Daughter Annie and I have just
returned from a two-week holiday in New Zealand. Prior to the winter break for each of the
last ten years, I’ve contemplated a trip to New Zealand but never got up the
gumption nor committed the sizeable outlay of cash that visiting it
requires. This year, however, inspired
by my new freedom and by Annie’s need to escape the trio of cold, dark, and wet
that characterize winter in her adopted city of Seattle, I acted. I bought a pair of Air New Zealand tickets
about nine months ago and signed us up for a guided “tramp” on the Milford
Track.
The trip was a success from the start
– almost, as our flight to Auckland was cancelled and I scurried to change
accommodation and car rental bookings – to finish. On the North Island, we hiked the Tongariro
volcano crossing, a 12-mile romp which included an arduous uphill of 800 meters
in steps and stone to about 1900 m altitude; it was the hardest hike I recall
doing but the long downhill was sensational.
The second day of the Milford Track had a similar, albeit more gradual, ascent to a summit pass of about half the altitude of
Tongariro. Still, it was not a trivial
hike, and we were lucky enough to do it in excellent weather.
The Milford Track was a wake-up call for me. It seems very unlikely I’ll be
fit enough for this kind of hike even ten years from now. I can already feel my body slowing down, and
my fear of falling over and breaking a fragile bone increasing. Now I know I need to start digging into the
bucket list of adventures I’ve been contemplating, especially as Annie has
turned into quite a tramper and has thrown a few ideas into the bucket,
too. The Inca trail is my next choice,
while Annie is pushing for Mount Kilimanjaro. Like the alignment of stars or the
intersection of sets in a Venn diagram, Annie’s and my interests and abilities have coalesced, and her holiday schedules can be accommodated by my retirement flexibility. It seems we have developed a new, shared passion and I certainly have sharpened my perspective for how I want to spend some of my dwindling time on this planet.
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