Adventurer Nic

We eventually woke up after snoozing the alarm for half an hour (by mistake). The tent was freezing (literally) and our hands went numb taking it down. The zips were frozen shut and we found ourselves in a thick freezing fog in the valley. We returned to the gravel road where we had a 22km walk to the trail head for the Takitimu Track (our next section of Te Araroa). We spent the hours of fairly boring road walking chatting about hiking the Kepler Track (one of New Zealand's 'Great Walks') as a side quest to our main journey and discussing various other logistical plans for the completion of Te Araroa as we are now a mere 10 days worth of walking from the finish line (somehow!). We chatted with a northbounder at the road end and swapped advice before hiking up the main highway to our hitch hike point. We had to wait around 15-20mins before a couple stopped for us and took us with them to Te Anau, a short drive down the highway. We went straight for food when we arrived in Te Anau (a chicken poke bowl each and a huge plate of chips to satisfy our hiker hunger) before resupplying at the supermarket and heading to the campground, an additional 30-min walk out of town. We'll rest here tomorrow before starting the Kepler Track 😃

We woke to our alarm after a peaceful night's sleep but it was cold so we were slow to rise from our warm sleeping bags! We had our breakfast on a picnic bench and got the tent down just before it started drizzling (a rainbow appeared over the mountains which was beautiful! see pics). We got walking and crossed a swing bridge which led to a lovely path beside the lake through beech forest. We passed a second bridge before continuing on the north/west side of the river for 7 more kilometres. After lunch we crossed a swing bridge to the south/east side of the river to walk down the gravel road, this was to avoid a long section of pathless walking through overgrown grasses beside the Mararoa river which the northbounders warned us about. When we were ready to camp we came off the road and returned to the official Te Araroa trail and found a camp spot nestled in the high grasses. As soon as we pitched the tent it started raining hard so we dived inside and hunkered down for 3 hours to let the rain pass. At this point we ate dinner and watched the evening sun cast shadows of the flora on the side of our tent. In the middle of the night, the stars were amazing in the clear skies, free of light pollution.

We woke up naturally in the hut at 8am to the sound of high winds and heavy rain, smug in the knowledge that we were safe and warm in the hut and didn't have to walk far today so we could set off late in better weather. All 5 of us who stayed in the hut last night delayed our respective departures until the rain had fully passed. James and I left at 10.30am and made it to Careys Hut by 12pm along the 4WD track which made for cruisy walking. We had lunch at the hut before finishing the route into Mavora Lakes Campsite which was on the pretty lakeshore. We pitched next to a bench with a lake view. It was freezing cold and we both chickened out of taking a swim in the lake, instead opting for settling down for an early night after eating our body weight in snacks.

We woke up leisurely, ate breakfast, decamped and chatted to a pair of section hikers who were planning to walk the same way as us before leaving at 7.40am. The path was more rugged than yesterday and led through woodland over and under some fallen trees and thick brush. The trail markers then led us out onto tussocky countryside before arriving at Taipo Hut where we chatted to an Aussie Te Araroa northbounder while we ate lunch. We crossed a swing bridge which led up and into a wide valley with a river in the basin. All in all we hiked a reasonable amount of ascent today considering it looked a fairly flat profile on the map initially and the kilometres were harder won than we expected. We passed 3 more northbounders before seeing Boundary Hut on the other side of the river. The trail led down through thick grasses to a swing bridge which led to a track to the hut on the other side. The hut was empty when we arrived. Soon a young Kiwi northbound tramper arrived, followed by the Kiwi couple we met at the last hut. We had lots of great chat throughout the evening as we waited to hear the forecasted storm 🌧

We took down our tent at the holiday park in Queenstown after a peaceful night of sleep beside the babbling brook and got ready to leave. We wandered down to the water's edge before going to Marmolada Cafe for eggs on toast with great coffee. Instagram friends Jenny and Ali joined us for a coffee (impromptu #instameet) and we had a great chat getting to know each other and finding out what led both women to leave the UK and relocate to New Zealand. We then got the shuttle to Greenstone Carpark where Te Araroa trail continues south. The first day of the trail forms part of the popular Greenstone and Caples Tracks and leads through woodland and open countryside. The Greenstone Hut (which requires advance booking) appeared full so we camped outside the hut as planned. James went for a dip at the swimming hole and we ate our cous cous dinner on the decking which boasted an incredible mountain view. A helicopter and medics then arrived to evacuate someone who had fallen on rocks at the swimming hole and hit his forehead. Hopefully the chap made a full recovery 🤞🏻

