Cape Brett

Okay so I finally have a chance to sit down and type another entry!   Cape Brett.   Wow this was a very amazing trek and highly recommended to any who come to New Zealand.  The more famous recognition of cape Brett is the hole in the rock scene which you can take a boat through if you want to pay 100 dollars for the cruise.  The unknown part is that you can trek to the light house and stay at the lighthouse keepers old house.  We hired a guy to drop us off at the trail head, which ended up being an hour and a half (including a ferry ride) drive.  When we got to the trail head we didn't actually know it, all it said was scenic reserved with a fancy carved gate.  We then hiked by trail markers an hour and a half before we even found a trail sign.  The hike takes you along the ridge of multiple steep hills (about 300 meter climbs) then once on top you immediately drop and then climb again.  The hike turned to be quiet strenuous because of the constant ascending and descending.  The view however was epic, I have never seen anything like it.  Hiking along a sheer cliff with 400+ meter drop meeting the water then on the other side of the ridge blue green water with hundreds of small islands.  It looked as if we were in the movie the lost world with strange plants, bird calls and fantastic views.  After 6.5 hours of hiking we made our final ascension and started down to the light house, then descended another 500 meters to the light keepers house.  The house renovated by DOC (department of conservation)  was simply beautiful.  Pure white on the outside with beautiful hardwood floors inside.  We ate a snack of tuna fish and crackers with wine (hahaha I packed 2 liters of Merlot 20k) then took pictures of the beautiful sunset.  There is no electricity but there was water (collected by a rainwater cistern) and propane gas.  We ate baked beans and spaghetti and relaxed by the light of candles as the sun set at 6:30.  We got up the next morning and ate some fruit and snack bars with a cup of coffee and saw black clouds rolling in. We didn't know if it was going to rain so we decided to pack up and hoof it out.  It didn't end up raining until we made it to the trail head, but if it would have started raining we would not have been able to hike back for the trail would turn from difficult to deadly in a matter of minutes.  The hike back took about 5 hours as we were afraid for rain.  Halfway back we decided that we had crossed the most treacherous part of the hike and took an hour break to cook some rice on a camp stove and drink some hot coffee.  The view we stopped at was as usual very spectacular.  We stopped at a grassy patch on top of one of the hills over looking several beautiful green islands.  The rest of the hike went on with out a hitch and we made it back 2 hours before our transport was supposed to pick us up.  So...with extra wine we went to the beach and killed the rest of the wine and ate our avocado we had been saving.  The rain started at that point and our transport was an hour and a half late, but with just a bit of chill we made it back and hit the hot tub and ate some great food.  Yet again another computer that won't accept my pictures...have patience and I will find one that I can upload from.  Cheers!