Day 34: Tekapo to Camp Stream hut

A relaxed start to the day, with breakfast at a café. Then we were headed out of Tekapo (finally) after a couple of days rest. Over the footbridge by where they'd installed the dam when building Tekapo A. Passing the church of the Good Sheppard on our left.

The day's walking began with a 16 km road walk around the lakes edge. On the way, we got a few phone calls in, and some other business before we lost reception.

Wallabies, like most things Australian, are a bit of a pest in the area down here. We saw a couple dead ones on our way, one against a fence post, and another on the small bit of paved road coming over a wee bridge.

The track then left the lake and followed an easy uphill gradient pretty well for the rest of the day. There was no shade to be had, and it was a scorchingly hot day. But the walking was relatively easy, and the poles stayed in the bag all day. As the track got higher up over the lake, we were afforded some great views.

There was only one significant departure from the steady uphill gradient, and that was to dive down and back out of a small river. It was a bit of a scramble getting down without poles, the tread on our shoes was all but gone by this stage.

Shortly after that, we reached Camp Stream hut. This is a private hut, not a DOC one. So it doesn't count as the official oldest on the trail. But built in 1898, it predates Martin's hut by 7 years. It was however, in much better condition. They had inside posters advertising yearly working bees for upkeep. In any case, it served as welcome accomodation for the night and saved us the trouble of pitching our tent for the price of a small koha.

We made dinner, and sat outside to eat it. We were treated to a spectacular view of cloud trickling over the Richmond range (yes there are two of them in the South Island) before pouring down into the valleys on the other side.

Tomorrow we climb up over Stag Saddle, the highest official point of the Te Araroa at 1925 m above sea level. We've decided however, to divert our journey up the adjacent ridge line, rather than take the valley ascent. This will bring us up to Beuzenberg Peak, at 2070 m before decsending back down to the saddle. This route should afford us excellent views over Lake Tekapo and the surrounding area.

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