Headline March 14, 2018/ ''' *MAJESTIC - NEW ZEALAND'S - MOUNTAINS* '''

''' *MAJESTIC -NEW ZEALAND'S - 

MOUNTAINS* '''

IN PROUD PAKISTAN - nobody ever could or did, or even cared enough to truly organize great tourism in its truly *world class landscapes*.

Zilli researches and estimates and thinks, that had Pakistan done so, truly and well, we would be, over the 5 decades, $44, billion richer. Hussain and Marwin/Germany corroborated this sad stat.

IN BEAUTIFULLY governed New Zealand - right out their in the wilds, just forget the tent.

NETWORK of trail huts bring total strangers together in remote backcountry : Mueller Hut, Greenstone Hut, two of the almost 1,000 in the network.

Some were shelters for miners or shepherds, while others were station for scientists. 

Putting away the Intentions Book, I took advantage of the warm afternoon sun to explore the area around Cameron Hut. Just outside the door, a small shed protected the wood pile and well-worn ax.

The ''long drop'', an outhouse over an abnormally deep hole, sat nestled in a thicket of silver beech 150 feet north of the hut. To the west, I followed the river until I discovered the series of deep pools beneath a pair of towering waterfalls that Joanna and Logan had told me to visit.

Laying my towel on a rock, I braced myself for what would be an undoubtedly frigid but equally necessary bath. Not a bad place to call home for the night. 

When you arrive at a hut, any sense of urgency melts away and is replaced by a the easy rhythms of of hut life.

When a predictably unpredictable New Zealand storm blows through, you close the windows and open your book.

When your stomach rumbles, you start dinner. When the sun disappears behind the mountains, you light a candle or flick on your headlamp.

As quaint as they may seem, huts also serve a very real need. They provide an essential shelter in New Zealand's most extreme environment.

Even hardened adventurers could be persuaded to choose the protection of Iris Burn Hut over the characteristic downpours of Fiordlands or the warmth of Mueller Hut over the unpredictable snowfields of the Southern Alps.

Huts are their finest when the weather is at its foulest.

For me, this realization came on the Richmond Alpine Track as I tramped through storm clouds so dense that I could barely see more than 30 feet ahead.

Exhausted and borderline hypothermic, I kindled a fire at each hut, decorating the wood stove with my saturated layers of clothing.

As horizontal rain beat hard against the walls, I savored the fire and a steaming mug of soup.

It was only after I emerged from the mountain that I learned that I had hiked through the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, which had killed 14 people in Australia and caused widespread flooding throughout New Zealand.

Without those huts, anyone on the route I had just hiked could have fallen victim to that storm's violence.

But inclement weather was the furthest thing from my mind as I settled into Cameron Hut on this sunny autumn afternoon in mid-March.

The valley would protect me from the all too familiar winds that had threatened to peel Slaty Hut right off its exposed perch in the Richmond Range.

Neither too big nor too small, Cameroon Hut's modest footprint couldn't compete with the 32 bunk, multiroom huts with flush toilets on the Rees-dart Track in Mount Aspiring National Park.

Yet it felt palatial compared to the tiny Sefto Bivouvac - I couldn't even stand completely - nestled beneath the Tewaewae Glacier.

The size and grandeur of backcountry huts are often linked to their popularity, and prices follow suit.

Basic Huts are free, but most huts in New Zealand range from $3 to $10 per night. Bunks fill up on a first-come, first-serve basis, but there is always room on the floor.

Great Walks Huts, on the other hand can cost up to $35 per night and require reservations months in advance.

For committed hut travelers there are six months [$65] and yearlong [$85]  passes, which grant you unlimited access to most Basic, Standard and Services Huts. With just a few visits to Serviced Huts , the pass more than pays for itself.

At Cameron Hut, my dinnertime ritual began by fetching river water in the buckets. Almost every hut has some access to water, but that was the only time I used buckets.

More established huts have well water pumped through interior sinks. Others have external rainwater catchment cisterns with an attached faucet. The Department of Conservation encourages all users to treat or boil their water before consumption.

Huts provide water, but hut users pack their own food and stove. Meals are lightweight and calorie-dense, ranging from prepackaged, dehydrated beef stroganoff to a ramen noodle and mashed potato slurry.

I will never, forget however, the night when two Italians cooked me a gourmet pasta dinner, utilizing an entire pumpkin that they hauled to the hut.

People cook alongside strangers, sharing their meals around community tables. For dessert, someone almost always passed around a massive bar of Whittaker's chocolate.

As dusk fell on Cameron Hut, I paged through the Intentions Book again. Foreigners and Kiwis alike noted how they underestimated the steep trail to the hut, but enjoyed the reward of swimming beneath the waterfalls.

Some complained about nasty weather. Hunters documented the number of chamois and tahr, exotic species of mountain goat introduced to New Zealand in the early 20th century.

Instructions on how to get above the tree line covered an entire page, complete with a hand-drawn.

This hut is remote enough that it often sits empty for days at a time, if not weeks during the winter, yet these entries recorded the enthusiasm of its infrequent visitors and their hope that others would experience some of what they themselves had found here.

Wriggling into my sleeping bag, I opened the ''The Girl on the Train,'' knowing that sleep wasn't far-off.

In the morning, I would add my own story to the Intentions Book. Then I would tidy the hut, close the door behind me and head down the trail towards my next night's shelter.

With respectful dedication to the President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and the people of Pakistan,......... and then the-

The Honorary President of World Students Society, Mrs Anis Fatima, the revered mother of Dee and Hussain, and then

Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW! - the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

'''Travel & Times'''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless