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Lake Tekapo to Wanaka

Te Araroa - days 106 to 113

By Nature Is Calling

March 13^th, 2020

Day 106 - Lake Tekapo to Lake Middleton Campsite

Start: @ km 2389
End: @ km 2472.5
Cycled: ~ 74 km with a shortcut bypassing Twizel

We got up, went to the bakery and grabbed some stuff for a nice breakfast feast that we had in the hostel with a view out to beautiful Lake Tekapo.

At 7 am Annie picked us up from the hostel. She was the one we would be renting bicycles from today, because we would take an alternative option suggested by the trail notes. Instead of hiking 55 km along a flat road to get to the next possible camp spot in Twizel, we would bike this part and a little more to Lake Ohau. Kirby was with us again and after Annie finished gathering all the necessary gear for us, we went off with just a little bag for the day (Annie would transport our bags to our end destination). We thought we might see some TA hikers on the way so we bought juice and coke in little cans to be able to offer them something, once being trail angels ourselves.

After leaving the town the track went mostly via long channels for the first half of the day. We made good progress and after a few hours passed Ilona, a fellow TA hiker from the Czech Republic, who was happy about an apple juice and a small chat. Little did we know that she would remain the only TA hiker we would see today. After passing salmon farms and a fun long downhill, we got to Lake Pukaki visitor center where we had to decide whether to take the route via Twizel or the 10 km shorter alternative along more channels. We decided to have a short stop here and then take the shortcut. The choices for a lunch snack were limited. The visitor center was mostly a salmon shop and that’s what Kirby and Mathias got, fortunately they also had some cheese for Leah and crackers for all of us to go with it. The salmon was really good, so no regrets.

After the next set of channels we rode along Lake Ohau and the trail got a little more mountainbikey and narrow. By now our backs and butts hurt from the unusual activity and we couldn’t wait to get there which we finally did. We had called Annie before and soon her partner arrived to get our bikes and bring us our packs. We pitched our tents and made dinner. There were a few other groups on the campground, one group was noticeable in particular; a group of teenagers that seemed to party and constantly drive around in their pickups. As a precaution Mathias put a circle of sticks around our tents to create a safe area. Let’s see if that helps.

Day 107 - Almost Zero around Lake Ohau

Start: @ km 2472.5
End: @ km 2476
Hiked: 3.5 km + 2.5 km off trail ;-)

After some initial noise by our fellow drunk teenage campers, Mathias slept well. Unfortunately Leah heard them a little longer and getting more aggressive. She made up stories in her mind about someone getting in a fight and getting murdered or them drunk-driving over our tent. As a consequence she slept slightly worse.

We got up in the morning and were happy to get our tent packed before the rain started. Today we planned to only have a little hike as the weather was supposed to be quite rainy. We planned to stay in the lodge close by and wait out the rain. 6 km is all we walked.

Arriving at the lodge there was a huge gathering of people. A little overwhelming. It turned out the owners had a little festival with old friends from long times ago called Woodstuck 2 (the original Woodstuck was 9 years ago). As we were early we had to wait for check in and felt a little out of place between all those party guests. Then the feeling we had changed to envy once everyone started to eat from a huge lunch buffet with burgers, salads, a whole chicken and the smell of it filled the room. We watched it all from our couch in the corner of the room, writing some blog stuff and waiting for our rooms and the small lunch that was more affordable.

At least we were happy to see that the rain picked up a little, to provide us the reason for us staying at this more expensive place tonight.

We waited for the room to get ready and had some sandwiches. When the room was ready we had a short nap and then got excited about the $15 nachos that we had heard about. They started serving at 4 pm. Hm. We had a three course dinner coming up, but decided we should at least get one serving and share it between the three of us. They were really good and we enjoyed them while sitting on comfy couches in front of a fireplace. We were hardly able to finish them. Then Leah and Kirby decided to quickly hop into the outside hot tub, while Mathias took another little nap.

For dinner we shared a table with two older couples. One couple was doing a multi day bike trip, the other one was just driving through (and happened to have the cutest, nicest man ever). We had some lovely conversations, beer, wine and a good dinner: fresh ciabatta, pumpkin soup, lamb shank, cauliflower steak and a lemon tart for desert. Mathias was just a little bummed that his portion always seemed to be the smallest of the table, but at the end (and after all the nachos) he was more than full and happy they didn’t serve him more.

Day 108 - Lake Ohau Lodge to Ahuriri River

Start: @ km 2476
End: @ km 2501
Hiked: 25 km

Leah woke up early this morning to find that there was a fourth roommate: a mouse. We had not mentally prepared for this. In huts, we expect it, lodges/hotels; not so much. Our room reservation didn’t only come with the surprise mouse but also had breakfast included. We were ready to fully take advantage; stock up before our hike. We ate too much, no surprise, and would regret it... a bit.

While at breakfast, the cutest man (from our table last night) offered us a ride to the trail-head. So sweet! Of course Leah and Kirby jumped right on that! We knew the day’s hike started with an 800 meter climb, but were pleasantly surprised by the fact that it wasn’t too intense. As we climbed, we passed by a super cute ‘drinking station’ that someone had set up: a sign, a pipe with fresh water running out, and a few mugs to drink from. I love cool humans!

