Climb ev'ry mountain........

Set off to the Nelson Lakes National Park for a walk today. We actually weren't going to head that way, but I spotted snow on the hills no wonder it was so cold overnight!) so figured that the lake would probably look beautiful and it would be well worth the trip. Arrived up there, tootied around deciding which one of the several possible walks we'd do and plumped for the simple looking 90-minute loop track which we could extend along the lakefront if we wanted.

We arrived at a fork in the track after maybe 20 or 30 minutes.........right to follow the loop or left to head up to Parachute Rock.....

"Let's just head over that first little rise" said C, pointing the Parachute Rock way.

......and as anyone who has ever walked anywhere will know, there is always one more little rise just past the one you can see......and so it went on. We stopped and wondered 'how much further?' on too many occasions, but were constantly challenged by the 'just one more' possibility. And each time we walked on we realised we were that bit closer to getting to Parachute Rock, and if we quit then we'd have made a wasted effort. Besides, it might just be over the next hump or around the next zig-zag........

When we reached a spot that had snow we figured we must be getting pretty close...... just one more zig-zag then huh?

3.30 and many 'just-one-more's' later we figured that we must be soooooo close by now. We were both tired, legs aching from the constant uphill, and we'd come this far, surely we weren't going to quit now?! But time was beginning to play on our minds. We'd already been walking for over two and a half hours (so much for a gentle 90-minute return loop!!) so we decided that we'd turn back at 3.45 no matter what. Off we went to the next zig-zag and then, just 5 minutes before our turn-around deadline, there we were, out of the trees, almost above the bush-line and looking out over the most wonderful view! Time for a celebratory (and very much deserved!) snack and a few pictures before heading back down the mountain.

Arrived back at the car just as the sun was disappearing behind the mountains which created a rather lovely and very relaxing pink end to a great day.

5 hours of walking in total - not what we'd planned to do but a walk I'm sure we'll both remember for a long time!!