Day 21 - Wanaka to Lake Hawea, 32km, 6 hours

With a shortish, easy day in prospect, I made a very late start, vacating my room bang on the 10am deadline. I had brunch in Wanaka on the way out - there's nothing like a cooked breakfast when you're used to nothing but dehydrated.
During my rest day I had developed a lot of little niggles, all hang overs from the Motatapu of course. Most settled down somewhat as I started walking, following the lake towards the Clutha River outflow.


The most annoying niggle is a nasty crack on my heel. Colleen had warned me about using strapping tape too much, but with blister issues in the first fortnight I pretty much didn't have a choice.  That's coming back to bite me somewhat now, with cracks on the left heel where the strapping tape had been. I've applied a Compeed, normally used for blisters, to the worst of them, which settled it right down for walking. However all my old blister spots, while not reforming blisters, have been sore in the last few days from the hammering they've been taking. This resulted in a fair bit of limping around Wanaka while I was there. While providing discomfort today, I think they'll heal up within a day or two.

The track around the lake was a curious mixture of people cycling at little more than my walking pace, and competitors in the upcoming Wanaka Ironman out for training jogs, going faster than I'd do an 800 meters.

I noticed early on that my legs were still weary from Motatapu. Although flat, I found the going fairly tiring. A heavier pack with much more food loaded up didn't help matters.

For some reason I decided to walk with only 1 stick today. Since starting TA I've become used to the rythym of using 2, and it felt weird having a hand free. Part way through the day I decided to switch to 2, only to discover my 2nd pole was stuck half closed. A fair bit of tinkering in the evening fixed this, but I'm thinking about changing poles when I get back near Christchurch. If I do so, all of my legacy gear (pre-TA planning) would have fallen by the wayside, barring my pot.

Within a couple of hours I made it to the Clutha outflow. I love places like this! To see a mighty river, arguably New Zealand's mightiest (most flow at 500 cumecs and 2nd longest) flowing from Lake Wanaka is a sight to behold.
I had an extended break here, having a couple of swims at the interface between the lake and the river, up stream a bit, avoiding where the current grew stronger as the river took hold, and some lunch. This was shared with some rambunctious teenage ducklings. I'm not too sure mother duck was particularly happy about this, quacking warnings to her progeny unceasingly. I decided they'd had enough of my lunch when they started nibbling at my toes, and one even had a go at a nipple! (Ow)


I had expected the whole day to be hot and exposed, so was pleasently surprised to have partial shade for much of the day from extensive kanaka along the lake edge and down the Clutha River.

This ran out close to the road bridge over the Clutha, and all of a sudden I was in true Central Otago, exposed country.


After crossing the bridge itself, time for another swim, before heading up the Hawea River. Generally this had little shade, but it's a very pretty river.



There are quite a few white water features on it; one of those Olympic style gated courses, and some man made rapids created by a power company as a "sorry, we dammed all the real ones, have this make believe one instead".

Crossing the Hawea River I met a big American bike party on the bridge coming the other way. Que lots of interested questions in what I was doing and how far I was going.  All very convivial, until one of the last in the party who merely had this to offer, "Get a job, ya bum", said with a full on sneer. Unfortunately for Americans, I'll remember him more than all the lovely people who preceded him across the bridge.

Back to pleasant things. The end of the walk into Hawea was along a water race, supplied from the Hawea Dam. Nice easy walking, and fascinating to watch the water explode into the race under pressure after being released from the lake.


... and so to the lake itself.

I'm staying at the Hawea Hotel, 50 or so meters above the lake. This didn't stop me immediately returning to the lake for a swim though. I was rather cautious as I was swimming within a couple of hundred meters of the inlet for the dam. And then I noticed a bunch of people jumping from part of the inlet apparatus itself. Total nutters.
The day was finished with a burger and chips and a couple of quality beers in the hotel's beer garden. It really hit the spot, and has set me up nicely for another 4 days of dehydrated food.

Hiatus 3 - Wanaka 1 day

Not much to say about this one.

A short stop in Wanaka to resupply.
I've made a couple of alterations to suit my new pack. The old one had an internal money pouch, which this new one doesn't, so I bought a pouch I can attach via carabineer inside the pack.
Also, because this new pack has a much wider, better hip belt, it didn't work so well with the auxiliary belt I was using to hold a water bottle. I searched high and low for a bottle holder that I could clip to either the pack or attach to the waist belt, but couldn't find one. I've made do by buying a chalk pouch that rock climbers use, which seems to be pretty secure. We'll see!

Today I'm off into the mountains again for about a week, next to be seen in Twizel, back in Canterbury!

