Map
Here is the map:
https://onthegomap.com/s/pq1bkije – route to Te Ānau
https://onthegomap.com/s/qhlkejlm – Kepler track


Summary
Wednesday 22nd February
Well, that rain which was spit spat spotting whilst we were in Queenstown? Yeah, it poured down all night and through to the morning. I awoke at 05:30 to it hammering on my tent (I can actually sleep through rain fine) and knew it was gonna be a long day.
Agonisingly, I packed my entire bag away in my tent, just the outer of my tent still standing as I took down the inner and packed that away, dry. Contortions, twisting and turning, I would have put a gymnast to shame. I finally got my pack (minus outer flysheet of the tent) to the kitchens in the campground, and the proceeded to fold up my sopping outer in the pouring rain. What a start to the day. Misery.
Well, no hanging around. We had our shuttle to the beginning of the Routeburn at 08:00 but I still needed food. Therefore, I headed to the closest supermarket and bought myself (prepare yourself) a veggie pie and an entire pack of five doughnuts. I ate them outside of the pickup point in the pouring rain as other hikers all started to congregate. An elderly man laughed at me as I worked my way through the pack of five doughnuts. “A perfect hikers breakfast” is what he said to me! And indeed, I got plenty of calories at least!
The bus came round and we hopped on. Rob’s feet were feeling better. The Routeburn is a Great Walk which tonnes of people do. A popular three day hike, we had committed to doing it in one full day because it isn’t actually that far for people who had been continuously walking for three month. It was off the TA route though, so when we got to the end, we would have to work our way back on to the TA again. Reid, Rob, Pierre and I all sat at the very back of the bus and listened as hikers all around us nervously compared gear and plans and past experiences of hiking. We must have looked like tramps compared to everyone else on the bus with our unshaven faces, smelling clothes and tatty shoes.
Well, I conked out on the bus for the hour or so that it took for us to drive from Queenstown to the Routeburn Shelter. We got there, hopped off and collected our bags, and set off walking straight away. No time to lose.
The Routeburn, being a Great Walk, was a lush walk. Wide paths, cleared of any obstructions and wind fall. An easy trail lay ahead of us in the mist and drizzle of the morning essentially. We were zooming along before long. We followed the path, up alongside the roaring Routeburn river, through a dense forest. The trees dripped on us and shifting mist gave us glimpses of towering cliffs and dramatic, moody mountains about us, adding to the awe and mystic.


It was magical. I loved it so much. The act of hiking, climbing uphill, meant that we were warm. So much so that I actually stripped right down to just my T-shirt despite the mist and dripping trees and occasional showers. We climbed up to Falls Hut where we emerged above the bush line. We had to climb over a slip en route that had happened during the night. Already, there was a guide there, creating a safe path over the slip and helping people over. Falls Hut was massive though, several buildings all clustered on top of a cliff edge, giving panoramic views over the Routeburn Valley. Due to the weather though, we saw glimpses of this view. Tantalising for sure. We had lunch here at this hut and chatted to some of the hut wardens. There was a team of them here since there were so many people who would be staying and they needed to keep the place clean and tidy and warm.


Well, after lunch, we continued on up until we reached a large flat area, surrounded by hard mountains in a bowl, and the Routeburn River winding it’s way around. The weather was clearing up and all the mist was gone so those vistas that had been advertised to us earlier in the walk were now on display for sure. The landscape actually very much reminded me of a Scottish landscape. Very dramatic as Scotland can be.

Up and over saddle, passing steely Lake Harris. This was where we started catching people, overtaking them as we scampered on. This actually rose an interesting topic of discussion amongst us. I think, walking the TA, that it was very easy to look down on people who were doing the Great Walks; who only walked 10-15km a day, especially when we were easily doing double that. Plus all the camping and early mornings that we are doing. However, I actually think that this mindset is very… wrong. Or very unjust. We chose to do this and have the ability and time to do the TA. These people have still opted to do a Great Walk despite whatever is going on in their lives. They still made the effort to go do something cool and not sit at home or whatever. Like, we shouldn’t be too quick to judge sorta thing.



