Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles

Working out the MUSCLES!!

i must say the overnight tramping trip at the waitakere ranges was an eye-opener!
it is definitely amazing that i can trek 6-7 km up to the hut and 8 km down to the Piha beach!
gosh..moving up the bloody steep terrain was poof! i was damn scared when i was moving down the slopes! i was holding onto the sturdy trunks for my dear life as i was finding a groove to get me anchored..haha.. i was a little unstable even when i was walking on the flat ground with my pack that weighs at least 8kg *faints* so trekking with that up and down the slopes (about 60 degrees inclined or almost 70 for some) was unimaginable!! besides, i was in front of my US friends who did quite a bit of tramping back home..so i had to be fast so that i dont jammed up the line! ahh..that was stressful..hahah..what a strange and foreign way of using 'stress'.

it was literally wilderness with the protuding roots, the uneven trails and the tons of bushes, trees and ferns crossing into the paths (or should i say we were in their paths..hahah..and some of them dont even look like a path!). a kiwi told us that waitakere is one of the least managed trails around.. so you know you know.. i was on the tramping crash course!?!
the second tramping trip after rangitoto and my first time with a pack.. wahahha!! fantastic!

the most hilarious thing was that i actually found this sign funny at the start of the trip.

goodness..please show your due respect to this sign. it is a killer!!
i was on 4 crawls when i made my way to the pool after i left my pack at the hut rented by the tramping club. thank goodness i did not have my pack on..else i dont know what i will do.
stupid me actually did not learn my lesson after the tedious hike up to the hut. i kept thinking that the sign was nothing but a bluff after i walked on a fairly flat ground for 15 minutes. but yes, the show was just about to get exciting! wahaha.. i met the group of guys who took the long and wet trip (you are required to walk through rivers, climb, trek and dont know do what for 5-6 hours with their packs) along my way. they almost died when i told them it would be another 15 minutes to the hut. hahah. 'ah yes, 15 minutes WITHOUT your pack' one said. erm, yah. hahah.. i am sorry. hahah.

aiyz..but i definitely had my fair share of retribution throughout the trip..fell when i was crossing the small river and i was rewarded with two ridiculously big bruises on my right kneecap and calf..had cuts on my bruised kneecap when i was walking through the bushes and tons of insect bites over the body! die..i dont want to be in the karma league with yang and yifeng!

right, after blabbering so much, it is only right to put up the precious rewards for this trip!

the very first part of the journey.

the last few glimpse of the sky before we moved on.

there were no shower facilities..so this was the best that we can get..and so much for wanting to see THE pool!

our hut where some of them slept in.

i slept in the tent with aaron, amy and jenny. we were tearing down the tent we slept for the night. while all of us said that we were tired, i was the only one who slept the most. hahah..the rest of them could not! oops. (foreground: amy, background: aaron)