We took the high track to day, and we rewarded with 360 views.

Challenge:

Getting off the peak. While there was a direct track marked on the map. We back tracked to loose some easy elevation and then switched back directly to the saddle.

Learning:

What is this?

Kapokapowai (meaning water snatcher) / New Zealand bush giant dragonfly is endemic to NZ.

Summary:

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.

Summary:

Trent catching up on 6 days worth of blog post!

Challenge:

Arriving early at the popular Ramen Tekapo.

Learning:

Recaping on a 2017 Wilderness magazine. Uncle Warwick features along side the Dragons Theeth in the Kahurangi National Park.

Summary:

A long awaited zero day in Tekapo was finally upon us. We grabbed breakfast and lazily wandered the shops looking for socks or underwear. They don't sell any underwear, anywhere, in Tekapo. Then we sauntered on down to the pools. We'd been looking forward to the hot pools all the way from Bluff. We spent a good 3 hours soaking, it was glorious.

Then we walked back to town, following the lake.

Then it was time to get to work, catching up on blogs. I wasn't terribly successful. An excuse for another day off tomorrow.

We finished the night with some fish and chips, and a food resupply ta the four-square. It's a 5.5 day section ahead to get through to the Rakaia river. We are thinking we'll attempt the 2.5–3 hour Rangitata crossing. But we've had about 1.5 days of dehydrate sent along with our shoes to Mesopotamia, so we'll only need to carry 4 days worth... 125,000 kJ. We had about 45,000 kJ in the packs from some rough mental math, so we shopped for 80,000 kJ.

Summary:

We woke up late, and had an easy morning departing Twizel. It's 55 or so km to Tekapo, but there is only the one camping opportunity at the south end of Lake Pūkaki 11 km or so enroute. So we'd be forced to have a short day, and a marathon (technically an ultra-marathon) day to follow. So we had breakfast at the local café. We'd discovered a day earlier there was no option for any outdoor/hiking equipment of any worth in Twizel or Tekapo.

We are both in dire need of new shoes, the tread is wearing thin, and the sides are quickly becoming more hole than side. In addition, my socks are in a similar state, and there's no Icebreaker retailer until Wellington to get a free swap out—so I'll have to pick up a couple of pairs. The underwear have done a stellar job at stopping my thighs from chaffing, but they too are developing chinks in their armour around the inner thigh, a testament to their efficacy.

So we spent a long while at breakfast organising resupplys, ordering gear from all over to further up ahead at Mesopotamia Station.

After much mucking around we left Twizel in the mid to late afternoon, for our short walk up to Lake Pūkaki. This section, like the last day and a bit, was coincident with the Alps to Ocean cycle trail.

At Pūkaki we stopped at the visitor center. They had an interesting display about the history of the region, and a lot to do with the Iwi before and after colonisation, and the stolen land, and land protests at Ōmārama in the early 20th century. Quite similar in color to what happened earlier at Parihaka. What stuck out most to me was a simple quote:

Mō tāta, ā, mō, kā uri ā muri ake nei.

Which translates to:

For us and our children after us.

We arrived to the campsite to see that the council had crudely cellotaped up a self-contained campers only sign at the center of the site. Apparently they've changed their rules recently, for a reason that was not immediately apparent. The site was fully kitted with 4 toilets. The trail notes still list this spot as valid, and they were last updated in September. Indeed, not 300 m up the road there was a sigh saying that there was a tent spot here. Not having much option, we elected to set up anyway, but did so up on the hills away from everything. I cleared out a thistle from the middle of an ideal campsite using the leatherman wave knife we'd found yesterday.

The rain came in, and we cooked a lentil curry in the vestibule (very carefully, it's a big no-no after all). Our first marathon awaits us tomorrow.

Summary:

From our advanced campsite we had a relatively easy day ahead. The track was good, there was not so much undulation... just a slow gradual increase in elevation up to the saddle. It got slightly steeper toward the saddle, before flattening out into a little bit of a swamp.

The view from the top, at around 1420 m.

Coming down the other side we were met by great views over lake Ōhau.

The bush line would begin at around 1000 m, and the track conditions would steadily improve as we got down to lower elevations, eventually becoming a walking highway. Abruptly we were tossed out of the beech forest, into the grave of what once was. Bush fires had ravaged the surrounding area, and especially the foothills, leaving behind blackened tree carcasses. The track met up with a 4wd road, and it was quite interesting to see the ferns winning the battle for the new undergrowth... outcompeting the gorse.

The fire had been right over the road where the Te Araroa comes through, the pole markers were left in a sorry state.