Anyways, when we got up and over the saddle, we started along and down towards Lake Mackenzie. The path descended a little before turning sharply to the south and making it’s way along the edge of a cliff. Yep, there were points where we were walking beneath rock (I had to crouch to not hit my head!) and there were barriers erected at points so that no one could fall down steep, sheer cliffs. To our right was another valley with the mountains on the far side wreathed in clouds. There were glaciers peeking out from under their caps of clouds and rain showers could be seen up and down the valley, in amongst the patches of sunshine. It was like we were in another world, just stunning. I could also just about see the ocean by Jamestown when I looked down the valley (or as James Acaster would say, “I see the sea!”). Just stunning.



Zipping along, the valley far below us, we finally came upon Lake Mackenzie (which was similar to Blue Lake I thought) and I was soon descending down shallow, long switch backs. I tumbled down, back beneath the bush line and emerged out to Lake Mackenzie Hut. The bush here was dripping with moss and lichen, all the bark of the trees hidden. The sound of water, falling drop by drop from the gnarled and twisted branches, almost echoed in the eerie (that’s a good word for Scrabble when you need to get rid of some e’s) silence. Lake Mackenzie Hut was an explosion of people and noise again when I emerged from the bush.



We regrouped here, Rob and Pierre trotting in after me (because, you know, Reid is now zooming along and is a speed demon) and found ourselves eating a bag of crisps. But we couldn’t stay here, we hadn’t booked the hut after all! Therefore, we continued on, each leaving in our own time.
From Lake Mackenzie Hut, I walked through the bush, a very gentle descent for the entire way. There were tonnes of people coming the other way, aiming for Lake Mackenzie Hut for the night. There were also a lot of young people carrying massive packs, accompanying groups. These were the Ultimate Guide folk, their uniform being the distinct Cactus rain jackets. They got them free, how sweet is that deal!?
I came across the Earland Falls and the path passed close to under these falls, thundering down. Not gonna lie, I was a little scared and I was getting drenched just standing way back. I wasn’t so convinced of walking close to the base of waterfall, so I took the low route. Scared-y cat! All the others walked right past the waterfall (albeit getting very wet!).



I emerged out from this long trundle to the bottom of Lake Howden and this is where we would turn off. I turned right, south, and headed along the edge of this lake until I reached the Greenstone Saddle campsite. I pitched up to try and dry my tent out from the previous night. The weak sun even tried to help me out. Everyone else arrived and I ended up playing frisbee before dinner. May have hilariously fallen over doing this…

Anyways, it was an amazing day. The Routeburn, the 30 something kilometre Great Walk, has been one of the most scenic days we have had so far. I mean, we have had so so many scenic, beautiful and good days so far, but this day was definitely up there along with the rest of them! As we ate dinner, the temperature was plummeting. I was stamping my feet and shivering by the time I got into my tent. Gonna be a cold night.
Thursday 23rd February
Well it was cold for sure. I awoke a couple times during the night, frozen. For the first time, I ended up zipping my entire sleeping bag up and pulling the cord so that only my mouth and nose were visible to the outside world… Yeah, it was a bit nippy.
When we got up, both Rob, Reid and Pierre complained of the cold, not getting much sleep from the fact that they were shivering, sorta thing. Even as we made our coffee and tea and breakfasts, our hands were numb. We later learned that a massive cold snap had swept through the area. So much so that heaps of people had to be rescued from the entire backcountry. Most notably, there was an overnight ultra marathon race where tonnes of participants got evavuated with hypothermia and stuff.
But that’s not us. As soon as we were ready, we got going. We made our way to McKellar Hut at the end of McKellar Lake and hustled ourselves in, out of the cold, since the people staying there had lit a fire. Coffee followed for some. There was actually a lady there who had sprained her ankle unfortunately and was waiting for the warden to come and help her.


