Lake Tekapo to Queenstown
12-Jan
Hiring bikes or catching the bus is THE best option for the Te Araroa section to Twizel. It’s OK as a bike ride, but would be realllly boring to walk. You follow an aqueduct most of the way on a wide flat road. The aqueduct has a lot of Salmon farms set up in it.
At the outlet of Lake Pukaki which is on the way to Twizel we got a huge salmon fillet for dinner. It was frozen and they gave us a bunch of ice packs so it would survive the 10 bike ride to Twizel. You also get great views of Mt Cook across the lake most of the way. The colour of the water in Lake Pukaki does not look real.
13-Jan
As usual we pigged out on our day off in Twizel. More fresh fruit and yogurt and of course ice cream 🍨.
Twizel has an excellent Nepalese restaurant which I would recommend to anyone. It is called Fishtail after the sacred Mountain near Pokhara in Nepal. You need to book for dinner as it is packed!
14-Jan
From Twizel to Lake Ohau we rode bikes again. The first part along the aqueduct is boring, especially with a head wind. Once you reach the lake there is a fantastic bike track nearly all the way to the lodge where we had to drop off our bikes and pick up our packs. Then it was an easy stroll on the Alps to Ocean track to one of the best camp sites we have had.
15-Jan
Another early start and a 700m climb over a saddle and down to camp near the Ahariri River. About 20km all up for the day. The Ahariri is the largest river that the TA crosses.
We passed 800km at the Ahariri river👍
16-Jan
So the next morning it was wet feet right at the start of the day. We spent a bit of time finding a good place to ford the river. We are much better at picking this now, lots of experience! It was only knee deep where we crossed but very wide and fast. Sorry no actual photos of the crossing, too busy concentrating on crossing safely. Most hiking deaths in NZ are drownings when trying to cross swollen rivers.
After the river crossing we did a stroll up to Tin Hut for the night. It’s an old stock man’s hut that has been renovated to reasonable condition. The hut is owned by the nearby station and is $10 for the night.
We whiled away the afternoon talking to a older kiwi lady and a Canadian girl.
17-Jan
Another early start with a big climb over Martha pass, then down to Top Timaru hut for lunch. This is an easy 4×4 track.
After the hut the valley narrows and the trail becomes a narrow ledge sidling along one side of the valley. Not Pauline’s favourite! We did about 3km of this till we found and excellent camp site and stopped for the day.
Geoff preparing dinner. It’s not cold, he is trying to ward off the swarm of sand flies that seem to appear by magic as soon as your hands are busy😒.
18-Jan
We have heard from a Nobo that the weather is closing in tomorrow. So we decided to do a big day to catch the views from Breast Hill today. Walking by 7am, didn’t get to Pakituhi hut for dinner till 7pm. 21km for the day, 1353m climb!
We have been crossing paths with a Canadian girl for the last two days. She was trying to do the same as us. We haven’t seen her so far tonight. I suspect she may have been injured. We watched a chopper head down into the valley along the extremely steep ridge we had just climbed (500m in 2km). They lowered a crew member on the only clear patch on the ridge, it was about 3/4 of the way up, then the chopper went back down to the river. I assume it landed downstream somewhere, and waited for the crew member to descend the ridge, long way down with a full kit of rescue gear! The chopper returned to Wanaka about 3 hours later, I hope she is OK!
Meanwhile we made it to Breast Hill. One of the best views in NZ 😁. Lake Hawea in the foreground, the Alps on the horizon, with Mt Aspiring topping it all off!
A huge day, but we’ll worth it for the views. We had the almost new Pakituhi hut to ourselves for the night😅.
29-Jan
What goes up must come down! A long descent and easy walk around to Lake Hawea Village. Pigged out for lunch with pork pull apart and Berry smoothies. All topped off with a Kapiti ice cream 🍦.
The plan was to stay at Hawea at the camp ground till we saw the price. $63 for three people on an un-powered tent site. It was also about to rain. Didn’t relish the idea of spending the afternoon hiding in the tent! Off we went to Albert Town instead where there is a public campground for $5 a night.
All up 23km and 1088m descent for the day.
20-Jan
Had an easy day today. Only 13km to Wanaka and a Big supermarket. We stopped off along the way for breakfast at the new Albert Town bakery🍰 We are taking a day off tomorrow, beds, showers, unlimited food 😋 for two nights.
21-Jan
Wanaka is a typical tourist town with prices to match. Excellent New World supermarket! It also has a great cinema. Everyone has a lounge chair or couch. They have interval in every movie so you can get munches etc. We saw Mary Queen of Scott’s. Just reinforces why getting rid of monarchies is a good idea.
22-Jan
Did a big walk from Wanaka to Fern Burn hut today. 24km for the day, mostly flat around the lake. The track goes through the Glendhu Bay camp ground. Over 400 numbered sites. Lots of 4×4, boats, jet skis etc. Bit like Rye over Xmas.
There were a lot of retro caravans as well. I guess the old kiwi vans don’t leak like the Oz ones.
23-Jan
Today they forecast rain in the afternoon, the spacing of the huts suited us to have a short day. We got to Highland Creek hut by lunch time😊. Lazy afternoon listening to audio books while the weather turned to crap outside. Snow down to 1500m, felt like 100km/h winds.
Mitch and Tom arrived before the storms. We haven’t seen them for weeks. Great to catch up😊. Mitch shared one of his TA secret recipes for lunch. Pita bread with a base of peanut butter all covered in cheese and salami slices. Sort of like a pizza but not!
24-Jan
The storms cleared overnight to blue skies. Two big climbs today to get to Roses hut. Only 10km for the day.
The hut log books have lots of interesting quotes. This is one of the better ones –
“what’s the difference between God and a TA hiker? A TA hiker actually exists!”
25-Jan
Big day today, One big climb and 24km to get to Arrowtown. It also included lots of river crossings and an old gold mining town. Actually it was walking in the river for a couple of km. Cold but much faster than the flood route along the cliffs.
We stayed in Arrowtown overnight along with the thousands of tourists.
26-Jan
The next day we caught the bus from Arrowtown to Queenstown via Pack and Save. Yes, eating again! We picked up five days food ready for the next section. I also found a substitute for Nutella, its Almond butter with dark chocolate, lots of kilojoules without the sugar hit😋.
My new Merrell runners had developed a tear in the rubber along some stitching that was getting worse. The Merrell agent in Queenstown replaced them with a new pair👍, great service! The TA is really tough on shoes. Pauline’s Solomon runners have held up the best, just starting to fray the uppers otherwise ok. Geoff says his Merrell shoes have gone well. I would dispute this, the stitching has failed near the front and he had to glue a large part of the sole back on as it had become detached from the upper😢.
We are off into the wild again tomorrow on the Greenstone track. We passed the 950km mark yesterday.