Day 20 - Highland Creek Hut to Wanaka, 28.8km, 8 hours 12 minutes

Early morning shadows on the climb up towards Jack Halls' Saddle from Highland Creek Hut

I was late out, not donning the pack until 8am, figuring I'd earned a lazy start the day before.
I started the day with all my clothes still wet from the previous day. This is when merino comes into its own. Nevertheless it's never pleasent putting on damp socks and undies.

The morning consisted of climbing up to Jack Halls' Saddle, at a touch under 1300 meters, a fair haul from Highland Creek at about 600 meters. My legs still hadn't fully recovered from the day before, so it was quite hard going. The relief when I got to the saddle, the last sustained climbing on the Motatapu, was considerable.


Then down, down, down to Fern Burn Hut, the last one on the Motatapu. This was easy going, although steep and requiring care in many places. Not far above the hut I spied Lake Wanaka, still many kilometers in the distance, but where I hoped to have a swim in the afternoon.















Then to the hut itself for a morning tea snack and a sustained break.


The walk out along Fern Burn was fairly up and down, but vastly easier than the previous day and a half. I'd be curious to know where the name comes from. The Burn seemed to me conspicuous by its lack of ferns.

Further down the river I came to the Stack conservation area.  This is astoundingly beautiful, well worth a day trip in to see.  Higher up the valley is the most spectacular, albeit also more difficult going, but a steeply cascading stream plunging through a high gorge filled with mature bush rewards those who traverse through here.

The lower valley remains very beautiful, if not quite so spectacular, with a still lively river bubbling merrily through the bush.















Close to the carpark the track exits onto farmland, so time to stow the boots, and out with the sandals again.

Arriving at Glendhu Bay mid afternoon I indulged in a quality late lunch of a Coke, picnic bar and chips, before taking a quick dip in a very choppy lake.

Then it was off on the 15km lakeside walk to Wanaka, during which I passed the 400km marker.
Not all 100km sections are created equal!  I had measured progress through from Macetown more in altitude gained or lost, rather than distance or time traveled.


In Glendhu Bay I had started with fine views up the Matukituki Valley. However rain set in over the mountains, and a violent wind sprang up across the lake, conditions that are always worrying in alpine areas. I was concerned I may not get to Wanaka before I was caught up in the change and increasingly worried that change might be a thunderstorm as very dark clouds streamed out of the Alps and over me.

However I only had the northern coast of Australia to negotiate before I was close to Wanaka (you'll know what I mean when you look at the map).


This section had some magnificent little beaches, albeit it wasn't so attractive for swimming today with oceanic sized waves, thrown up by the near gale force winds, crashing onto them.





Fortunately the weather change came to nothing, and I arrived somewhat tired, but dry, into Wanaka. 

Too tired to drag myself into town for dinner. I doubled down on quality cuisine for the day by using the only delivery service I could find in Wanaka - Domino's Pizza. Yuuuuurgh....

Day 19 - Macetown to Highland Creek Hut, 19km, 9 hours 30 minutes

The dawn chorus woke me this morning at 6.  Here that constitutes the cry of a lone gull.
Unfortunately, even though the sun wasn't yet up, a quick bathroom break was all the invitation the sandflies needed to renew their offensive.  Tent went down with all long clothes on and sandfly net hat in place.


The threatened rain hadn't yet come through, so over my standard breakfast of coffee and porridge I made the decision to once again break from the trail and head straight up the river, which looked an easier route.

I was about to set off just after 7, having only incurred a comparatively parsimonious 20 or so bites, when I realised, with no small regret, that I had packed my snack food somewhere down near the bottom of the pack.  Some people may be able to climb the 2000 meters that was in the offing for today without snack food, but not I!
10 minutes and another 10 bites later I was off!

With fords every hundred meters or so it was futile trying to keep my socks dry, nevertheless the boot/gaiter combo did a good job of keeping most of the mid calf high water out.  Nevertheless an enforced trip up the river itself within the first kilometer settled the matter of dry socks.

The river bed was choked with matagouri and wild rose.  I opted for high sidles to avoid this, but should probably have just kept to the river bed.
As with the saddle a few days earlier, I prevaricated and ended up in the worst of both worlds, stuck between the river and the high track.  A quick climb up a ridge back to the main track soon sorted that issue.


I still had a couple of kilometers to go before the proper climbing started for the day. There were a number of very hairy sidles, the track passing above big drops only just wide enough for my platypus feet.  It was the kind of terrain that would have been much better with only one stick, leaving a hand free for grasping foliage, but there was no safe place to stop and stow my second one.



At least the 4km or so up the river was enough to warm my muscles (if not my feet) before the first climb of the day, 600 meters to Roses Hut.  But not before a last fill of the water bottles before leaving the Arrow River behind.

The weather conditions were just perfect to do some climbing - overcast and cool, with an occasional light shower.  The showers intensified to proper rain just as I began climbing.  With little wind around, I decided to ignore the weather and leave the jacket off.

