I came to this delight on the South Island, above Takaka at Golden Bay. I’m still wondering why the fabulous ‘Parapara Peak Track’ wasn’t listed in my little hiking guide. I discovered this secret track by accident on a map. A one day hike, up to 1200 meters. The beginning of the track was at the end of a non-paved road far inland. I arrived at a little parking spot, where the only one again, was myself. Far and wide no one else to spot, only a small house with the visitor’s book, in which everyone is called to sign in the reason, start and end of their hike. (I found that soothing, because if anything happened in there, maybe a ranger would come at the end of the day and save me!:-)) I looked at the list. There was already only one who signed it that day, reason….hunt…? I wonder to this day what he was hunting. Anyway, I didn’t see him, just the way I haven’t seen any other human soul and I was hiking for at least 4 hours in the deepest jungle. Exactly, what I encountered instead – a lot of thrills and adventure. Have a look…

Another highlight was the ascent of ‘ Mount Stokes ‘, 1204 M, the highest point of my beloved Marlborough Sounds. I had to rename it though, to Mount Stroke. The drive to the beginning of this track is already an adventure itself. A loopy gravel road up to 640m where you reach a “car park”, which actually doesn’t really exsist.

Parking at the Entrance of Mount Stokes

As you can see, again nobody else to spot. Because of the persistent  fog, it was hard to see anything anyway, but there was really no one else ! This didn’t keep from conquering the depths/hights of Mount “Stroke”. My intuition told me let’s go, you’re safe here. It was so exciting! I finally arrived in the land of trolls, hobbits and fairies. The energy surrounding me was unique and unreal, like I was part of a fantasy movie.

Blissful Path, Mount Stokes

Foggy Track, Mount Stokes

Enchanted Forrest, Mount Stokes

and it was Christmas…

Christmas Greetings from Mount Stokes

After 2 hours rain became my companion. Roots and stones along the way turned into murder instruments. It was slippery like hell. I really didn’t want to provoke an accident. So reasonably I turned around for descending. Probably not a bad idea, because slowly a bit of anxiety showed up. The atmosphere became more and more gloomy, now as in bad movie. It seemed to me that a figure could suddenly emerge from the fog behind every tree. My heart was pounding fast and faster. That was the time when I gave Mount Stokes his real name. With all the excitement, this hike remains unforgotten. This unique, wild rainforest vegetation with those moss-and fern-draped tree giants had enchanted me as well. If I didn’t feel like I was in a horror movie, I could see myself at times also in a forrest out of a fairytale.

Tree Giants, Mount Stokes

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