Milford Trek End

And then about a mile before we arrived, this beautiful young couple from Israel met us on the track, and said they had been concerned about us and wanted to see if they could carry our packs for us. Ofre took my pack from Max, and Hadas actually offered to take Pat's, but he felt he could manage, and we all walked the last mile together. We were just overwhelmed by their thoughtfulness.

Ofre and Hadas are from Tel Aviv, and are both working on their PhD's after having served in their country's military. We had a great chat with them the night before about their views of our country, theirs, and their hopes for a peaceful future. We were so impressed with them, and it helped my loneliness for my own kids to spend some time with young people their age. Here is a picture of Hadas (a lovely name meaning flower) and Ofre (which means "deer").

So the last morning we knew we had to get up earlier and leave earlier because we had a six hour hike to make the 2 pm boat at Sandfly Point which we had reserved to get back to Te Anau. And six hours to others would likely mean 8 for us. So we left early, and made it to the boat just in time.

By the way, the Sandfly name is very appropriate. I'll take mosquitos. And note my "I'm so happy!!!" look to be sitting on that boat!

We spent our last night in beautiful Te Anau, got up early and took a 10 hour bus ride to Christchurch, which was just perfect because we badly needed to rest our aching bones. The rolling hills, grazing sheep and kind New Zealand people we met are so present in our thoughts; we hope some of them will keep contact with us, come to the US for a visit and stay with us in Minnesota.

And this morning, as we sat down in an unfamiliar church, Pat and I were both struck by the last hymn of the morning, which is one of our favorites:

"We are pilgrims on a journey and companions on the road,
we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too."

We came to Milford seeking beauty and enjoyment and ended up receiving so much more. We are so very grateful. It will be hard to leave New Zealand tomorrow morning, we have had a wonderful time here.

Kia Oro


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