We were playing with the clouds, sometimes touching them. They turned at times our surroundings into a dichromatic world of fawn tussock and light grey mist. And at other times, they would suddenly lift up to unveil the undulating view of the distant mountains. The silhouette of thickets of trees appeared as diffuse shadows. We were hiking in a watercolor painting. The rain was heavy at first, so we took the valley track. Our original plan had been to hike up Mt Arthur Route