We eventually got down to Lake Ōhau, showing off it's glacial hue. We decided to push on a little bit around Ōhau to find a campsite for the night, as the DOC campsite had met the same fate as the forest.

We found a good spot on the lakes edge and set up for the night. A short 30 km flat walk into Twizel from here tomorrow.

Summary:

New year's day. 2021. After our impromptu rest day yesterday, we were feeling quite energised. It was an easy, relatively nice gradient (compared to the horror that had come before) 300 m climb up to breast hill. Our new highest point on the Te Araroa. From here we were treated with exceptional views in all directions.

Then the track found a 4wd road, which it would stick to, all the way to Stody's hut. Easy walking, with a net elevation loss of 500 m over 8 km, and we found our way to Stody's hut in about 3 hours 30.

The hut was an old musterer's hut, and it was not much. Dirt floor, no water, dark, cold, etc, etc. Even the small creek running past it offered nothing, with less than a dribble going through. We elected to have lunch outside, as there were a swarm of fly's clinging to the inside of the one small window the hut offered. We reflected on how grateful we were to have called a short day and then a rest day at Pakituhi. Staying at Stody's would not have been nearly as nice.

From there, the track instantly degraded into a hellishly steep decent. The poles, and the knees, got a work out as we dropped a further 500 m straight down to the Timaru river's valley.

We thought the worst of the track was behind us after we reached the river. We were probably right, but only by a hair. The track would follow the river all the way up the valley, but the sides of the valley were so shear that it often meant the track needed to crawl up 50, 100, 200 m above the river to make forward progress sidling along the hills before being thrown straight back down again. To make things worse, heavy rain had arrived. So the steep decents back to the river, which would have offered plenty of opportunities to slip on a dry day, had us tumbling fairly regularly with the wet. Getting back down to the river would often mean crossing it to crawl up the banks on the other side.

All in all, it was 16 km from Stody's to Top Timaru, but it took us a solid 7–8 hours. There was very little easy walking. Very undulating, sidling, and steep. But toward the end the track found an easy part for the last km or so into Top Timaru hut.

Unfortunately there was no roof water at the hut, and the river was full of share/grit, presently a stark grey colour. There was a side creek going into it though from which we were able to collect some water. At the hut we found an interesting character out for an overnighter. He'd come complete with a cast iron pan, chef's knife, liquid cooker, steak and all the surrounds. He was intent on improving his fitness, so the pan will probably go a long while to helping with that aim. He'd spent most of the year in Nepal doing various hikes before returning home to New Zealand. His partner is currently heading south from Picton, we'll probably see her on the way.

Summary:

Yesterday we'd found a car key on the cycleway between Albert Town and Hāwea. We'd let all the cyclists riding past know we had it and that we'd drop it to the hotel's reception if they found anyone looking for it. This morning Emma went to the dairy to grab some breakfast and some more spinach, as she'd put ours in her top pocket yesterday so it had withered. While there she overheard a lady coming in and asking the cashier if anyone had turned in a key. Emma explained what had happened and that we'd left it with the hotel. The lady insisted on buying our breakfast and was very grateful. She and her husband have been doing the Te Araroa in sections also, so she gave Emma her number and said to give her a call if there's anything more she can do to help.

After that, we had a quick 6 km walk around the Lake Hāwea's edge to arrive at the trailhead.

I'd packed 2 L of water that morning, but by the time we got to the trail head I was quite certain it was going to be insufficient. Luckily we met a couple of insane people (colloquially known as trail runners) at the start of the track. We got to talking and the guy had completed the Motatapu marathon, and the shorter variants several times. They were here to run up this hill. Insanity. Anyway, he offered me up some water which I gratefully accepted.

It was an absolutely grueling climb up to 1300 m from 350 m. A gain of 950 m over about 3.5 km, on a calm and sunny day... which made things very swampy. The hike was punishing, but the views out over Hāwea were spectacular.

On the way up we saw a few paragliders launching off, several other insane people, and one TA SOBO hiker. The plan was to push through to Stody's hut, but by the time we got to the top and we saw how greot Pakituhi hut was, we were ready to call it a short one.

Later that night some paragliders would arrive. It had grown too windy for them to successfully launch, and they'd had a failed attempt already. Not having any camping gear they'd have to hike down the hill after having slogged it up. Heartbreaking. One of them was friends with the first TA SOBO girls that we'd seen in Riverton. Small world.

Late in the night a Czech couple would arrive. Intending to see sunset from the saddle, and sunrise from breast hill (a short hike away). They were quite nice and offered to take our rubbish down the hill with them in the morning. Quite fortunate as we'd had halloumi salad for dinner, so had an avocado and a lemon corpse amount other things, which are quite heavy as far as rubbish goes to tow around for the week ahead. We never heard them get up at 4 am to go see the sunrise. They left quiet as a mouse.

