7 or 8 days ago Nolan and I left Wanaka, heading East to Glendhu Bay, then South via the Motatapu Track. The Motatapu was a lovely walk; steep ups and downs, and respectably short days. Day one was 20ish K, day two was 12ish K, and day 3 was an easy 15k. On day two, just before arriving at rose's hut, we came across three hammered gentlemen from the Czech Republic. They offered us some of their homebrew. In the interest of politeness we accepted. "60%" grinned the red-faced Europeans when they saw our faces. We offered some food, as they had very little, but they turned us down, stating that they had enough spirits to make it to Wanaka without hungering. Czech guys, if you're out there, I really hope you made it to Wanaka.
The following day we travelled down to the old mining town of Macetown, population 0, where we managed to catch a ride with a friendly couple, Jean and John, doing the TA by car. They met Alan, Lauren, and Lizzie up by Lake Coleridge 3 weeks ago. Jean and John drove us down a river to arrowtown, where we hitched to Frankton, resupplied, hitched through Queenstown, hitched to Glenorchy, paused for 30 minutes to eat blackberries on the roadside, hitched passed Glenorchy, camped on the roadside, woke up in wet sleeping quilts in a wet tent, pulled on our wet clothes, attached our wet packs, didn't bother with wet breakfast, hitched to Kinloch, hitched to the greenstone track, and finally stopped to watch the rain pour down and eat some breakfast under a shelter.
A side note: although our sleeping quilts got wet, we had the foresight to order synthetic material quilts from Enlightened Equipment, keeping us warm despite the rain. Better to be warm and miserably wet than cold and miserably wet. Thanks Enlightened Equipment.
On the greenstone we walked a mere 3 hours into the first hut (Greenstone Hut) and set about drying all of our belongings. The sun never shone, but our stuff became significantly less damp.
We hopped onto the Mavora Lakes track the next day and walked a flat 20K to Boundary hut, pausing at Taipo hut for tea and lunch and a chat with a couple kiwis.
At Boundary hut we left around 10am, and walked a wimpy 6K to Careys Hut, where we ran into the one and only Stuart! Stuart had been following us in his car for 52 days, trying to track us down and return a bottle of contact solution I left on his bathroom counter in Wellington.
Just kidding.
Stuart and his wife Louise walked the Routeburn track last week. Louise flew back to Wellington, but Stuart stayed to hike around and check out what's what around Te Anau before hopping on the Dusky track (which he begins tomorrow). It was simply an unbelievable stroke of luck that we ran into him at Careys Hut.
After he moved on, the rain poured down harder than it had in 6 months, according to the kiwis in Careys hut with us.
Yesterday we woke up early and walked the final 10k out to the Mavora Lake carpark, where Stuart was camped with his car. He kindly drove us all the way up to Frankton, where we resupplied on food and bought 2 air mattresses (explanation coming in 2 weeks). Now we're in Queenstown again, spending a rest day before starting what's looking to be an exceptionally rainy Routeburn, then off to the Kepler.
As another side note, yesterday was the last day of the TA for me. Rather than continue after the mavora lakes with Nolan all the way down to Bluff, I will do the Dusky Track (providing I can find someone to do it with me). Stu saw us off on the ferry for the first day of the TA, and he took us up to Queenstown on my last day of the TA. What a guy.
The following day we travelled down to the old mining town of Macetown, population 0, where we managed to catch a ride with a friendly couple, Jean and John, doing the TA by car. They met Alan, Lauren, and Lizzie up by Lake Coleridge 3 weeks ago. Jean and John drove us down a river to arrowtown, where we hitched to Frankton, resupplied, hitched through Queenstown, hitched to Glenorchy, paused for 30 minutes to eat blackberries on the roadside, hitched passed Glenorchy, camped on the roadside, woke up in wet sleeping quilts in a wet tent, pulled on our wet clothes, attached our wet packs, didn't bother with wet breakfast, hitched to Kinloch, hitched to the greenstone track, and finally stopped to watch the rain pour down and eat some breakfast under a shelter.
A side note: although our sleeping quilts got wet, we had the foresight to order synthetic material quilts from Enlightened Equipment, keeping us warm despite the rain. Better to be warm and miserably wet than cold and miserably wet. Thanks Enlightened Equipment.
On the greenstone we walked a mere 3 hours into the first hut (Greenstone Hut) and set about drying all of our belongings. The sun never shone, but our stuff became significantly less damp.
We hopped onto the Mavora Lakes track the next day and walked a flat 20K to Boundary hut, pausing at Taipo hut for tea and lunch and a chat with a couple kiwis.
At Boundary hut we left around 10am, and walked a wimpy 6K to Careys Hut, where we ran into the one and only Stuart! Stuart had been following us in his car for 52 days, trying to track us down and return a bottle of contact solution I left on his bathroom counter in Wellington.
Just kidding.
Stuart and his wife Louise walked the Routeburn track last week. Louise flew back to Wellington, but Stuart stayed to hike around and check out what's what around Te Anau before hopping on the Dusky track (which he begins tomorrow). It was simply an unbelievable stroke of luck that we ran into him at Careys Hut.
After he moved on, the rain poured down harder than it had in 6 months, according to the kiwis in Careys hut with us.
Yesterday we woke up early and walked the final 10k out to the Mavora Lake carpark, where Stuart was camped with his car. He kindly drove us all the way up to Frankton, where we resupplied on food and bought 2 air mattresses (explanation coming in 2 weeks). Now we're in Queenstown again, spending a rest day before starting what's looking to be an exceptionally rainy Routeburn, then off to the Kepler.
As another side note, yesterday was the last day of the TA for me. Rather than continue after the mavora lakes with Nolan all the way down to Bluff, I will do the Dusky Track (providing I can find someone to do it with me). Stu saw us off on the ferry for the first day of the TA, and he took us up to Queenstown on my last day of the TA. What a guy.