When the sun had appeared over the sides of the valley, we got going again, the sun helping warm us. We walked down alongside the Greenstone River. Very easy going, we were just walking along the bottom of a wide, flat valley really, through swaying fields of knee-high grass. Cows were grazing and the clouds disappeared and we were left sweating in the sun and shivering in any shade or shadow. Just a very pleasant, nice track really though in the end.


We met the ranger as we were walking along though. His name was Alex and he was very cool. To be a ranger or warden would be a cool job to do on a volunteer basis once I retire, I think. Just hanging out in the wild, helping people you know? It would be cool. Anyways, we had our lunch on the trail and then continued on our way. I tried listening to music but, well, my headphones were now truly dead and yeah, it wasn’t happening. Therefore, I was left with my (highly entertaining) thoughts and day dreams.
We reached the end of the Greenstone Valley, walking the last bit through the most amazing birch forest. We were rejoining the TA track again at Greenstone Hut. Our plan was to push on to the next hut, Taipo Hut. However, when we got to the hut, we bumped into Niall! I think we had last seen him whilst walking down the Whanganui river road before Christmas. He told us that Taipo Hut was closed and so we could stay here at the hut, or push on and wild camp somewhere. We ended up deciding to stay here at the hut, especially when we heard that Luuk was on his way! We had last seen Luuk in Auckland at Melissa’s birthday party and we were looking forward to seeing him again!


Therefore, we grabbed our bunks in the hut and set about laying stuff out to dry in the sun and tossing the disc about between us. The day had truly warmed up. Before long, Luuk showed up and we had a nice reunion! Additionally, Barbara (from the Mangawaiiti lockdown on the Whanganui), Ross (last seen at Taumarunui) and Andre and Esther (last seen at Hunters Hut in the Richmonds) all showed up! Plus Sharika and Selina, grandmothers-in-law (is this a thing? They had the same grandchildren, their children had married each other, and subsequently they had become bestest of friends) and Lucy. Yeah, it was just such a nice evening, seeing all these people that we hadn’t seen for ages!

Friday 24th February
I was up at 06:00. We wanted an early start today. When I went outside to la toilette, the stars were still up and the Milky Way stretched way above me, a river of stars. Crazy, a couple weeks ago further north and the sun was rising at 06:00! But now, it is pitch black (scary film that).
We left at 07:30. Niall had told us that the path suggested on the app was supposedly terrible with heaps of wind fall all over the path and heaps of bush whacking. There was another, cattle track that we therefore decided to take and indeed, it was very easy walking once we got past some stinking, muddy and flooded bits.

The cold day turned into a warm one very quickly as soon as the sun appeared above the surrounding mountains. We easily bombed down to Taipo Hut and indeed, the rumours were true, it was being refurbished and was closed for the time being. Therefore, with a quick snack beside the river with Niall, Luuk and Lucy, we marched on.


The “easy” path that had been promised to us from Taipo Hut was, in fact, not at all that easy. It was very twisty and windy and we got lost at points. The orange poles were sometimes hard to see and so you could easily wander off the track if you weren’t careful. However, we pushed on, up and over knolls and small hillocks and through long grass and past thick, spiky branches and skipping over spear grass. Yeah, not “easy”. Thing is, as soon as someone tells you that the path up ahead is “easy” then you kinda switch off and so when you find it hard, you aren’t ready and just feel rotten!



We got to Boundary Hut. It was nestled right in a bend in the river meaning that we had to walk all the way around the outside of this river, spiralling in to the hut. Athena was here at the hut, leaving as we left. We had our lunch here as we regrouped. A helicopter landed actually as well, here to fix the water tank.
Rob’s bag had broken and so he was in a little bit of a bad mood when he arrived. We sat there after lunch, all trying to fix it. The man though, The Man, was Pierre. He showed up as we were all trying to fix it (some stitching had broken, meaning that Rob’s shoulder strap wasn’t attached to the pack anymore!…) and with his deft skills and know-how, he took over and fixed the strap. He had made his own pack and tents and stuff after all, so he had all the knowledge for sure.
Pack fixed and Rob very thankful, we cracked on again at around 14:30. Just a little further to the next hut. It was a hot hot day, the sun was baking down on us and helicopters kept flying up and down the valley, bundles hanging beneath them, helping with the refurbishment of Taipo Hut. Up and over and we emerged out at the end of North Mavora Lake. A 4WD track appeared and we wandered down until we reached Carey’s Hut. Et voilà, day done. We bundled into the hut where we found some shade thankfully. Sonja was there too which was fun!



We all went for a cheeky swim in the lake (where they all laughed at me screaming as I entered the fresh water) and then we laid our stuff out to dry in the sun. Niall and Luuk showed up and Luuk was dying to tell us a story here. He was laughing as he told us that Niall’s PLB had accidentally gone off, resulting in a helicopter flying out and stopping in front of him and asking him if he was OK. Whoops! He was fine of course, just horrified that that had happened in the first place!
We all played some frisbee, Ross and Luuk joining in, before we had some biscuits, tea and dinner. Since it was on a 4WD track, lots of cars were showing up and pitching up on the water’s edge, along with some NoBos, just setting off, still looking fresh and civilised.
Saturday 25th February
We were up again at 06:00 with the stars there to greet us from our sleep. It was once again extremely cold. A quick breakfast and we left Carey’s Hut, walking with Ross. Had a good old yarn with him as we made our way down North Mavora Lake. He had some old man poles (that’s what he called them, not me), like a walking cane you know? Or some truncated crutches. North Mavora Lake was also where they filmed the parting of the fellowship in LotR and as I was talking to Ross, I had half an eye on where we were, trying to judge where they had specifically filmed that whole sequence. I think I found the spot… Maybe? It all looked like the film though!



We got to Mavora Lakes campsite (situated between North and South Mavora Lakes) at just past 09:00. Luuk and Niall were there, waiting for us which was cool.Now, from here, we had options. The trail actually crossed over to the other side of the lakes here and followed the path down along South Mavora Lake. However, rumour (once again) had it that that path was in horrible condition and it really wasn’t worth walking down since there was a nice happy easy 4WD track on the other side of South Mavora Lake that would do the same job, and then you could cross to the other side at the swing bridge at the end of South Mavora Lake. Ross decided to stick to the trail proper, but Niall and Luuk came with us, walking down the road. We were needing to be in Te Ānau tonight since we had already booked our accommodation. Or, at least, Reid had booked something and it was lined up as a surprise for us! Exciting!! This meant that we were wanting to walk the road and try and catch a hitch out of there.


Therefore, we pushed on down this 4WD track (which turned into a gravel road), chatting with Niall and Luuk and sticking our thumbs out whenever a car passed. No dice. Niall and Luuk left us at the swing bridge and we continued down to the road. We sat at the junction in the shade of this tiny tree for half an hour before deciding that there was absolutely no traffic and we may as well just get walking again. It was actually kinda demoralising. Like, we needed to be in Te Ānau and so we needed to catch a ride but this road was absolutely empty… Eek!

