I was happy to be woken up at dawn to see the first light hitting the mountains, while the plains in front of me were still wreathed in mist and frost! Yesterday I had noticed that the plains had distinct stripes of different grasses, but I hadn’t come up with a good photo of it. I think this one works well, with the stripes of vegetation matched by the stripes of mist and sunlight.
The walk today was a short one for me, as I decided not to take the side trip up Mt Ossa with the rest of the group, opting (a bit guiltily) to have a rest day after the tiring day before. I strolled on through eucalyptus scrub, with some amazing views of mountain peaks in every direction. The next hut at Kia Ora falls was only a few hours away, and I took advantage of arriving early to have a quick shower under a rainwater tank before doing some exploring. Kia Ora falls were small but friendly, and I found the source of the white petals that we saw the day before – a ranger later told me that they were Leatherwood trees.
I spent the rest of the afternoon lazily reading a book, until the rest of my group arrived in the late afternoon and collapsed in a heap.
One final picture, this is Cathedral Mountain taken from near the hut. This mountain was stunning, and was much larger than you can see here, but I didn’t manage to find a way of framing it that I was happy with.
