I almost called this post, “A Day Walk to the Cascade Saddle,” but reconsidered at the last minute as realistically getting to Cascade Saddle isn’t a day walk. You can do it in a day, but it’s an epic one.
Here on the South Island of New Zealand, summer was a bit slow to arrive this year. We’re normally treated to days and days of clear blue skies with warm and settled weather. Things were a bit different this year, and whilst this resulted in missions into the backcountry being a bit delayed, the advantage was I had heaps more time available to work on this long neglected blog.
If there was one warning I would give someone before learning to paraglide, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the potential dangers of the sport. It would be a cautionary tale of a different variety – one that focused more on the incredibly addictive aspect of flying, and one that cautioned how paragliding can very quickly take over your life.
It’s been pretty quiet here on the blog front over the previous weeks; my Spring, Summer and Autumn consisted of me either learning to paraglide, going on backcountry mountain bike rides, or running NZByBike.com. I’m stoked to finally get a post up, and couldn’t be happier to give my good mate Bruce a chance to plug some out-of-the-way New Zealand destinations you’ve probably never heard about.
Backpacking Matt 