However, after walking several kilometres down the road, a car finally stopped for us! Dirm (I think this is what he called himself) was from Liverpool and had the thickest accent. Rob is the big converser when it comes to hitch hiking, but I think he was really struggling to understand what Dirm was saying at points. He was a solid guy though for sure. He was out here fishing and he wore Vivos, so he gets a tick in my book.
He drove us all the way to Te Ānau, so so kind of him! People who pick up hitch hikers are wonderful people. As he drove off though, I realised that I had forgotten my one working pole in his car! Ahhhh! Well… There goes my poles. One broken, and one lost. I kicked myself. I only had 200km left after Te Ānau!
We grabbed some pies and then Reid showed us our surprise that he/his girlfriend/his girlfriend’s parents had booked: a room and attached kitchen/living space in a motel, all to ourselves. Delighted! It was so kind of them all! We checked in and then Rob went shopping for dinner. We wanted to cook something to eat all together and we settled on burgers, veggie for me.
As soon as he came back, we got the laundry going and then chilled out. Dinnertime came around and our laundry wasn’t quite finished yet soooo… We just ended up cooking our food in our underwear and sunglasses. Skux life. Would not have done this at a campsite or a hostel, but we had our own kitchen so we could!
That evening was just so great, the food was delicious and after we got our clothes back, we headed down to the lake edge to eat an entire tub of ice cream. No regrets. Just the best, living the life! When we got back to our room, we did a repeat of Hanmer Springs and sat on a bed and watched a film on my phone, Hunt for the Wilderpeople this time. Loved this film, highly recommend. There’s a lot of Kiwiana in there though, just little things that I now picked up on and found funny with every other Kiwi that watches it. Maybe I am becoming one!… Life is good, life is sweet. I fell asleep that night full and happy.

Sunday 26th February
A zero day, thank goodness. Our last one in Wānaka was not much of a zero day in all honesty. We had a nice long lie in until around 08:00 (because we are now morning people). Reid burst in though as soon as we were up him exclaiming “Guys! I have had an idea! The Kepler is just over there!”
Our original plan was to hitch out of town the next day, but we had enjoyed the Routeburn Great Walk so much that the possibility of doing another one was very, very tempting. Literally changing the plan 24hrs beforehand. I love it. I was down. Rob, on the other hand, was conscious of his feet becoming sore again and so he said that he would take an extra zero day (the Kepler would take us two days) and then set off on the next section one day ahead of us, taking it real slow and very relaxed to give his feet the best chance of lasting until the end. So we would have to catch him up basically.
Therefore, as ever, I won’t go into too many details of the monotony of a zero day. I got some more socks at the outdoors shop, sat around and drank quite a bit of tea at the Sandfly Café (excellent café, the worst name though) and did a small resupply for the Kepler. Got some new headphones (again!). We had lunch with Johanna and then bid her farewell since she was hitching out that afternoon. Dirm also came and actively found me again and gave me back my pole, that was just miraculous! Could you image!? I thanked him so much. I also saw Sonja, Scarlett and Joey and spent some time with them too. Turns out, Scarlett and Joey are on the same flight home as me! Crazy!
We had a pub dinner with Pierre and then Reid and I bid them farewell and we walked round to close to the start of the Kepler Track. Reid’s girlfriend’s parents have a section close to the start of the track and so we pitched up there. Pierre was leaving the next day and so we weren’t sure if we would see him again. Top guy for sure. That was kinda sad though, starting the process of saying goodbye to everyone…
However, I found this zero day to not be so zero. As ever, we did more walking than we expected and we were socially exhausted by the end of the day! Still, onwards and upwards. Let’s do an impromptu adventure!

Monday 27th February
It was a very peaceful night. No nothing. No lights, no people, no unnecessary noises… Very quiet. As such, Reid and I got some great sleep before we had a very relaxing pack up and then walked off of the section and towards the start of the Kepler Track at the control gates.
I had been meaning to Strava more of the hike than I had done. In fact, thus far I had tried to record something once, but my phone lives in battery saver mode and Strava does not enjoy that. Therefore, knowing that I would be back in Te Ānau in about 36hrs, I turned off all that battery saving and tried recording something for once. As you know, if it ain’t on Strava, it didn’t happen…

We buzzed along the shoreline, zooming. Once again, much like the Routeburn, the tracks and paths were all very well maintained since they were, you know, part of a Great Walk. As such, the walking was extremely easy along the shore of Lake Te Ānau. There were heavy clouds over the mountains and we knew that we would be climbing up in to them in a couple hours. We hoped that the clouds would be burned away before long.

