Above the Tree Line: Suffering and Serenity

This Easter Holiday we went camping and tramping.  Tramping is something we have discovered in New Zealand - you pack your food and clothes, walk for a few hours and arrive at a hut in the wilderness which usually has beds, water and a wood stove.  Here is the journey through the kids eyes:

Caleb: We went tramping and it took us 10 minutes to get to the Triplex Hut. That was the first one.

Before dinner we decided to walk the Swamp Track that was close to our hut. It had many signs to help us learn about New Zealand ecosystems. Here are some of the things I learned. 

1. The birds need the forest for shelter and food. The forest needs the birds for pollination, seed spreading and to keep insect populations in balance. 
2. The tallest tree in New Zealand is called the Kahikatea. It is dying out because farmers the swamps are getting drained for farmland. 
3. I learned the names of three native birds. They are Fantail, Shining Cuckoo and Bellbird

Then it took us two hours and thirty minutes to get to the Sunrise Hut. There were 27 beds! It was very big and had a fireplace. We really needed the fireplace because it was so cold.

The Sunrise Hut

There we had lunch and dinner and we stayed a night. After that night we ran down the hill to our car and drove home. 

 Inside The Sunrise Hut

Jon: It was a good journey. One day when were leaving my foot got hurting and I couldn't walk. I had to go to the dentist but I got down to the Triplex hut with just my bare feet.  And then Camile and Caleb and Mommy goed on the swamp track. We were going to call her phone but dad said I"ll call you again but we didn't so we went that way and Camille and Caleb and mommy got there. 

Dad is warming up my bare feet

Camille:  We started really fresh and fast but coming up to the top we got quite tired. 

Camille in the snow going up the mountain.

It actually was quite a relief getting at the top and there was a spectacular view. 

We stood there for five minutes before we actually went into the hut. When we got there, there were four other people there but they were just packing up. The hut had 20 bunks and it had a fire and lots of chairs and a table. Since there was no one there, we got to chose any bunk we wanted. There was triple bunks and we chose the top bunks right beside the huge window. We could see the stars a night and the sunrise in the morning from where we were sleeping.

The next day we had breakfast and then started packing up. When we were finished packing up we started down. On the way down we were so much faster because of the downhill. When at last we got down there we had lunch and there were bees that very much annoyed mom trying to eat our lunch. Then we got in the car and drove home.