Baby Steps

Nydia Bay, Marlborough Sounds

I take for granted that I grew up tramping. Some people didn’t grow up with the character-building torture of going for ‘short walks’ in the rain through the middle of nowhere as a kid. My friend Grace hadn’t grown up tramping, preffering the hotel lifestyle. When she asked if we could go tramping I was a bit surprised. We ended up agreeing on Nydia Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds as a suitable destination, I think mostly because it has hot showers.

It was horribly muggy when we got out of the car in Kaiuma Bay. We set off up the track, which climbed steadily through lush podocarp forest. The track was benched, making for easy going up the hill, or at least I thought so. Grace was steadily puffing away behind me, and I gently encouraged her by chanting “yes you can, yes you can”. On our ascent we passed a gaggle of older ladies who seemed delighted to see someone else on the track. Crossing over a low saddle, the track began to drop taking us through exotic pine to two pleasant streams gurgling under the trees.

Once over these we were faced by an unexpected climb. Unexpected because I hadn’t properly looked at the map before we left. I did my best to…