One step at a time, each step harder than the last.
Ascending further and further up the goat track, muscles burning, stomach churning, shoulders hurting.
I approach the summit of the saddle.
I look out and see a panorama of the vast world beneath me, as the wind smashes into my frozen, wind-blown face.
The bitter raindrops following the polar blasts bombard me and my tramping pack.
You can't help but feel overcome with a feeling of happiness and self-accomplishment.
It is at this place in time when I am standing on top of the world that I feel most alive - at one with nature, nothing but the fresh air and warm comforting safety of the beech forest below.
Tramping is a hobby of mine, an activity that I can't help but get excited about.
Every track is different from the last - what will we see next?
Glaciers, chasms, waterfalls, fiords, rivers, viaducts, scrubland, bridges, a raging sea, tussock, or endless beech forest?Each adventure has something waiting for me and that only enhances the thrill.
New Zealand is a country we should all be proud to call home.
It is a world full of amazing flora and fauna and natural formations found only here.
But more often than not, New Zealanders themselves have become stuck in the drab rat-race that has made us conform to the ''wake up, work, watch TV, sleep'' society.
This is so wrong!Generation after generation are now growing up in a digital society where we care more about an app on a phone than going outside and breathing.
We are becoming dull pea-brains!What level on Candy Crush are you?How many ''Likes'' on Instagram did you get?
Do you seriously only have 500 friends on Facebook?
I am not saying that I don't like Facebook and I am certainly not saying I don't use it and the many social networking apps like it, but I am saying that all of them are unnecessary parts of someone's life that should not consume a significant amount of our daily time.
These superficial things do not compare to the sheer natural beauty New Zealand has to offer.
Take it from me, I have been tramping in these awesome landscapes and it is here that I know how lucky we are.
So my advice to you all is climb that summit, feel the wind against your cheeks and more importantly, breathe.
Plan a weekend away from that job of yours and venture into the unknown.
New Zealand's wilderness will not disappoint.
I promise you.
• By Bligh Pringle, Year 13, South Otago High School
