For this part of the trip we pretty much backpacked for three days straight. Our first night we heard it was supposed to rain so we hiked up the mountain in the dark to the first hut. It was really cool and when we got to the top we were surrounded by the moonlit mountains. We had a special moment where we all just stopped hugged eachother and got all girlie and excited. When we got to the hut we discovered it full of australearn boys from Canterbury which was pretty cool because we all played cards and had a nice time.
The next day we had planned to go to the the Upper Caples path that looped around to the Greenstone path, but as it was, there was a turential downpour and we had major problems trying to cross an unbridged swamp land. We sure did give it a go until Courtney fell in the water (full body) twice and it was suggested that it might not be fun to hike 5 more hours in the pouring cold rain. We made our way a few more hours to the Howden hut and decided to just do the Greenstone track there and back. When we arrived there was a helicopter of guys working on the bridge. They had decided to take advantage of the area and had hunted a deer, which we coincidentally got full view of as they were leaving with it in a cart below the helicopter. There was also a hilarious moment when I thought that could chop some wood for the fire, which was miserably unsuccessful. Can someone in my life please teach me? This is a survival skill I need. The next two days we hiked a 6 hour track to and from the Mckeller hut. It was pretty flat, but with all the rain there were some challenging obsticles along the way. We also got to cross a wire bridge, where I constantly reminded myself I could do because I had just jumped out of a plane. Ha. Anyway, it was a really great trip and we saw so much raw natural beauty alone in the wilderness. Because it was cold there was pretty much no one else there and we really got to experience it alone, which is really cool given the popularity of the tracks in Fiordland. This was definitely more of a challenging trip than a relaxing tramp through the woods, but we all worked together and had a really sweet time.
In the parking lot before the big tramp!
Dusk taking over the mountains
Helicopter outside the Howden Hut
Once we stripped out of our wet clothes, we felt pretty good.
Howden Hut
View at the start of the 6 hour hike...we basically walked straight to those mountains and then along in the woods a bit too... really cool and totally swampy
Wire bridge with one at a time warning! A tad dodgy
Lord of the rings like swamp area
Stretchin/collapse time was a must.
Right outside the McKeller Hut! Home at last!
We played a lot of cards in the candlelight! Also, did I mention that we had to ration our food to the point where a carrot for dessert was a luxury and peanut butter was in short supply? We definitely did not have enough food but we managed and made up for it in the days to come.
Aortearoa, land of the long white cloud
Almost got everyone! 
Beautiful lake outside the hut on the first night!
View from the top of the Mountain on our way back to our car. Beautiful!
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