Map

Here is the map:

https://onthegomap.com/s/am570p99

Summary

Tuesday 31st January

My alarm went off and I sprang across the room to turn it off, still one hundred percent asleep. Do you know what I mean? Like, that alarm doesn’t really wake me up anymore, just makes me… Sleep walk. But we gotsta get going, ain’t no time to be hanging.

I ate the rest of the Weet-bix with Milo (NZ breakfast), along with half a pack of English muffins with butter and marmite (British breakfast). Delightful. Calories. I was already packed so I pretty much just slung my bag on and headed out of the Top10. Rob was staying behind to do a bit of life admin, so Reid and I headed on to the shuttle that would take us to the beginning of the track for us, and out of Hanmer Springs.

There were two other guys there on the shuttle besides us, Scott and Julian, that we had met the other night at dinner. They were NoBo, so we exchanged a whole bunch of tips and information about what we each had ahead of us before Reid and I were dropped off at Windy Point. We paid the dodgy driver (he changed the price like three times. Unhappy and awkward) before he drove off. He also seemed to have driven with only half an eye on the road, swerving everywhere. Good thing it was kind of an empty road!

Still, transaction done, we got going. The track was horribly overgrown (I mean, it wasn’t the real TA route yet) and we had to push through ferns, getting soaked. The previous day’s rain downpour still clung to the undergrowth for sure, little bejewelled leaves in every direction. We eventually crossed a swing bridge and rejoined the Hope Kiwi track, the TA route. Let’s go!

Reid was liking his new shoes. Good thing too, I like Brooks. But it was just a kinda slow start, you know? To be expected though I won’t lie, especially after a zero day. The track was nice though so we ploughed on, my one pole clacking on roots and stones occasionally. I felt like an old man with my one walking stick! Or maybe Gandalf, I chop and change between the two.

The path passed through forest alongside the Hope River. The mountains on the other side were completely veiled in clouds and the day felt heavy. Muggy. Humid. And very still. All the different weather forecast websites had predicted different weather for today. One said scorching, another said showers all day, another said thunderstorms. Yeah, no idea. But for now it was playing along and behaving.

We eventually got to Hope Halfway Hut. Guess it must be halfway along the Hope River. Or maybe it’s only halfway to being a hut. No idea. People had drawn all over the walls inside, especially a large map of the TA. I get it, it’s cool, but also I completely disagree with people doing that. Like, this hut is not just for the TA people. Hunters, fishers and trampers all use this too so graffiting it was just casting a shadow over the Te Araroa hikers. Yeah, Reid and I were a bit disgruntled about that. TA hikers should pass through places like ghosts, witnessing the beautiful nature, being humble and low-key and not shouting our presence to the world and not leaving a permanent trace of us having passed through. That’s my personal opinion at least.

Anyway, small rant over, we continued on and had a proper good chat along the way as we made our way out of the forest and through some more fields, reminiscent of the Nelson Lakes fields as we approached Hope Kiwi Hut.

When we got there, we were rather impressed! This was not a hut, this was a proper lodge! There was a little fence around the place and we had to enter through a gate, like a military compound or a millionaires country retreat. We reverently took our shoes off and checked the place out. There was more than one room! There was more than two rooms! What!? Wooden panelling everywhere and linoleum tiles on the floor made it feel truly flash (because our standards are that high).

We ate our lunch here, but as this may suggest, it was still early in the day. As a result we decided to push on, but not too further. We wanted Rob to catch up with us after all! Therefore we continued through these golden fields, the grass stalks knee height and swaying in the heady wind until we reached a forest, 4km further on with the most perfect of camping spots. Campfire potential too. We drank some tea, watching a South Island robin peck away at our stuff and tossed a disc about until that campfire potential died away with the beginning of some heavy rain.

We sheltered in our tents as the rain swept past us, leaving a wet earth and Petrichor (word of the day) behind. Wonderful. Niv and Tomer passed us before long and eventually Rob showed up. Grins all round.

We ate our dinner, uproariously laughing, startling the local wildlife within ten miles. I swear we have the greatest time on trail. Like, everyone seems quite serious in the huts and stuff, discussing the trail ahead, gear and the weather. All serious smiles and pondering faces. We are just a bunch of buffoons really, joking around and laughing a lot when we make camp, having a proper crack up everywhere we go.

Wednesday 01st February

February already. How!? It was only the other day I was setting off from Cape Reinga at the end of October, I swear! Still, facts are facts. We broke camp and within a kilometre, Rob realised he’d forgotten his cappy (hat) so he dumped his stuff and went back for it. Whoops. Reid and I progressed through the forest as a result, up and over Kiwi saddle (planting turnips) and then along the side of Lake Sumner. It was all forest walking, all very easy and fast. There was a background humming of wasps at points, and the occasional bird called out.

