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Perfect alpine scenery in the Young's Valley.
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Perfect alpine scenery in the Young's Valley.

New ZealandSouth Islandtrampinghiking

  • We were extremely happy to make it to Siberia Hut from the Wilkin River with extremely heavy rains flooding the rivers mixed with perfect hypothermia conditions which also happened to bring on my second incident ever of cold urticaria (cold induced hives). We were rewarded the next day with being able to look out at a valley full of waterfalls.
  • One of the nearby waterfalls to Siberia Hut with a perfect swimming hole.
  • We spent a rest day at Siberia hut watching snow and rain showers pass over the peaks and through the valley. The weather made hiking over the pass to the Young's River unadvisable. We spent the day mostly sleeping and chatting with the volunteer hut warden George from Australia who regaled us with stories of kayak adventures throughout the South Pacific.
  • Mt. Young appears almost as an apparition.
  • Mt. Aweful. The name just made me want to climb it!
  • Descending into the Young's Valley.
  • The headwaters of the Young's river.
  • The slightly misnamed Mt. Cook Lilly which rather belongs to the buttercup family.
  • Perfect alpine scenery in the Young's Valley.
  • New Zealand's night sky is the most mesmerizing I have seen. It's such a treat to look up and see such a different sky from the Far North.
  • The incredible view we were treated to after we stumbled out of our tent camping at Aspiring Flats.
  • Behind the immediate valley is the lower base of Mt. Aspiring which is hidden in thick clouds.
  • Once we reached the falls at the back of Aspiring Flats we were rewarded with a sighting of a couple of illusive Tahr which effortlessly leapt across boulders suspended over the raging creek from the falls. The Tahr are just one of the animals introduced to New Zealand for sport hunting.
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  • The waterfall at the back of the valley looked relatively close from camp. What I figured would be a fifteen minute jaunt up the river to the falls ended up taking about two hours which gives some indication of scale of the waterfall in the photo.
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  • A misting waterall dropping several thousand feet bringing down water from Mt. Aspiring.
  • The scale of the waterfall only really became apparent once you were still standing a few hundred feet away and were still being blasted by it's myst.
  • Moreno sheep, some of the most cuddly looking sheep around that graciously supply their wool to popular brands like Icebreaker.
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