The first climb was pretty easy in the overall scheme of things, characterised by fairly gentle zigzags to lessen the slope.



Close to the top of the climb, at Roses Saddle, it clagged in and I lost my views, only for them to reappear as I dropped down to Roses Hut and my lunch break.



I had a big break at Roses hut over a very leisurely lunch. While this was done to give my legs time to recover for the more serious climbing to come, it was somewhat counter productive when the rain set in properly. Worried about footing on the steep terrain ahead I settled in, resigned to spending the night at Roses.

In the early afternoon a pair of SOBOs came through. They assured me that the track was well formed and not slippery, which was all the prompting I needed to pack bags and head off.

The second climb of the day was pretty much straight up from the hut. It wasn't as kind as the first - straight up a very steep hill.  Hard yakka.

Having previously found and documented the world's most useless cattle stop, I was delighted to add the world's most useless stile to the collection.



The afternoon consisted of a lot of up and down along ridges, all of it extremely steep and all of it clagged in, requiring vigilance to stay on the route.  It was pretty bluffy country with some extremely gnarly bits thrown in to keep things interesting - boot wide, slippery track with a bad camber above precipitous drop offs.  I could feel the fatigue in my body, so deliberately slowed myself even further than I was already going.  Granny mode was engaged (sorry mum!), making sure of each step before taking the next one.

As I walked I Passed many SOBOs, all anxiously enquiring about hut space.  This doesn't augur well for accommodation in the near future.  I may be taking to the tent a fair bit.

Eventually, after an extremely hard afternoon's walking I spied the hut. Cruelly it had been located halfway up the next hill, requiring one final, exhausting climb.

2000 meters climbed, and most of it given back again! I would say that's easily the most climbing I've ever done in a day, with or without a pack, so this evening I'm pretty pleased with myself. I'm also pretty pleased with my feet, which were wet all day, with the heels and toes receiving a real workout from the constant climbing/descending, yet have no new issues at day's end.
So that's the back of the infamous Motatapu broken. I still have a bit of climbing tomorrow, but nothing like what I did today.


As you can probably guess from the photo we have a full hut tonight. I'm the only kiwi in residence. Disturbingly there is a lot of talk in the hut of guerrilla walking the Milford track. Good luck with that one.

Day 18 Arrowtown to Macetown, 13km, 3 hours 30 minutes

I really quick easy day for me today. To be honest it's felt like as much of a holiday day as a tramping day.

I eschewed the official trail over a hill to take the easy way up the Arrow River. It's pretty spectacular country, and with easy walking was another sandal day.

You may have noticed I haven't taken those photos myself. That's because I walked the first half of the day with my friends Hamish and Janine (and somewhat reluctant kids.... ah, memories of home!) for the first half of the day, before Hamish and kids turned for home, Janine accompanying me through to Macetown as training for a Rogaine.








Today was the first day tramping with the new pack. A successful day - it definitely takes more load from my shoulders onto my waist than the old pack. The real test will be the next couple of days though.

From Macetown I could have pushed another 5 hours on to the first of the Motatapu huts, but decided to take it easy, with a view to a big next 2 days instead. I've heard good things about Macetown and liked the look of it, so decided to pitch tent here for the night, within a couple of meters of the bubbling Arrow River (don't worry Karen, I'm also at least a meter above it). It once supported 300 gold and quartz miners, and there are many relics of its past, some restored.


There followed a leisurely day of reading and movie watching, interspersed with many trips to the thigh high river for a dip. It was a really enjoyable afternoon, which assuaged my guilt somewhat in not walking the afternoon.

I have Macetown all to myself, the first time I have been on my own since the walk started, and I'm now approaching a third of the way through. I was feeling pretty lonely in my tent, I guess having just come from family life with Hamish and Janine's family for the past couple of days doesn't help in this respect, but nevertheless am enjoying my own company well enough. Thoughts of home sweet home sustain me.

I'd heard horrendous things about the sandflies at Macetown. There were a few, of the type that really hurt when they bite, but nothing unmanageable.... until dusk that is, when legions appeared, with me as their only target. I had to break off chatting with a SOBO who has done the whole country in little more than 2 months, to cloister myself off in my tent, where fortunately I am untouchable. The sound of them landing on my fly at one stage had me convinced that the forecast rain was in the offing. If nothing else it teaches good bladder control - each foray out of the tent is accompanied by several minutes of sandfly assassinations when I get back in the tent.

Day 17 - Queenstown to Arrowtown, 28.5km, 6 hours 30 minutes

The Kawarau River.  This was the first major waterway on trail I didn't swim in - it was just too swift!