It was easy though and we had a good old chat as we went along. There were absolutely no views of Lake Sumner as we walked, well disappointing! We eventually emerged from the forest onto some big open fields again, golden and dried out from the scorching sun from the past couple weeks. The little amount of rain the last couple days hasn’t helped too much, I believe. I may be wrong though, maybe it always looks like that. There were cows chewing away nonchalantly as we passed, crossing the valley. A very long, perilous looking swing bridge took us across the Hurunui River and we boosted along until we reached Hurunui Hut.

This was a nice hut, and we sat and ate some snacks here. Rob arrived ten minutes later, with Elise and Sevi moments behind him too. We decided to stay and have an early lunch (like, Duncan early. Like, 11:50 early!… Sorry Duncan) since there wasn’t a hut for a while and the sandflies may be out in force if we continued on. Funny how such small insects can imprison us inside.

We were all crowded around a table, chatting away. Elise and Sevi had some delicious looking quasi-pizza wraps. Well jealous (I always replace the word “quasi” with “kinda”, it usually works. Quasiparticles in Physics for instance). Soon others turned up as well… Justin, Linde and Maxime, Adahl… Even Hugo, Manon and Lucas showed up! We hadn’t really seen them since, like, Mangawaiiti campsite lockdown on the Whanganui River! Crazy! Yeah it was a nice happy, bustling lunch.

I got going afterwards, before Rob and Reid, and listened to one of the albums Reid has recommended along the way. It was funny, my headphones are so shot. The pace that I walk at affects (effects?) them. Like, the resonant frequency created by me bouncing along can cause the iffy USB-C connection on my phone to fail occasionally. It forced me to walk slower.

I worked my way along, pushing through bush and along steep paths before I came across the hot springs everyone had reverently been whispering about. As you all know, I am really not fussed with swimming. Yes I am more willing now, but don’t take that as a hardcore enthusiasm to get myself submerged in water. Instead, I walked on by. Rob, Reid, Elise and Sevi were a little bit behind me. I think they all had a half hour soak, before plunging themselves in the freezing river! What is this, Scandinavia??

I arrived at Hurunui Hut No.3 first as a result and sat waiting for them in this wonderful looking hunting lodge. Rain started pitter pattering against the roof soon after I arrived, but like the day before, it never really amounted to much at all. When they arrived, I scoffed an Oatly bar and we all agreed to keep going, too early to stop. Cameron Hut was only 4km further on, although all the FarOut comments suggested it was an absolute dump. Still, the camping might be good.

Therefore we filled our water bottles and set out again, another hour until camp. Along the way, we crossed a wire bridge which was well cool! Throwback to the CWT. Reid practically ran across it. We arrived at Cameron Hut shortly afterwards and indeed, there was some good camping in the woods behind the hut. The hut itself had no bunks (they were all broken), a stuck door that only opened enough to squeeze in sideways, and there were bunches of bullet holes, allowing sandflies and spiders to creep in. Yeah, sorry Cam, your namesake hut sucks. Though, quick point, I have now stayed at both a Cameron Hut and a Nichols Hut!…

I had an accidental nap before dinner, and sheepishly joined them half an hour late or so. Rob apparently had stood outside my tent trying to wake me up. No success evidently. I was knackered though and after a quick – but filling – dinner, I was ready for sleep. My tent inner really needs cleaning by the way, think I’ll do that at Arthur’s Pass. I’m basically sleeping in a graveyard, I have squished so many sandflies that have entered my tent and they all litter the floor of my tent, no matter how much I sweep it! Disgusting, I know. Sorry.

Thursday 02nd February

OK, get ready for a hectic day because at 03:00, it began. Rain.

But this isn’t a horror story, so I just rolled over and headed back to sleep. When I woke up proper at 06:30, it was still raining. For the second time on this adventure, I packed my entire bag in my tent, carefully manoeuvring everything around until it was just my packed bag and myself inside the empty shell of my outer tent. I took that down and strapped the sodden thing to the outside of my bag. Full waterproofs today with the wind howling around us and the rain whipping into us.

We headed off after Elise and Sevi. They had set off ten minutes ahead of us. We continued walking up the Hurunui River towards Harper Pass at the end. We threaded our way in and out of forests and river terraces, the tussock grass bent under the onslaught from the heavens.

We arrived at Harper’s Bivvy a shy bit after an hour and met Elise and Sevi there. I could not have slept in that thing, I was longer than the beds. I had a crick in my neck just from standing in it as well! But that’s exactly what it was, an emergency shelter painted bright orange. Traffic cone orange. So not designed to stay in really… We ate our midmorning snacks here and then set off as a fivesome, hoods up and the clouds swirling around us as we got to the top of the pass.

We started on the way down, the other side a lot steeper. At times the path had turned into a river with a constant stream of water running down it and as a result it was super slippery at points, though I miraculously managed to avoid taking a tumble. How unusual! We were now following the Taramakau River down this valley and we crossed it at points along the way, wading knee deep through rushing, frothing water. It was well sketchy, in hindsight. Though we did have a bridge at one point, lucky us!

The path flattened out and we made good progress for a little while, making it to Locke Stream Hut. It was funny, we were expecting this hut to be completely empty. Instead, it was chock-a-block full! Seems people had woken to this deluge of biblical proportions (OK, a bit of an exaggeration) and had decided to stay a day or two until it passed. The issue with that plan is that the weather forecast was meant to be bad for, like, the next four days!

We came into their hut, stinking, dripping, soaked to the skin (trempé jusqu’aux os) and ate our lunch. Everyone was in that sleepy, warm state of being and when we burst in on them, showing them that it was possible to walk in these conditions, I think we managed to stir some movement. Rafaël, Magali (ex cult members) and Roxanne for sure were convinced to walk out whilst the river levels were still low. Fun story by the way, the cult (Part 8) all broke up when they found out that everyone thought they were a cult and Gijs had declared himself the leader. Sad really. But also funny. Blame Rob.

We left as we came, in the rain, leaving some people preparing to leave just behind us. Putting wet clothes back on is just horrible, by the by. We had some easy walking all the way to Kiwi Hut. The rain had eased up in the early afternoon and there were patches of lighter cloud as we marched along these river terraces. We got to Kiwi Hut and continued past it, not bothering to go in since it was a ten minute detour from the trail. Instead we made our way to the first big obstacle of today, the thing we were worried most about and what we’d been hustling to get to.

The trail notes, FarOut comments and people heading NoBo had all told us that the two river crossings south of Kiwi Hut were treacherous, especially so after heavy rain. They are usually ankle deep, but when we arrived at the crossing of the Taramakau River, then it was already thigh-to-waist deep and flowing at an incredible rate. We joined and locked arms (river crossing safety courses having been attended by Sevi and Elise) and walked across as a line, heading slightly downstream, helping to hold each other up against the almighty flow of the water. Getting to the opposite bank was a relief.

Much like the fellowship crossing Caradhras though, the rain seemed to redouble it’s efforts to stop us crossing. Five minutes after doing the first (of two) river crossings, the rain had come back and was lashing down, forcing us to keep our heads down, bent. Water had soaked through my waterproofs at this point and rivulets were running down and there was a steady drip off each of my fingers, wrinkled and pale as they were.

Still, we locked arms again and crossed this waist deep river, the Otehake, and made it to the other side safely. Mission complete. A big collective sigh of relief really, we had now crossed these rivers that can become impassable, and it was just a matter of time until we got to somewhere we could stay now. Exciting times!

We spent that early afternoon bush bashing our way through forest, gorse and scrambling along rocky river terraces. We lost the path at one point and were mighty relieved to see that small orange, friendly triangle once again and follow a 4WD track out to a shallow ford across the Ōtira River where we exited out onto SH73.

The trail notes say that Deception Valley up to Goats Pass should not be attempted in rain, no matter how capable you think you are. There have been deaths there before. Therefore, with rain forecast for the next wee while, we had decided to skip this section of the trail for now (and indeed, we learnt later of two hikers who had pushed up it that day and then gotten stuck at Goats Pass Hut, physically being unable to leave the place, for two days!).

Instead, upon reaching SH73, we phoned Bill at the Sanctuary (place custom made and serviced for TA hikers!) in Arthur’s Pass and, being the legend he is, he drove out to us and gave us a lift back into town. He regretfully told us that the Sanctuary was full, as was everywhere else in Arthur’s Pass. We phoned around and got ourselves the last five beds in Ōtira stagecoach hotel (in the township of Ōtira, not the river Ōtira) for a really reasonable price! Winning. Providence for sure. I mean, Reid even got a Californian King sized bed!

I believe there are different types of wet. There’s the casual, water-on-skin wet. There’s sweat-wet. And then there’s soaked-wet, where even after you towel yourself down and get into dry clothes, you still feel a clamminess and dampness to your skin, you still feel wet. Yeah, we were all this last type of wet.