We woke to our alarm feeling bleary-eyed and exhausted after the eventful night (see previous activity description). We started walking a little later than usual. The first part of the route was through a prestige golf course which was preparing to host the New Zealand Open. The route then led alongside Lake Hayes after which we dived into a lovely cafe for an unplanned brunch and coffee which was lovely. We needed the treat after the trauma of the night before. We continued the walk over Lower Shotover Bridge and into Frankton where we resupplied at Pac n Save (supermarket). We then walked to Queenstown which was (unfortunately) mostly on tarmac paths beside a busy road due to a lakeside path diversion. We then arrived at our campground.

We had a bit of a lazy start as it was too cold to get out of bed! We could see our breath in the hut and the sleeping bags were just so cosy. We eventually set off at 7.30am and started uphill to Roses Saddle. The climb was straight-forward with no thick foliage to slow us down like yesterday morning. Jørgen (19yr old fellow Te Araroa hiker from Norway) caught us up on the descent and we decided to take the low route together which involved 4km in or close to the River Arrow (the alternative was an overgrown path which sidles above the river with lots of ups and downs which northbound hikers had advised us to avoid if possible). The river route was still long and arduous, crossing or walking in the river over 50 times until we reached Macetown where we ate lunch hungrily and dried our feet out. On the next section we again had a choice between a low route and a high route. We picked the high route and went over Big Hill saddle so we'd get a view descending into Arrowtown. James enjoyed talking to Jørgen about football (particularly Norwegian footballers), I think he's missed about 7 episodes of Match of the Day which he's pining for 🤣 When we reached the outskirts of Arrowtown we said goodbye to Jørgen and headed straight for an Italian restaurant. We sat outside and ate a margarita pizza, gnocchi with ragu and oil, garlic and chilli spaghetti with prawns. I washed it down with an Amaro Montenegro digestivo. It was hands down the best Italian meal I've ever had outside of Italy. We then walked to the campsite which was full but they squeezed us in thankfully. At 2.30am we woke from a deep sleep to a disturbance, a rarity in New Zealand where everyone seems to quieten down for the night by 9pm. A paranoid (very) drunk man was trying to find 'someone to kill' over his missing mobile phone. The Police were called, he was promptly whisked away and the quiet was restored once more. I didn't settle well after that though!

Today involved walking over three alpine passes (with steep ascents and descents) which reminded me the most of some of my multi-Munro bagging adventures. The first ascent featured some overgrown trails which held a lot of moisture from rain the night before so we were soaking wet by the time we reached the saddle (which was long before the sun reached us over the neighbouring mountain). After resting a while on the saddle we enjoyed a gorgeous descent down a spur into the valley below where we made it to Highland Creek Hut for lunch. The second pass involved a hike up a spur and then a descent down to a small old beech forest. We asked a Brisbane hiker, "Are you doing the TA?" and he said "No it's just a practical way to get to Queenstown" which we thought was quite amusing! The third pass involved ascending a fairly recent landslip and then dropping down to a creek crossing over stepping stones followed by a gentle incline to Roses Hut. We were 2 of 8 people who stayed in the hut and we had some good chats with other Te Araroa walkers before retiring to our top bunk beds. During the night I woke to the sound of possums hissing on the decking of the hut.

We walked from our campsite to the Parkrun start line and ran the 5k (see separate activity). After a short rest we started the main day of walking (starting with the same 2.5km we'd done twice already on the out and back of the 5k race haha!). It was a nice undulating path with rugged lakeside views featuring a couple of white sandy beaches with driftwood. We reached Glendhu Bay Campground, a huge campsite and bought an icecream and refreshments as this would be the last shop or cafe we'd see until Arrowtown. We then walked up a road section for around 3km before starting on the trail beside the Fern Burn which was through meadow and farmland to begin with, followed by a beech forest and then a tussocky sidle path onto a flatter area where Fern Burn Hut sits. There were already 5 tents pitched outside the hut so we knew it'd be full but more people continued to arrive after us, including a woman with a pet duck (random!) and a couple of families with children. We ate cous cous, gravy, salami, peas and shallots for dinner, a new idea inspired by our Czech trail friends and it was a fab change in our trail food routine. Our dessert was Hokey Pokey Crunch Whittakers milk chocolate (the best).

A brief interlude in our Te Araroa journey!