We got to Brod Bay, the first place. Heaps of people were there already, either packing up (it’s a campsite) or having just arrived like us. We filled up on some water, ate some energy bars and then turned and started climbing the mountain.
It was a relentless pace we both set. Absolutely zooming. Since it was a Great Walk, then they favour switchbacks, and all really friendly switchbacks, meaning that they were at a shallow angle. As Rob would say, it was basically flat, and so we powered up this steep slope, hairpin turn following hairpin turn. There was all sorts of bird wildlife, all calling out to each other. I even think there were Kea, calling to each other. These are the cheekiest birds in the world by the way, happily steal your pegs if it meant getting food somehow.


We emerged up onto a ridge, emerging from the bush. There was now just scrub all about us and the ridge was sloping down to our left and right as we made our way up it. There was thin cloud here, hanging around still but slowly getting burned away by the day’s sun. This was a really nice walk all the way to Luxmore Hut (a super fancy, 60 bed hut!). Here, the time having just ticked past 12:00, we called it lunch and sat down and tucked into our food. Fun story for you. There was an elderly couple up there with only day bags, and they were on the phone to someone. Before long, the gentleman turned to his wife and said “The helicopter is on it’s way” – they had caught a helicopter taxi ride up to the hut and they were catching one back to Te Ānau!! Could you imagine?

Well, we didn’t hang around to see it but instead got going again before we got too cold. The clouds had all disappeared by now and as we climbed further up, we started seeing the most amazing views as the mountainside dropped away to our right. OK, quick sidenote, we were in the state called Fiordland. Yes, that is spelt correctly. It is Fiordland, not Fjordland! That kinda irked me.


Anyways, yes, we climbed up to the top of Mt. Luxmore, dropping our bags and scrabbling up and over rough rocks (because I guess this isn’t strictly on the Great Walk) with the views of Te Ānau and the lake spread out beneath us (albeit with a little bit of cloud cover here and there). That was really cool, but cold. I only had my sweaty shirt on! As such, we turned and fled back down the mountain and to our bags before long, pushing on.

I had my new headphones that worked now, and so Reid and I looked at each other, nodded, and simultaneously put in some music and got rolling. Mountain tops and valleys were everywhere and I was in awe as we made our way along the well formed path, up and along these steep mountainsides. Just stunning! I mean… I struggle to describe the feeling we were having as we walked along, each with our music in, grinning at each other as we rounded each corner.



We passed first one emergency shelter (Forest Burn Shelter, where Reid was told he needed a shower) and then ridge walked along to the next emergency shelter (Hanging Valley Shelter where we demolished a pack of crisps). This section of the Kepler, yeah, this is why it was a great walk. My brain was high on some sort of happiness chemical and the views around me were just simply the best. Simply the best. Mountain ranges spread out, overlapping ridgelines making us envious. Water sparkled below, the sunlight glinting off of it like static on a TV. There were hints of snow capped peaks and there were hikers ahead of us who were silhouetted on the ridgeline against this backdrop. There was a gentle breeze, curving around the mountains and clouds scudded across the sky. Majestical.



We found ourselves at a series of steps towards the end of this ridge (making the knee breaking descent just that little bit easier) and knew that our time was up as we started following them down. Just like when we climbed onto this ridge, we then followed about a thousand switchbacks down the side of the mountain, entering fresh forest and all the associated smells. We followed this down all the way to Iris Burn Hut where we had booked for the night at the campsite (because the hut was chock-a-block full).

I set up my tent under some trees and then had a cheeky nap before dinner. Whilst we were cooking, the warden checked in on us and ticked us all off on his list. It is quite strict, this sorta thing I believe. He also gave us a good talking to about Kea, warning us to store food in the food storage since Kea will rip through your tent and steal your food in the middle of the night. Following his suggestions, we did that after dinner and then went for a cheeky walk to Iris Burn Falls before hitting the hay (but, why is there hay here?).

Tuesday 28th February
Well, I had an alarm set but I still slept in by about twenty minutes! And the real kicker? So did Reid! We both obviously needed the sleep though and so after a nice breakfast (and packing up dry tents!), we set off again. I had slept so well, but Reid said that he was kept awake at night by all the kiwi birds making a racket! Apparently this was a good place to see them if you wished, but we were both dead tired…
A brisk pace was set (and I remembered to resume my Strava!) and we kept it up. The highlight of the Kepler was definitely walking all the way along that ridgeline that we did the previous day. Walking down the Iris Burn was just walking along flat land through some real nice bush. Some really nice forest. The sign said that it was six hours to Moturau… Well, I won’t lie, we did it in three hours. It was just ideal walking conditions! Flat, cool, just in the zone… Yeah!

We got to Motorau Hut though on the banks of Lake Manapouri and ate entire packets (plural) of biscuits and then, not feeling like moving, decided to have lunch there as well… Because yeah, that’ll help us get going! Smart thinking.

Well, we got going again, setting a relentless pace (Red Rocket, back at it. Also, A24 is the best movie studio at the moment) and it was just a lot more, beautiful bush all the way round back to the control gates and the start of the Kepler Track. Along the way, we passed Spirit Lake and the wetlands surrounding it. Wetlands used to cover the majority of NZ, but due to agricultural demands, they have been whittled away so that very very few of them are left, resulting in the devastation of a lot of plant, insect and animals species… Do I sound like a conservation or environmental billboard yet? But yeah, real interesting to learn all this for sure! There were even carnivorous plants!


When we got to the control gates, I turned off the Strava, and then collapsed onto a bench with Reid. Our feet were cooked for sure. I mean, 60km over two days is a long way! Plus well over 2000m of elevation gain! We still had to make our way back into town though, another forty minute walk and so we set off once more.
We (eventually! Finally!) arrived at the holiday park and we set up our tents as quickly as possible before walking into town (in jandals now, rather than laced prisons) for dinner. Pizza (Mexican style) and an entire pack of muffins later, I was walking back to the campsite as Reid headed to the post office. I set about doing our laundry and then we had some tea in the common room as we waited for it to be done. It was a hella busy common room, lots of people eating, lots of loud teens on phones, lots of banging dice and lots of drinking. Not my vibe, I soon retired to my tent once the washing was done. I guess it’s time for the last stage of the TA! Exciting times!
New People
- Selina and Sharika: Kiwi couple of grandmother-in-laws (they’re both grandmothers to the same grand kids) who are hiking the TA together.
- Lucy: British lady who is a dietician. Ultra light. Seen her a handful of times but never for long since she is always passing by and doing big days and all the side trips.
Status
- Physical: 10/10 – literally my body has never been better
- Mental: 10/10
- Distance covered: 2800km
- Most memorable moment: Routeburn and Kepler tracks. And seeing everyone again at Greenstone Hut, that was nice.
- Toughest moment: The terrible mornings from the combination of rain, cold and sleepiness. And our feet aching after the Kepler.
- Burnt-o-meter: 4/10
- Oatly Bars: 108
- Peanut butter jars finished: 17
- Falls: 24
- Song suggestion: Knees Deep, The Beths
What’s Next?
From here, we’ll hitch back to the trailhead and then make our way through Takitimu Forest (which is really a bunch of mountains). That’ll lead to some tramping through some farms and fields (joy oh joys) before we make it to the infamous Longwoods. These are meant to be, uh, rather muddy.
Coming out the other end of them, we’ll make our way to the ocean and the Forveaux Strait at Riverton before making our way along the coast to Invercargill and then on to Bluff, the end. Scary! And exciting!
Ian
Al
Karen McLeay
Al