That would have looked some beautiful the next day! That 2nd day on the Kepler is so exposed when crossing the ridge, you definitely made the smart and correct decision, well done 😊

Sounds beautiful Patrick. Would have been quite a different track back then I believe! Well done tackling the Milford twice in the last few years, definitely well worth the effort! Hope you have many more years of hiking/walking ahead of you 😊❤️🙏

Thanks Chris or Danya. I’ll have to watch some more of your videos. Some of the places are most likely beyond my ability but hopefully I’m wrong. You certainly made the most of your time in these places. I think it’s possible Danya grew up near where I live in Melbourne. There’s something addictive about being in the mountains, you just want more and more and are sort of driven. Another addiction.😃 Thanks for making the effort.

Thanks for the continued support Patrick, we really appreciate it! Danya grew up in Western Australia so she grew up as a beach girl, but her mom is from Vancouver Canada (where I'm from), so she's got mountains in her blood! 😅 I did a lot of camping growing up in Canada, but didn't get into hiking/backpacking until we moved to Australia. We're moving back to Canada in a week and really looking forward to exploring some new mountains and valleys!

Hi Chris, So nice of you to write back. I’ve been meaning to watch your Milford Track video tonight. Wow. You’re from Vancouver. Such a beautiful place, I was talking about Canada this morning as my Wife’s colleague had poped over and she has a Canadian partner and her brother is studying in Vancouver. It’s one of the world’s paradise places as well as the Banff to Jasper trip. I’d love to return for another trip to Canada. And Danya from the West. Such a phenomenally beautiful part of Australian. And a great many people from the eastern states have not visited it. I have a friend in WA who has been “Over East, “ just once in her life. You went everywhere in NZ and so many cool places in Australia. Well done. And yes, it’s driving me crazy at the moment with watching NZ tramping videos and the fact that 38 years have passed since I did the Travers / Sabine. Time just goes so fast and faster as you get older too. Best wishes on your journey to Canada and good luck navigating the crazily experience world you’ve inherited and from the likes of me who had it easy. Sorry.

Thanks for the kind words Patrick, hope you get the chance to hit the trails again soon ☺

Thank you Mansoor 🙏❤. You're a gem! 😂

Thank you! 🙏 Will have to return and complete the track one day

Have a great time!

Thank you so much for your kind words Dominic, it really means a lot. ❤🙏 Hope you had a wonderful time in NZ and the weather was alright for most of it. It's been a strange summer weather wise

Thanks, I don’t do much narration but I have been thinking about wireless mics, which might double as a narration mic 🤔

@@OutdoorsmanDave That could be good as well! If you don't do a lot of narration that might be a better choice. The DJI wireless mic package looks really good

We had never really planned to do the Cascade Saddle track as a day hike, mainly because of the stories we had heard about coming down the Matukituki side. Once we determined we wouldn't have time to do the whole Rees-Dart track we decided to see how the climb up was and if we felt uncomfortable we'd turn around. It was definitely one of the steepest climbs we've done, but nothing scary. Definitely need to be focused, especially when climbing down. Still glad we turned around when we did because climbing down in the dark would've been a disaster One day we'll return to do the Rees-Dart track!

As I said above, you did the right thing. Since you were actually higher than the saddle when you crested the Matukituki Ridge, you should take the "attempted" out of the title. You guys did well. I always carried crampons and an ice axe when I did trips with high crossings, just in case. It was a great video and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Given the amount of scenrio setup you did, you look like professionals.

I've only left the "attempted" in the title, so people don't get disappointed when we don't actually reach the saddle. I believe some hikers use our videos to see what the track looks like, so if there is a section missing I want to be upfront about that

We could have spent another night at the hut instead of walking back in the dark, but we wanted to stay in our bed that night 😅. The important thing was descending with good light

Thank you as always for your kind words and encouragement John. It means a lot to us ❤🙏🙌☺

Weather was definitely a lot better last summer compared to this year!