With an easy, if longish, day in prospect, I rocked my sock and sandal ensemble.  Janine assured me, while out of place in downtown Queenstown, I would feel right at home wearing this in the more artsy environs of Arrowtown. My last minute sandal purchase, prompted by Karen, has proved a boon, and been used for probably 25% of my kilometers walked so far - all the easy stuff.

To summarize the day - a fascinating days walking, by turns beautiful and interesting.

Hamish dropped me off in his way to work in the Queenstown CBD. In the process of making my way to the lake front to get on the TA route, I banged into Neil who had just grabbed himself a coffee before starting the same route I was walking later in the day. It seems we can't get away from each other! No bad thing, it's great spending time with him on the track.

There followed a beautiful walk along the lake to Frankton, before stopping for a morning tea coffee at a boat shed Cafe in Frankton.

Walking around the airport wasn't exactly the quietest part of the trail.  Helicopters and planes were taking off at least once a minute, the sounds bouncing back off nearby Kelvin Heights and the Remarkables to form quite the sensory experience.


After a small diversion past the recycling center I realised I was going the wrong way and doubled back.  Never mind, once on the correct path I got a good view of the poo ponds, so had the dubious pleasure of taking in the Queenstown dump and sewage works in the space of 5 minutes.

The official trail crosses the Shotover on an historic bridge, but I didn't bother, knowing the river was fordable from the night before.


The trail to Arrowtown follows a joint biking/walking track. I got quite used to being buzzed by eBikes throughout my mornings work. They're always easy to tell, they go flying past with not nearly enough revolutions on the pedals to support such a speed.

Queenstown still seems to be a hive of building activity, similar to the Christchurch CBD in many ways, especially on the outskirts around Frankton.

One such subdivision under construction took me to a beautiful shaded walk along the Karawau, albeit with the constant thrum of jet boats plying the river.  That, along with the deceptively swift current, was enough to postpone thoughts of a swim, instead deciding to wait a couple of kilometers for Lake Hayes.



Before reaching the lake itself there was a bit of a quirky subdivision to negotiate.

There were some interesting legal themed street names:
Dispute Way.
Judge and Jury Drive.


It put me to mind of a town I had visited in New Mexico once called, "Truth Or Consequences". They had changed their name to that of a radio game show for some bizarre reason.  Despite (or perhaps because of) its name, it wasn't a town of much consequence.  I guess at least they still had the truth to fall back on.

And so to Lake Hayes.  This had once been part of the Frankton arm of Lake Wakatipu, but had been cut off as material was dumped by the Shotover River, one of the largest load bearing rivers in the world. This created a lake that is very shallow at the Queenstown end. . Disappointingly it didn't look at all good for swimming, almost a toxic bloom yellow colour.



Fortunately the far end dives off to a decent depth and was excellent for a bit of R&R and swimming.

.
I had a bit of a giggle at their kowhai planting program. I love kowhai, they're one of my favourite trees. However the sign they had erected promoting the "celebrating and cherishing" of these trees was rather unfortunately located directly in front of a dead copse of them (as an aside, should the plurality for a collection of dead trees be a corpse of trees?).

Never mind, at least they have possibly the world's best letterbox.


The day ended in interesting fashion, with a walk through Millbrook, one of New Zealand's premier golf resorts. I stopped here for a late lunch of a pastrami roll, fries and a beer overlooking a Sawgrass 17th style island green.  It made for entertaining stuff with more drops than Karen when she's getting over surgery (she's forever breaking stuff in the week after she's had anesthetic).

However the beer went straight to my legs and made for a tiring last couple of kilometers into Arrowtown. A dip in the Arrow River at the finish was a very welcome pick me up.

Finally, it may still be the height of summer, but Arrowtown is already starting to show some of its stunning Autumn colour.

Tomorrow I'm into the hills for a couple of days on my way to Wanaka.

Hiatus 2 - Queenstown

2 days spent in Queenstown, largely chilling.

Day 1 started with Eli and Stephen taking off early.  I was really sad to see Eli go, feeling quite homesick after his departure.  It turns out he had a puke in Hamish's car on the way to the bus pickup. Sorry Hamish!!! Perhaps a liquid breakfast (smoothie, not beer!) wasn't a great idea.
The only thing of note I had to do in town was replace my pack, which was done on day 1, a Tatonka Yukon 80 liter pack. I'm really happy with it - heaps of room with a fantastic waist belt. Without even walking I can feel more of the weight going onto my waist than my old pack.
Day 1 also consisted in a fair bit of swimming in Lake Wakatipu, and perhaps another burger and some sorbet.

Day 2 was spent not doing much, loading and setting up my pack. After dinner we toodled down to the Shotover River. It looked pretty low, so I waded on in. Actually waded isn't the word - I got across the other side with barely more than my knees getting wet. I'm sure it's not often possible to ford the Shotover!

Again, thanks to Hamish and Janine for having me!