Summary:

The day started with a small up and down from Highland Creek hut toward Fernburn hut.

Then it climbed very steeply some 500 m up to Jack's saddle.

There was no cloud cover, or bush cover save some very brief stretch near the bottom of the valley. We were made to work for the saddle, but it would be mostly downhill from here.

The track flattened out to a comfortable downhill gradient all the way down to Fernburn hut, and we made easy distance from here. The sun continued to bake us.

After getting to Fernburn hut, we were now at the first part of the Te Araroa that we had done before. A few years back we did an out and back for an overnighter here, at Emma's sister Ang's suggestion. We knew that  there was a nice stream and some beech bush cover ahead. So we raced down the hill to get there. Emma had a brief attempt at a swim.

Shortly we'd make the carpark, following on we'd find the Glendhu camp ground in an absolute packed state.  Like sardines in a can. A horde of boats were out on the lake, fighting to compete for space. We stopped briefly at the campground store to grab some cold drinks at around 16:00. We had no interest in staying there the night, and we're glad to see the back of it. But it would mean a 16 km walk around the lakes edge to get into Wanaka where we'd be able to find Marta who had offered us a spot to pitch the tent for the night.

The sun was ferocious, and I must have lost 10 L in sweat walking around. Emma had another swim enroute. We made Wanaka in around 3 hours to be greeted by #thatwanakatree.

We then set out to find Marta's restaurant, and hopefully Marta. We were greeted with a broad smile and a lot of fuss as she seated us at a table and started loading us up with drinks, dinners, and deserts. In addition to the beer, I must have drank at least 3–4 L of water. After we finished up dinner, we headed off to do our resupply food shop at New World having spent dinner researching the next section. Five days worth, some 150,000 kJ. We also picked up a bottle of wine and some chocolate to say thanks to Marta, though it would not be nearly enough. We filled up all of our water vestibules at the spring at the center of Wanaka then it were back to the restaurant to wait for Marta to close up shop, where she plied us with more drinks.

After a wee while, it was off to Marta's out in the country side for the night. We got our tent pitched, and settled in at around 01:30. A long, but pleasantly eventful day.

Summary:

Easy walking on the Alps 2 Ocean trail this morning with cloud cover.

Challenge:

Marathon distance on mainly sealed road made for sore feet and legs with the camber of the road.

Learning:

The hydro scheme here (Tekapo A) was build during 1938-1951, and is operated remotely  (likely from Hamilton).  The big tank behind the generator in a surge tank.

Summary:

Salad!

Challenge:

Bush bashing wild rose bushes

• The of combination  of sparsely placed markers and a well formed track lead us 200m away from the track.
• Knowing the track was just up that hill we proceeded through a knee deep creek, and fighted tree branchs, blackberry, vines, and roses bushes.
• With the track almost insight we pushed on, literally cutting thought with the pocket knife we had found a few km ealry.
• At the eclipses of half a hour we where finally on track, now wearing a few cuts and drops of blood.

In hindsight in would of been quicker, easyer and involve less upperbody energy if we initially walked back the 200 meters.

Learning:

Trent's Dad may of stayed in the same accommodation as we did, while worked on the   Ōhau B 38 years ago. The once staff accommodation, is now a lodge well suited to rowing groups, and other travelers.

Summary:

Easy track!

Challenge:

• Leaving Top Timaru Hut
• Leaving Tin Hut
• Hail on the saddle
• River crossing
• Looking for a stream to camp by
• Setting up tent in rain

Learning:

Here's Trent catching up on the trail happenings.

• Daniel (who gave us some cord to fix the tent at Telford camp) left details in the hut book of his river crossings
• Theres a drawing from another southbounder (SOBO) crossing of the Ahuriri River
• Paul (who we met at Birchwood Station) name is in the book followed by Chris.

Summary:

Trent called a zero (rest day) this morning, on account of needing more sleep and the beautiful hut. We rested, read books, cooked lunch and chated with a tramper passing through and then overnight trampers.

Challenge:

Is it challenging trying not to eat to much food? Crackers and peanut butter are well stocked and maybe we should eat these rather than continuously carry them from one stretch to the next.

Learning:

Paragliding. Yesterday we saw a glider on our way up. Later we meet a pair who hadn't had the right conditions to launch and without overnight gear proceeded down the track with their 10kg of flight kit. Today the Backcountry magazine informed me that longest paraglide in New Zealand covered 197km from the nearby Treble Cone.

Summary: