Map
Here is the map:
https://onthegomap.com/s/5k7g9aab

Summary
Saturday 04th February
OK, everything is dry, let’s get going!… But first a lie in. I actually slept well in a bed for the first time in a little while. I got up at 07:00, ate the free cereal the hotel offered (winning), drank some tea (winning), and packed my dry pack (definitely winning). Rain sprinkled down outside. Nuts.
After Rob and Reid were ready to go, we cleaned the room as best as possible (we felt a little guilty being trampers in such a fancy-ish place as this) before shouldering our bags, thanking Lester the hotel owner, and making our way out of the hotel and to the edge of SH73. Elise and Sevi had already left before us and had managed to catch a hitch already it seems. We put on our friendly faces (aren’t they always?), and stuck our thumbs out. Thirty minutes later (and with Reid saying “Oh yeah, it’ll be this car I bet”) a car pulled over and offered us a ride! Awesome! Hitching can be such an emotionally divisive thing, you’re either disappointed or super pleased!
Michelle, our friendly Kiwi lady who offered us a ride, drove us through Arthur’s Pass (stopping along the way to get a takeaway coffee which we paid for) towards the other side where the trail resumes after Goats Pass, the section we couldn’t do. Whilst in the café in Arthur’s Pass, by the way, we saw a whole bunch of hikers looking exhausted and washed up and glaring out the window at the drizzle in the air.
When we arrived at Bealey (passing Niv and Tomer en route, also trying to catch a hitch!) then the most amazing thing appeared before us: sun. What?? Like, all of a sudden, on this side of Arthur’s Pass, there was streaming, relentless sunshine, but on the other side of Arthur’s Pass where we had just come from, it was rain! How crazy is that!?
We got out at Bealey, thanked Michelle, and put on some sun cream. Was definitely not expecting to do that today! The uncaring sun smiled down at us, making milky drops of sweat appear. Maybe my suncream isn’t so great…
Whilst we still had reception, we phoned Methven Shuttle Service and arranged a shuttle at Lake Coleridge for Monday. The reason for this is simple, the Rākaia river is simple impassable. The trail notes clearly state that no one should ever attempt to cross it and instead, we could either hitch a 60km bypass detour, or just pay for a shuttle. We opted for the later, more certain that way.
That done and dusted, we started walking! This is why we’re here after all! We climbed up the side of Mt. Bruce and got a spectacular view over the Waimakariri River valley. Stunning! This is what I kinda expected the South Island to be like, and I was getting this views for sure right now!


Up through a pine forest and over Lagoon Saddle, we reached our lunch destination, A Frame Hut. This was cool. A quick lunch stop and then I started out ahead of Rob and Reid. I was determined to listen to the Hamilton Soundtrack on the way to our destination for tonight, Hamilton Hut. I know it so well, I think with musical assistance, I could maybe sing, like, 60% of the words correctly!… OK, maybe 50%. Still.

I walked down this valley, following yet another river, this time the Harper River. Through forests and then rock hopping like a penguin across boulders and the river itself, I came finally to West Harper Hut. I wonder if this Harper is the same as the one Harper Pass way-back-when was named after. Hmmmm
We regrouped here, and then continued on. At this point, we weren’t particularly convinced that we would get a spot at Hamilton Hut, someone we had passed had told Reid that there were twenty-five people already there! Eek! It’s a twenty bed hut!


We bounced on down and finally arrived at Hamilton Hut. The track was super nice so we had arrived quicker than I had expected, meaning I had one song left on the Hamilton album left when we got to the hut! How frustrating!! However what was good news was the fake news that had been spread, there were only eight bunks taken so far! Not twenty-five that had been told to us! Therefore, I nabbed my bunk (top of a triple stacker) and finished the last song of the album. Phew, I am satisfied, unlike Alexander Hamilton.
There was a river close by, so we went down and I had a cheeky paddle, washing my feet before heading back and zonking out before dinner. I wolfed that down when it came, and then cracked out a packet of Oreos and made some tea as an after dinner snack. Oreos will now forever be associated with the TA for me. I headed to bed shortly afterwards. The sun was just setting, and there was a clear sky. Not a suggestion of rain.

Sunday 05th February
Again, sleeping in huts is never the best experience for me, I never sleep well. Maybe it was because I was on the top of a triple stacker bunk bed though (voluntarily) and I had that nagging fear throughout the night of me falling off. Maybe.
An easy day today, a simple 20km, and I got going after a luxurious hot breakfast. Down from the hut, along the forested path and continue past the junction along the Harper Valley Track. It soon turned into a 4WD track and it was easy going for a little while. The 108mm of rain promised at Arthur’s Pass for today wasn’t really showing up all the way over here, and so I went on my way in the cloudy, albeit super windy, morning light.
Soon the track led to the Harper River and I got lost multiple times, losing the track amongst the rocks and pebbles of the braided river. Useless, misleading cairns were placed about the place too, making me distrust them and just make my own way down the valley. There was a beautiful, warm, damp, north-westerly wind at my back. It made me think of what Mr. Blair always said at the end of a school year, the old Irish farewell blessing, “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back”, or words to that effect.


I passed the beginning of the Glenthorne Station (no idea what it actually was) and the wind was singing in the taught fence wires. I passed the Pinnacles. Cool geology. There you go Flora. I also met four NoBos who quizzed me about the weather behind me. I was completely dry, but ahead and behind me it looked like there was rain. It was like I was travelling in a bubble of sunshine.
I continued on, crossing innumerable rivers, some ankle deep, some knee deep, all of them refreshingly cold. The valley widened out and all forests disappeared. Allegedly, for the rest of the TA, there will be no more big forest sections! Sad! The wind picked up and massive, warm gusts blew dust columns down the valley. It was crazy! I was surrounded by big bulbous mountains too, massive random lumps raised out of the ground.



I caught Elise and Sevi and we walked into Harper Campsite together. We couldn’t really go further since there was absolutely no camping from here until Lake Coleridge, 28km further on. Therefore, lunchtime at the campsite and a chill afternoon it seemed. Reid showed up, and eventually Rob too.
I didn’t pitch my tent straight away and I was very tempted to sleep just in the shelter at the campsite. It had started raining soon after lunch and before long, it was pelting it down. Looks like that rain had caught up with us. I had a nap in the shelter as everyone else took to their tents. There were very few people here after all. I woke up after half an hour or so and set about reading.
Around 16:00, it brightened up and Reid, Sevi and I went out hunting for phone reception to look at the weather forecast and book some stuff. However, we couldn’t find any and our digital detox continued. We played some frisbee in the blustery wind, the frisbee dipping up and down like a rollercoaster ride. It was funny to watch for sure. I also did decide to pitch my tent. Having personal space is important.
Soon, dinner altogether in the shelter and then we had some tea and ate some chocolate. Niv and Tomer showed up and we caught up for a bit before we all headed to sleep. Niv told me very directly that my facial hair made me look like a failed musician. Ever the wordsmith, we fell about laughing. Slow last couple of days for sure. Hopefully we’ll get motoring before long!

Monday 06th February
The wind picked up through the night, blowing an absolute hooley. I think it must have been gusting Force 7 or 8. I got up at 02:00 to pop to the toilet and when I did, I noticed that all the tents except mine were missing. Tomer’s, Reid’s, Rob’s, Elise and Sevi’s… Yeah, where had they all gone?? Turns out, the wind was so strong that they’d all been unable to sleep and their tents weren’t exactly happy, and so everyone had each, one at a time during the night, taken their tents down and gotten into the open fronted shelter to sleep, wrapped in their sleeping bags and out of the wind. Niv was in the process of taking his tent down, so I went and helped him in the light of the full moon with clouds scudding across the sky, before heading back to my own tent.
My beautiful, beautiful Hilleberg was still standing firm. Throughout this hike, I have had the inkling that my tent may be a bit too heavy-duty. Don’t need a four season tent appropriate for Arctic storms and Scandinavian winters in the New Zealand summer. However, I believe that I was justified by this one night. I was super relieved that the shelter was there for everyone else though.
I got up early, packed and ate a hot breakfast. Everyone looked just a little rough. The wind was gusting and blowing all about, swirling in and around the shelter. What a night.

Rob, Reid and I left the campsite last at 07:30. Tomer came back since he had forgotten his cooker and Niv had forgotten his spoon, but he soon jogged back past us on the way back to Niv. They were off to Methven today, hoping to hitch there. Niv has new shoes waiting for him! Exciting! Altras, too. Sevi and Elise had also decided to hitch to Methven for a resupply so maybe they would be behind us when they get back on trail.
It was Waitangi Day though, so it was a public holiday. This meant that the dusty, bumpy road that we were wandering down was unusually crowded with people heading out fishing and boating for the day since there were a bunch of lakes close by. The scenery we were passing through was just beautiful, but I think we were all kinds of tired that we couldn’t really appreciate it. At least the wind was mainly a tail wind. The sun was hot though, alone in a blue sky.
I collapsed into a meadow of waving grass, the wind rippling through it, close to snack time. Reid and Rob joined me, and we lay in the grass gazing at the sky and chatting for a bit. Very cerebral. But we were also exhausted, Rob and Reid more so than me though – they’d been up stupid early and had had interrupted sleep.



Time to tough it out. We pushed on, having lunch in a rare shady spot, and on again until we came close to the end of the road. We met a bunch of NoBos here, including Reid’s childhood friend, Michael! He gave us a bag of cookies (the legend) and we had a good old chat for a while. We weren’t in any rush after all. That was really nice for both Reid and Michael for sure.
Smiling, the day improving, we pushed on and round lake Coleridge. Man, this lake was beautiful! Such a wonderful blue colour! Rob took a cheeky swim here whilst Reid and I continued on and into Lake Coleridge village.



Our shuttle we had booked was due to pick us up at the Coleridge Lodge, and so we went there where we were greeted by Allison, the kindest person ever! She gave us free cola, pineapple and home baked cookies. It’s the day of the cookie it seems! So generous. Her husband and daughter are doing the TA so she’s gotten really involved this year in helping and feeding us all. So kind. Just stunning hospitality.
In the midst of chatting to her, the shuttle rocked up and we jumped in. To our great suprise, we encountered Arwin and Oz! Wow! The last time we had seen them was back in Taumarunui! They had had a six day break from the trail and from the weather in Christchurch, and they were resuming today! Awesome!

The shuttle took us from Lake Coleridge all the way round to Glenrock Station. I may have nodded off on the way around the Rākaia, but when we crossed it over a bridge and we saw the river itself, yeah it would have been well stupid to attempt to cross it.
We were dropped off at Glenrock Station, but we still needed to get to our camping spot, this land being private after all. It was close to 18:00. Pffff, long day. I demolished an OSM bar and got an instant boost of energy, enough to kick butt and make it to the top of Turtons Saddle before it was too late. Here we found the most beautiful camp spot and we pitched up in the dying sun. I demolished my dinner and I was asleep inside of five minutes, easy. Lights out.


Tuesday 07th February
Lie in this morning, we got up at a shockingly late 07:00. Steady on! We weren’t fussed though, today shouldn’t be too hard. I ate my breakfast looking over the Glenrock Stream valley with the sun rising, hidden still by the mountains around us. When it did burst onto the scene, we left our tents to dry a bit before finally setting off some time way after 08:00.
We climbed up the valley towards (another) A Frame Hut, just several kilometres down the valley from where we had camped at Turtons Saddle. I was feeling well lethargic for some reason and was lagging behind Rob and Reid who, I guess, were boosted by their coffee earlier. We found out that Elise and Sevi had actually slept in A Frame the previous night! We thought they were in Methven! Wow!
From A Frame, we continued on. I stuck at the back, listening to music as the other two chatted up ahead. One of those days it seems. We arrived into Comyns Hut for mid morning coffee time. I had myself an OSM bar and Reid gave me a hot chocolate sachet. Unknowingly though, they spiked my drink with coffee, I was absolutely buzzing after I had drunk my unknowing mocha! Arwin, Oz and Simeon also all arrived and left whilst we enjoyed our mid morning snack time.



From Comyns, we turned up Round Hills Stream and we had a good old river walk up a valley! Much akin to the Mangapukahukahu Gorge walk way back in Northland! Boulder hopping and crossing and re-crossing the river. Yeah, great fun! Proper wilderness experience sorta thing, the brain was fully active for the entire time. We saw Max (from the Dutch Party Squad, also from Northland) coming NoBo! He was flip-flopping, so he was passing everyone that he knew pretty much.


It was slow progress up the river but we eventually got to the top, clambering the last bit to Clent Hills Saddle through thick, long grass. Taller than me. That was actually probably more energy sapping than the river walk! At the saddle we had some celebratory chocolate (2300km done!) and a small doze before we tumbled downhill, through long grass, across scree slopes and across streams and muddy bogs. Joy oh joys! We emerged on to a flat valley floor.



At the DOC sign indicating the way to Double Hut, we could just about see Elise and Sevi up ahead, making their way to Mānuka Hut. We weren’t keen on pushing on though (tiredness), so we turned up and headed to Double Hut. Good choice as it turns out, Mānuka Hut was packed and rather full whilst we got a bed in Double! We met Aaron (Scottish guy who was flip-flopping too, now heading NoBo) and Roxanne there and had a great time! Roxanne even had Monopoly Deal that we played. I even even won a round!
Bed was calling though and I clambered into it (avoiding the ceiling beams) eagerly. A cyclist showed up after we had all fallen asleep, waking us all up and making food and knocking things over. So a disrupted sleep. Unhappy with that!
Wednesday 08th February
Well that cyclist that woke us all up the previous night? His alarm went off at 06:00, waking us all up again. Ugh, well… We’re up now.
A grumpy breakfast and then we left the hut swiftly. The valley below us had the full cloud inversion thing going on, meaning that we were above the clouds. It was like back when I hiked the Loch Mullardoch Circuit, the cloud inversion there was the same here!

We went along in the soft, pink-grey morning light until we got to Mānuka Hut which we checked out. Surprise surprise, Arwin was still asleep when we got there. He always gets up late, starts late, is a rapid walker, and then just crashes early in the day. I applaud the strategy, I love it.
Turning from Mānuka Hut, we started along the dustiest 4WD road, each step kicking up a small puff of dust. Rocks kept getting into my shoes, it was crazy. We went up and past Lake Emily (Emily Emily no where to be seen though) and then down towards a back country dirt farmers track thing. Scorched golden fields stretched every direction we looked and flocks of Merino sheeps were grazing everywhere.




We caught up to Elise and Sevi to our joy. Our river crossing buddies! They questioned if we were at all tempted by crossing the Rangitata River. Short answer, no. It’s risk vs. reward, innit? Like, risk is a funny thing. The Rangitata is a big river, and dangerous. People die crossing it every year. It’s flow is not controlled by the current weather conditions, but instead by glacial melt and the weather systems on the west coast, meaning that we can’t really know how high or fast it’ll be. It’s a fundamental risk to your life, something I’m not willing to take. The whole conversation around risk vs. reward is actual quite interesting to me.
Anyways, having told them no, we then took a shortcut, parting ways with them since they were trying to walk as much of the route as possible. The official route heads all the way to Lake Clearwater Village where you can then hitch out of, or pay a lot of money for a shuttle. We were cutting off that corner to get to the main road in and out of the village and hitch from there.

Well, we got to the junction. There was Rob, Reid and myself, along with Arwin and Simeon. That’s a lot of people to try and get a hitch for. There was a lorry coming towards us and, as everyone knows, it’s every man for themselves when it comes to hitching. Therefore, I threw my thumb out on a small glimpse of hope that a lorry will stop for me. Sure enough, it did (!!) and I climbed up into the cabin. Just one seat, I’m afraid guys!
Theo was my driver who kindly stopped for me. He was a South African guy who had been driving lorries for his entire life. He was actually just delivering a whole heap of hay bales to the farms up the road and had seen us trouping along the dusty, hot roads. Theo took me as far as Mt. Sommer before I hopped down from the cabin (landing funny on my ankle oops) and thanked him. Thanks Theo!
Rob, Reid and I had agreed to meet at Geraldine. Therefore, after getting a little refreshing cold drink and catching up on some messages (digital detox over), I went to the main road out of Mt. Sommer, put on my smiley face and stuck my thumb out.
To my great surprise, Pierre showed up out of nowhere and joined me in trying to hitch out of Mt. Sommer, and then an Israeli guy called Ehud also joined us. Close to an hour after trying to hitch, a car finally stopped for us. The window wound down and we saw it was an elderly lady! She was happy to take us to Geraldine.
We all hopped in the car and I got chatting to her. Gwyneth was 85 years old and on her way to see a surgeon to fix her finger that was stuck in one position from knitting too much. It was an easy drive for her since the roads are arrow straight and forty minutes later, we were dropped off in Geraldine. Thanks Gwyneth!
I met back up with Rob and Reid at a pizza place which their hitch from Mayfield had taken them to, and ordered myself some delicious food. Roxanne and Leah were there having hitched out with Rob and Reid, along with their driver/hitch, Megan, who was a larger-than-life character.
We ate our food, thanked Megan and then went to the Fresh Choice for a cheeky resupply for the evening. I spent a disturbingly larger amount of money, specifically because I bought green, healthy stuff. I was craving a salad. Bag of salad leaves, seeds and cranberries, tomatoes, capsicum (that’s a pepper in British English), avocado and a small bottle of salad dressing. Heaven in my basket. But also, why is healthy stuff so expensive?
OK, shopping done, time for a plan. We contacted a place in Peel Forest that did shuttles up to the trailhead and provided camping, but also contacted Alps2Ocean that ran shuttles to the trailhead from Geraldine. Alps2Ocean was cheaper, so we decided to stay in Geraldine and book with them. There was no way we could hitch up to the trailhead at Mesopotamia! We headed to the pub (where I got ID’d for a ginger beer. Come on!) and then to the Top10 campsite and pitched up.
I made my salad and my goodness, it was a god send. I could have eaten so much more of it. I should have bought more fresh green stuff! Ah well, I’ll take what I can get. Reid found a bag of oven chips in the free food box and cooked them for us and we had a wonderful evening. There was an old guy playing some soft guitar, Jesse Cook style, and the warm evening just suited the atmosphere perfectly.
I headed to sleep that night, refreshed and re-energised! The only downer, my new headphone converter was losing all the bass so my music now sounded all tinny and cheap! Ah well
Thursday 09th February
I got up and went to charge my phone, having been listening to music all night. My battery bank was also charged though so I wasn’t really concerned. I packed everything up and ate my breakfast. We headed out to where the shuttle would meet us, at the Running Duck Café. Got some hot beverages, naturally. No idea why it was called the Running Duck, but apparently I sold hot sauce here (they were selling “Al’s Hot Sauce”). And there was a painted, knackered piano outside. I texted some friends whilst we waited, catching up on some hot goss.
The shuttles arrived. There were, like, sixteen or seventeen of us who were catching a ride from Geraldine, crazy! I sat at the back, like a cool lad (which I’m not), headphones in and very much phasing in and out of sleepy consciousness.

We juddered along the unsealed roads towards Mesopotamia (not the one in Syria) before we were all unceremoniously dropped off. Very easy, very straightforward service. On the other, northern side of the Rangitata, there should have been Mt. Sunday, but I could see no golden glint of Edoras and the golden hall of Meduseld (Lord of the Rings speak). Helm’s Deep was also up the valley. I’m gonna have to watch these films again. Anyone wanna join me?
Rob, Reid and I got going after splashing some suncream on ourselves. Right away, within five minutes, I may have had a nasty fall. Like, standing on the edge of a two-to-three metre river cliff, the ground gave out beneath me. I heard Rob behind me (once again) shouting “Al Al Al AL AL Oh Fu-“… The rest of that word (which I have no idea about!…) I kinda didn’t hear, since I was tumbling down a cliff. Whoops.
I was largely unscathed though, incredibly luckily. I should be more careful, ugh! I had several large cuts and scratches on my left palm and I had smacked my own face with something or other on the way down, meaning that when I stood up, I had a bloody nose. Still, it wasn’t streaming, and after washing the blood off in the river (which I was now conveniently beside), I stood up, laughed and we got going. I think I also smacked my right shoulder into a boulder on the way down. There was a slightly dull ache.
Rob and Reid were worried about a concussion, or at least, I have a sneaky suspicion that they were worried. They asked me a bunch of questions over the next several hours and I myself ran through my recent memory. But all was well. I was confident I was good, my usual sense of balance was still intact and I did some complex mental maths and calculus whilst I walked to keep the mind working. You know, standard physicist stuff.


Anyways, drama over, we river scrambled up Bush Stream. We criss-crossed the river multiple times, the water coming up and over my knees at points. We went deeper into the mountains and they grew in size. At the end of the valley, poking their bald heads up were jagged, ragged peaks of some mighty summits, snow covering their flanks. It was stunning, truly the outer skirts of the Southern Alps! I was definitely feeling small. We ate lunch surrounded by these massive mountains. Crazy!


There was a super steep uphill to Crooked Spur Hut and it was hard work, especially with one pole. I’m still carrying my broken one. It took me 2000km, I can carry it the next 1000km. Anyway, it is only one section that is broken and I still want to try to fix it (I had failed to find a fix in Hanmer Springs and Geraldine) or just get a new section, not necessarily a whole new pole!
Once we had climbed the practically vertical cliff up to Crooked Spur Hut, we took a cheeky break, writing our names in the hut book of course. And left messages for Elise and Sevi, now a day behind us. Swiss movement.
However, when we shouldered our bags and pushed on, the uphill continued on, relentlessly. It was inclined enough to not be able to do it mindlessly, meaning that we didn’t really have much chat going on as we worked our way up and south. We each put music in and got boogying, literally. Like, we each randomly started dancing to our own music. I would look ahead of me to Rob and see him jamming away on an air guitar, his blue pack clinging to his back and then I’d look behind me and see Reid playing the air drums with his poles, head banging.


The silent disco didn’t just exist on the way up though, and we kept our music in all the way to Stone Hut, each spontaneously bursting into dance along the way. Definitely a mood booster. Grins plastered our faces and we broke down in laughter amidst dancing. We did have a crisp break at one point, surrounded by barren mountain tops, echoing with our laughter. I can only imagine what Pierre was thinking, following behind us.


We chuntered into Stone Hut though, crossing a rickety bridge. Long day, nearly dinner time. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t sleep well in huts and neither do Rob or Reid. Therefore, we opted to pitch our tents instead of taking the free beds. We get our personal space this way too. The sun disappeared behind a blanket of grey clouds as we threw a frisbee about before dinner. Soon though, we tucked ourselves in the hut, ate some food and then went out and climbed into our tents. Up and over Stag Saddle tomorrow, gonna be good!


Friday 10th February
I awoke and exited my tent, to stand up in the early morning light to immediately see Rob and Reid watching me from up on a small hill, drinking coffee, waving at me. Oh hey there guys.
Boy it was cold. We got going, wrapped up in our mid layers still. Reid led the way and got wet feet within five minutes. A Shakespearean tragedy right there. I followed suit, five minutes later though. It was a nice walk, besides that, all the way to Royal Hut. Calm. Easy. The clouds, which lay thick over the mountains, disappeared in the rising heat of the day and we arrived at Royal in full sunlight.


Arwin was waiting around for Oz, so he was still there at Royal. We drank some hot beverages (tea for me, strong strong coffee for the others) and ate some food as our tents lay in the sun drying. Oz and Pierre both arrived soon and we set off. That coffee break was, like, an hour. Practically a coffee break at Grannies!
The path led from Royal Hut directly uphill and didn’t stop until you arrived at Stag Saddle. This wasn’t a bad thing though, it was fairly easy going. We boogied up. Cat Empire to the rescue once more. High energy, lots of dance moves. Through streams, through tussock grass, avoid the spear grass and scramble up the scree. It was fun!


We got to the top, oh yeah! Stag Saddle, the highest point of the TA at 1925m. Not too shabby you know. I think this may be the highest I have ever hiked up to. Cusco, Peru may be higher still. Can’t think where else I may have been that is higher. It was really cold at the top, with a brisk wind blowing over us.
There was phone reception at the saddle, so we phoned the bike hire and arranged some bikes from Lake Tekapo to Lake Ōhau in a day, this coming Sunday. We were wanting to cycle this section for two reasons, it’s supposedly a dull walk along canals, and more importantly there is no where to camp since it is all private land from Lake Tekapo to Lake Ōhau. We also took some pictures together at the top and chatted to some NoBos who we had watched rather sketchily coming down from Beuzenberg Peak.
We ate lunch at the tarn, just below the saddle, out of the wind. We then boulder hopped in a straight line across to the ridge which lay in a lovely arc, curving down from Beuzenberg Peak to the bottom. A lazy sprawling arm of the mountain. From this ridge, we looked south and saw to our wonder, the Southern Alps, Mt. Cook and Lake Tekapo. The beauty was astounding.



Walking on down along this ridge was just so wonderful. I was in a very serene, very zen and peaceful mood looking over this vista. I could have been told some horrific news and I think I would have been fine, sorta thing. Detached, and just in awe. Lake Tekapo lay at the bottom of this sprawling ridge, electric blue against the tough yellow of the tussock covered mountains. Mt. Cook held it’s arrogant head over the rest of the mountains, white capped and old, snow covered mountains stretching to it’s right and left.
Just… Wonderful. Top views for sure, catapulted into top three views and experiences thus far.
We descended the rest of the ridge and arrived at Camp Stream Hut where we signed the book, had a chat with Joey, Scarlett and Ehud before we pushed on a couple more kilometres. We camped at the bottom of an uphill section, too lazy and tired to climb anymore today. I physically collapsed too, laying in the grass, drinking electrolyte water as the others pitched their tents. I followed suit before long and we had a great dinner. Three mates, in the middle of the NZ wilderness, enjoying life. What can be better than that?

Saturday 11th February
We awoke to wet tents, as expected. I mean, we had just pitched in the middle of a valley in the midst of some grass, of course there was going to be heaps of condensation!

That hill which we had not wanted to climb the previous evening? Well we had to climb it now, and we did so. It was steep. I was definitely out of breath for sure. But with that height, we regained signal and we three stumbled along, looking at our phones, chatting to friends before putting in music and making our way along the plateau.
Also, messed up thing for you, we saw five wallabies on this stretch! These are breeding machines and are an invasive species, putting native plants and animals at risk. Reid was a good Kiwi kid and reported them to DOC straight away. DOC is trying to clamp down on all invasive species after all.


It was very easy walking, a nice easy track and we buzzed along, emerging onto a road before long. A bunch of NoBos had passed us too so we’d had brief chats with them. All of them said the same thing, hitch the road into Lake Tekapo. Well, we tried, but there was non-existent traffic.
There was only one way to do it then, and that was to walk. 15km road walk, here we go. Could we make it into town for lunch? Let’s see. The road was dusty, gravel and hot. The sun was shining down on us and we were visibly sweaty. Bit grody. To our left was a wall of clouds, pouring through the valleys of the mountains and evaporating. It reminded me of the Mongolian Horde charging down the hill in Mulan, that scene. Like, we could visibly see the clouds moving through the gaps in the mountains and disappearing. Crazy. The clouds in New Zealand are actually really special. It sounds so stupid, but I think the island nature, and tropical nature of the place create some of the most unique clouds you could be lucky enough to see!… Yeah, I sound stupid, right? Ah well, you should visit yourself to witness it!



Anyways, the issue with walking as a three, plus Pierre close by, is that no one wants to pick up four smelly hikers! Therefore, Rob (conveniently) dropped back and got a hitch for himself with the next passing car. We were expecting some cold drinks waiting for us when we got to town. But our numbers were now reduced and we also got a hitch soon after. Bit pathetic, hitching about 4km, but still, we got into town for lunch easily.


