The Crew - Part 2

I lied, it looks like it's going to be a three parter.

I arrived at the hut a little tired from rushing back to beat the dark. I wasn't really sure how far away the hut was and I didn't want to take any chances so I sort of jogged/galloped most of the way. There were five other people in the hut when I got there which left the place feeling pretty empty, but still cozy. I started a conversation with a bald man with interesting eyebrows who had just arrived from the same parking lot that I came from earlier that morning. The conversation died away quickly and I sat by myself while we ate dinner. Conversations started to pick up a little later while the six of us cleaned up and I learned that the interesting eyebrow guy's name was Frank. Frank from Berlin.

(At the age of 45, Frank recently quit his job and sold everything he owned so he could travel around the world, but that's not important to the story. Worth telling, but not important to the story. )

Of the six of us, there was myself, Frank, another American also studying in Auckland, an Israeli, an Australian and another German named Axel. We got to talking about where we were going an where we had been. I told my story of accidentally ending up in the park while looking for a place to sleep at which point Frank interjected, "Oh, they told me that I booked the last bed at the hostel where stayed last night, but because I stayed there, I didn't arrive here until late this afternoon." There were hundreds of beds in eight or nine hostels in Wanaka, but as soon as he said he got the, "last bed," I knew that Frank was the reason that I ended up in Mount Aspiring National Park for the night. I asked him the name of the hostel and he confirmed that it was the same one. How about that.

We continued talking about our plans and it looked like two people were headed over a place called, "Cascade Saddle," and continuing on to another town on the other side of the mountain. Some of the others were considering going up halfway to the saddle and turning around, a 9 hour hike. I didn't think I would do that because I had the three hour hike back to my car and I still had to drive another three hours that night. I went to sleep expecting to just wake up the next day and work my way back out of the park, but at 6:00am, when Frank noticed that he had woken me up, he asked if I was going to join him and the rest of the group going up to the Saddle and back. I started to say, "ummmm," while I thought of a nice way to say, "no," but by the time I thought of something, I had been saying, "ummmm," for way too long and I felt I had to say, "sure." So I said, "sure," and I got my stuff together.