Thank you Deb ❤🙏

Thanks for watching 😊

Thank you Andrew! 🙏❤️😊

Thank you for saying that Philipp and thank you for the support! It really means a lot🙏❤️

Still gutted we didn't make it the whole way! Our legs were definitely feeling it and if we continued on, going back would have been a huge struggle. So funny you turned around at the same spot. Those last few KMs sure look far after that climb 😁

Danya was really nervous about this one as well, but to be honest it's not that bad. It's very steep yes, but at no point were we clinging to the rock afraid we were going to fall. I'd recommend starting earlier than you think you would need and doing it when the days are the longest. I'm sure you'll do great 😊

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 🙏❤️

Thanks as always Alan 🙏❤️

Thanks for watching Craig!

Thank you for the kind words 🙏 It's so cool to know people are enjoying watching our videos during their commute to work. Thank you for the support ❤️

Thank you so much, that really means a lot ❤️🙏

Thank you, great to hear from you again! 🙏❤️ We'll be moving back to the Pacific Northwest in 2024 and we can't wait!

Thanks for the support Angelica 😊

Thank you for the words of encouragement Jennifer! ❤🙏 Danya says it definitely doens't feel easy, but she likes looking like a hiking boss 😎 haha Thanks for watching, fans like you are the reason we keep them coming! ☺

Thank you for the support! 🙏❤️

And this is only a small portion of it! Such a great National Park. Thanks for watching ☺

Portable jet-packs? Sign us up! 😂 Thanks for coming along ☺

Thank you Sal ❤️🙏. Definitely think it was the right choice

We did that route back in the 90s, and it took us way longer to get back than we expected, it got dark, the river had risen and if it hadn’t been for a friend gathering folks from the hut to come down and check to see what was going on, see us across the river, make a human chain to get us across, who knows… bad stuff happens to the overconfident out there. 😬😬😬 I was forever chastened.

A lot of other places in the world have predators to worry about, but NZ it's all about mother nature. The terrain is difficult and the forever changing weather can be unpredictable! Always need to be more cautious when tramping in the wild over here We even find the locals to be a bit too casual when heading into the back country. The hut network is fantastic, but can give a false sense of safety and protection

Thank you for the kind words Chris ❤️🙏 It's great you get to call such a beautiful country home 😊 Perhaps you could look into spending a night in Hooker Hut in Mt Cook National Park? It's a very easy/short walk to the hut!

Will definitely do one! Just want to sit down and weigh everything beforehand so we can do a comprehensive video

We didn't want to have to pick and choose what to hike on a holiday, so we just decided to move here 😅

Would love to do the Rees-Dart Track one day! Sounds like a great time

@@ChrisandDanya yes the Rees Dart is a very pretty walk with great huts and several really nice side trips from the main route..

We always wanted to do the Rees-Dart track but could never get enough time to do it. Will have to return one day and do it

We did the same, many years ago. Rees-Dart is a great track. It’s Kepler I’ve always wanted to do!

The ridge walking on Day 2 of the Kepler is stunning

Yes there are countless hikes harder than this one, some that we have done. This wasn't about it being too difficult to complete, it was about giving ourselves enough time to descend in good light

Agreed Dave! We're honestly surprised we didn't make it. With spending the night at Aspiring Hut before and going up with day packs, we definitely thought we gave ourselves enough time. We probably could have made it, but we wanted to descend with good light as Danya was struggling a bit on the way up. Can't imagine how difficult it would be with a full pack on and camping near the saddle. I just use a cheap Razer Seiren Mini to do the narration/voice overs, with a bit of enhancements in the editing software. If I was to buy another USB mic, I would get either the Audio Technica AT2020 or Shure MV7.

That is a Garmin InReach Mini. We don't really use it for it's GPS function, we use it for 2-way Satellite communication

This was April last year. Anything from around Wanaka or further south is all from November 2022 or earlier. The weather last summer was really good, I think it only rained a handful of times in 3-4 months. This summer the weather has been really strange and making planning trips a bit difficult to be honest!