We entered the hotel that night, dripping and hungry, soaked-wet and tired and spent the next hour sorting everything out. All my stuff in my pack was wet, with the sole exception of my sleeping bag, fortunately. My drybags, being six years old (from Peru), have given up the ghost it seems. Now they are just kinda-drybags. Quasi-drybags. I hung stuff up to dry, got into my vaguely damp spare shirt and Rob’s spare spare pair of peach shorts, and we went downstairs to demolish some hot food. Oooooh it was so nice.

This hotel was super eccentric by the way. Apparently it was classed as “the most interesting hotel in New Zealand”. The owner, Lester, had collected tidbits, nick-nacks, bits and bobs all sorts from TradeMe (the Kiwi eBay, because they don’t have eBay). Just… Imagine the most eclectic, bizarre combination of stuff in a hotel and you probably have it there. But at least they had a piano, so I played that whilst I waited for my food.

Rafaël, Magali, Roxanne and a lady called Laura also showed up much later than us, nearly when it was dark, and Lester somehow managed to find them a room, with some of them sleeping on their sleeping mats. Pffff, what a day.

I went to sleep, tired. That’s for sure. Outside, the pouring rain continued. Rob, Reid, Elise, Sevi and I had all agreed, a zero day tomorrow. Just to… You know, dry stuff out more than anything else!

Friday 03rd February

I couldn’t really sleep at all for the past couple times I have had a bed, I am really just used to having an air mattress! Plus, I swear mattresses on this side of the world are way softer than back home…

As a result, I didn’t sleep too well and got up early on our inadvertent zero day. Rain fell from the sky. Wetness was all around. I texted a couple friends whilst I hung around in the lounge. Kiera was in Italy and was sending me photos, how awesome! Also chatted to a couple friends on the phone. Yeah, all things considered it was a good start to the day, a happy start to the day.

The rest of the day was spent as zeros usually are, like the number zero. That is to say, I did nothing much really. We ate breakfast, we drank coffee and tea, we did laundry. Rob and Elise hitched out to Arthur’s Pass to pick up our resupply boxes and bring them back. Bill, the Sanctuary man, couldn’t give us a lift at all since his wife just tested for Covid that previous evening (after he had picked us up) soooo fingers crossed nothing comes from that. I read a lot too. Oh, and the TranzAlpine train ran through Ōtira township, and our room had a perfect view of the railway, so I kept an eye out for that too.

Around midday, we had lunch. I had so much leftover food since I had anticipated we would be out in the wild for longer, I decided to skip buying anything and just eat more of my camping food for lunch in this rather bizarre and unique hotel.

The afternoon, I got my laundry back, dry. My tent which I had hung up early, I took down. Dry too. Everything was in the approximate dry state of being. I got some beans on toast for dinner and played some pool before hanging out with Elise, Sevi, Rob and Reid eating Tim Tams and drinking tea/beer/wine. We then packed, stuffing everything into our bags, ready for the next couple days. There’s due to be more rain. Wooo!….

(Again, no pictures from today. Sorry)

New People

• Adahl: Israeli lady who we saw trying to hitch out of Hanmer Springs. She hadn’t met any other Israeli people and even missed Niv and Tomer!
• Simone: Australian lady who is only doing the South Island
• Laura: German lady who we met at the stagecoach hotel in Ōtira and who complimented my piano playing.

Status

• Physical: 10/10
• Mental: 10/10
• Distance covered: 2180km
• Most memorable moment: Crossing the Otehake River and breathing a sigh of relief.
• Toughest moment: Having every single thing I owned being thoroughly soaked through. And the bis bash through the bush towards the Ōtira River ford.
• Burnt-o-meter: 3/10 – rain obviously washed away some of my burn
• Peanut butter jars I have finished: 13
• Oatly bars consumed: 81
• Number of times I have fallen over: 18
• Song suggestion: “Why does it always rain on me?” by Travis

What’s Next?

Having gotten to Arthur’s Pass area, it feels downhill from here until Bluff. We are going to be heading down to the Rākaia river where we’ll scoot round it on a shuttle since it is impassable. Then another cheeky several days until we get to the Rangitata River. This is possible to cross in drier conditions, so fingers crossed for a two hour river crossing. Or maybe we’ll scoot round it too. I dunno, we’ll see.

After that we bump on up to the highest point on the TA, Stag Saddle, before heading on down to Lake Tekapo and a slightly vaguely relaxed hike in towards Queenstown! Sounds easy, right?