A very lovely and well deserved zero day in Wanaka. We left the YHA after a nice cooked breakfast and walked around the lake and Clutha river to Albert town. Nice autumn colours appearing along the way. A short hitch to Hawea, Fish and chips and then a walk along Lake Hawea to the base of Breast Hill. I preferred to do the Timaru river trail, Anna wanted to climb the hill. We eventually made it to an empty Pakituhi hut after a slog up the hill. Big day!
Head-torches on as we left the hut at 6:20 in the morning. Great watching the sunrise across the tops. Anna finally got to see the view she missed 6 years ago. Stody’s hut was just the same, a great refuge in foul weather but not much more. Huge steep downhill to the Timaru river then mostly river walking instead of the track. Finally met Renée and Billy who we had stalked in the hut books for weeks. They’re Nobos like us. A premature departure from the river saw us do an extra up and down which was less than pleasant. Pretty tired when we got to Top Timaru hut. Shared the hut with Renée and Billy – nice couple, great evening.
Up and gone early again. Head-torches required till we started the climb up to Martha saddle on the old Bulldozer track. What a glorious reward for our efforts. We were above the clouds, pretty chilly but stunning! Weaved our way down to Tin hut on the old 4WD track for lunch. Along the farm road to the Deer fence then across the Ahuriri River and up the valley all the way to Quailburn Hut. A new record for us on this trip, 34kms in 11 hours 35 minutes. Tired!
Seriously thought about a zero day at Quailburn Hut but with only one tiny window we would have had our head-torches on most of the day. A late start then up the valley to the saddle crossing over to the track down to Lake Ohau. Lovely area and luckily we only had a couple of sprinkles of rain. Memories of walking through miles of fire damaged forest on the PCT came back to us as neared the bottom of the hill and entered the charred remains of burnt trees. A couple of hitches and we made it to Twizel to have our fears confirmed that everywhere was sold out. Rowing regatta plus Easter put paid to our plans of a shower and comfy bed. Resupplied and carried on 5kms down the trail to camp.
Cold? Bloody freezing! Even the tent fly was frozen solid – memories again of the PCT in the Sierra. Took a while to warm up but eventually we packed up and carried on. We’d hitched this section last time due to the heat so it was great to finally get the view. Coffee at the Salmon shop then onto the trail around Lake Pukaki. Nice quick trail – we share the Alps to Ocean cycle trail for most of the way to Tekapo. Camped on a small Pine covered hill just before the Hydro power station. Arrived early enough to have a lovely chilled evening.
No frost this morning. A bit windy but warm. Little did we know that the rest of the day would be spent battling gale force wide along the canal. Heaps of cars had driven past our tentsite early in the morning. Getting to the lake at the end of the canal we realised everyone was going early morning fishing by the Salmon farm. I must confess I preferred the alternate we walked 6 years ago (the canal was closed for maintenance). Back then we walked Braemer Road, longer but with more TA atmosphere. Even without the gales I would have found the canal a bit boring – no wonder almost everyone we met cycles from Tekapo to Ohau. Got to State Highway 8 and hitched to Tekapo….the gales were so bad the caravans were ordered off the road. Finally accommodation, a shower, laundrying, dinner and bed. Great section, grand views.
Camino Te Araroa 