나오미 in korea

It’s a sublime experience to stand on a ridge 5000 feet above sea level and see the waves break in Martin’s Bay, miles away on New Zealand’s West Coast. Balanced on the sharp, warm stone of the peak, an enormous vista unfolds around you; the folding ridges, the endless, smoky Tasman Sea beyond the Coast, the sharp mountains tugging at wreaths of cloud. It’s an experience sharpened by the knowledge that you’re at least two days’ hard walking away from the remotest possibility of procuring more salami and cheese. Standing on the ridge, you are everywhere and nowhere all at once.

But it’s a hard slog getting nowhere. From Queenstown, the South Island’s adventure tourism capital, it’s a long, nose-to-the-window-gorgeous bus ride along the side of Lake Wakatipu, its drowned peaks patched with snow. As we descend deeper into the valley, the landscape becomes more majestic, the bus quieter, the place names breathlessly inspired: One Million Dollar View, Diamond Lake, Paradise. You imagine the first European explorers sitting gobsmacked astride their horses, pulling hyperbole out of the air in a vain attempt to describe the astonishing stillness and beauty of this valley.

And then we arrive at the functional Routeburn Shelter, the drop-off point for the Track. Its absence of romance lets us know the hard work is about to begin. After the flurry of unloading packs, sniffing the air, checking straps and tightening bootlaces, the bus leaves with a fart.

And suddenly there’s nothing left to do but walk.