We met Rob at the Greedy Cow café. We were all definitely feeling like that for sure. Appropriate. We inhaled some food and then went shopping at the Four Square, a cheeky five day resupply to get us to Wānaka. Lots of money was spent. I don’t like spending money. I was a bit annoyed honestly. Everything is so expensive!
Boxes in hand (because you get boxes, not bags of food after shopping), we headed towards the holiday park where we were staying that night. We went past BeSpoke Bicycles en route and chatted with Annie who we had arranged a bike hire with to cycle to Lake Ōhau the next day. She sorted us all out and gave us our bikes and a lift to the holiday park. Legend.
Lake Tekapo seems to be a big holiday destination since the town, and especially the holiday park, were heaving with hired campervans and tourists. I mean, we were too, in a sense. We were given a small patch of grass in the centre of the park since we all had small tents. Amazing. We all pitched up and then spent the evening as you do in holiday parks. Laundry. Cooking. Sorting our resupply and food and stuff. Chatting to friends. Yeah, easy afternoon. There was also a NoBo with a Hilleberg! Same tent as me! However, the way he was pitching it actually hurt my soul, so I had to simply go over to him and help him out. The tent was only a handful of months old. He had never used it before this hike, fair enough.

But anyways, this section of Two Rivers (named as such by me because a. I’m reading the Wheel of Time and b. we had to go around two impassable rivers, the Rākaia and the Rangitata) was now done and we were going to be pushing on to Wānaka before having a zero day I believe. And into Otago! It’s going to be good, lessgo!
New People
- Anna and Emily: From Upstate New York and Canada respectively. They did a study abroad in NZ before being kicked out from Covid, so they’re reuniting several years later to hike the South Island together.
- Robin: A retired Kiwi farmer from up near Rotarua who is hiking the South Island part of the TA as part of his bucket list.
- Sebastien: A German guy who’s hiking along with Robin. Gets going super early in the morning and hits the hay close to 19:00. Likes sailing
- Simeon: German guy who has been hiking with Arwin and Oz for the last several weeks.
- Michael: One of Reid’s best mates from growing up who was heading NoBo. Carried cookies for us all. Legend.
- German Family: A group of seven Germans who are hiking together, the kids being all quite grown up (older than me!) and the parents definitely retired. They keep to themselves for sure
- Ehud: Israeli guy who has ordered some Salomon shoes since they don’t have laces. He’s a Android software developer and wanting to move from Israel. Also the fastest hiker ever.
- Trevor: NoBo who gave me an ice cream. Weka strikes again
- Debbie: Swiss lady who camped up at Stag Saddle. Flip-flopping, having walked south from Cape Reinga and now north from Bluff, to finish at Wellington.
- Scarlett and Joey: English couple from Bristol who did the alternate Forest Creek Track up to Stag Saddle. Both have Ospreys. Planning to bike to Lake Ōhau with them. Also, their name together is Scar Jo. Scarlett is a professional harpist and Joey is in IT.
- Theo: Kiwi from Auckland who’s apparently been a couple days behind us for the entire way, seeing our names in the hut books. Really into plants and animals and birds.
- Phillip: German NoBo who had a Hilleberg. That’s three I’ve met on the trail! Yes!
Status
- Physical: 7/10 – I fell down a cliff, enough said.
- Mental: 9/10 – feeling a little fatigued. Need a zero. But experiences from the section have been nonstop amazing.
- Distance covered: 2420km
- Most memorable moment: Coming down from Stag Saddle
- Toughest moment: Falling down a cliff. Going up Turtons Saddle.
- Burnt-o-meter: 5/10 – crispy.
- Oatly bars: 92
- Peanut butter jars finished: 15
- Falls: 21 (including a fall down a cliff)
- Song suggestion: Boys of Summer, Don Henley
What’s Next?
Having arrived in Lake Tekapo and done Stag Saddle, it is all (not literally, nor metaphorically) downhill from here. We will cycle from here to Lake Ōhau since all this land is private and there isn’t anywhere to camp conveniently, especially with Twizel being booked out.
From Lake Ōhau, we’ll progress through the Ōhau Range, across the Ahuriri River and then push through some more mountains to Wānaka where we will probably take a zero day.
Gump
Al