it. Should be a ‘gas’.