The walk was once again so beautiful and we felt glad that we’d waited out the rain. On the path we saw French Ben and he confirmed that he too had been locked into Manuka Hut... with eight others and a dog. They, like Mathias, came to the conclusion to take the door off the hinges. Hehe.

While stepping over a stream, Leah lost her balance (due to a Spaniard that attacked her leg (the plant - not the European)) and fell backwards. This could have been so bad as the stream was filled with ankle-breaking rocks. She was so lucky that somehow when she fell she landed safely-ish. She was a bit shaky for a few minutes, as was Mathias who heard the fall and quickly came to help, falling himself on the way to the rescue. But we were both okay so on we went.

The weather continued to treat us well and we enjoyed the next hours on the trail. We stopped to have a lunch break just before the trail turned into swampland. While lunching, Kirby showed up.

The three of us chose (more or less) to embrace the swampiness ahead. It actually wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Plus, we knew we would be fording the river soon so it didn’t really matter if our feet (and legs) were wet and muddy.

Soon after passing the 2500 mark it became time to cross the river. We had read up on the crossing and heard from Sarah and Julia that we should walk a bit downstream to the second island. We were to cross at that island, then walk upstream to the first island, then walk up a bit more and cross over to the main land. We looked for what would be the best crossing and Kirby went right in. We followed. The crossing was much better than all of us had envisioned. The water only came up to our knees, or a little above, and the current wasn’t too strong. The rocks below our feet were quite slippery, but we took our time and made it safely across. Wooo wooo!

We had originally thought we would head to the car park which was about 3 km ahead, but when we climbed up the first hill after the river there was tons of flat-ish land just asking to be camped on, so we pitched our tents.

Did Leah and Mathias get into a crabby little fight about where to place the tent? Yes. Did Kirby have to listen to it? She sure did. Did we get eventually get over it? You bet ya!

The temperature dropped quite quickly, so after dinner, and some stretching for Leah and Kirby (Mathias was still crabby at this point) it was time to get into our tents and sleeping bags and get some sleep.

Day 109 - Ahuriri River to Top Timaru Hut

Start: @ km 2501
End: @ km 2525.5
Hiked: 24.5 km

Our day started from our beautiful campground close to the river, where we had crossed the day before. The first hill we had to climb to get up from the river level, was incredibly steep. It does not really look like it on the picture, they never do such things justice, but we were - once again - happy that we were walking this stretch up and didn't have to scramble down it as northbound hikesr would. We thought for them this was at least as challenging as the river crossing itself.

We walked up some farm tracks that got to a point that we had read about. The following stretch was described as "random placed orange poles thru the full of cow shit swamps and knee deep mud/shit pools" (RoyTeunissen on Guthook). That didn't sound too inviting to us, so we took an alternative route along a 4-wheel road.

The path then went through paddocks of cows. We weren't used to that anymore, the north island seemed long ago. But the cows stayed out of our way, and even a huge bull, that was "hiding" among them and made us feel a little awkward, was not really interested in us. (For the record, Leah pointed out the bull earlier and Mathias and Kirby dismissed this... just sayin'.) The trail passed a cute private hut and then went up to Martha Saddle. In total it was around 900 m of elevation, but because it was a steady incline, it didn't feel too exhausting. What hit us more is that the closer we got to the saddle the more the weather turned. It became colder and colder and started drizzling. Just when we decided that we should probably put the rain flies on and wear our rain jackets, it started pouring and we had to act quickly. It even felt like there was some hail in the rain and we got quite cold, so no stop at the saddle, but we pushed on to get out of that weather.

Luckily the downhill was quite steady as well and around 7.5 k km later, wet and cold, we were happy to arrive at the hut together with Kirby, where we met Ben (FR) who we already knew and Liz (England) who we had heard about. The first thing we saw of the hut was the long drop toilet, as it was right on the trail. The door wouldn't really close and was facing south, so that you could greet any arriving north bounders, while taking care of business :)

We were happy to change, eat dinner and get warm. Mathias killed so many sandflies on the little window next to the bed, that he felt the need to clean the window as well.

Day 110 - Top Timaru Hut to Breast Hill

Start: @ km 2525.5
End: @ km 2547.5
Hiked: 22 km

What a day. After breakfast, packing and eventually the unavoidable getting into our still-wet clothes and shoes, the trek started with a slanted narrow forest path on the side of a hill - slippery and downhill. It seemed a little risky and we decided to stay together in our little herd with Kirby, just in case someone would need help.

We followed a river, getting our shoes and feet wet. There was lots of up and down and it was fairly slow going. On one of the muddy downhills, Mathias slipped and slid down a couple of meters, frightening for all of us. But fortunately, besides a few tiny scratches and crushing his fingers a little not much happened.

Mathias was struggling a little. The fall and not at all having the progress he expected, put him in a bad mood. The local birds provided some very welcomed distraction. We love the Fantails (in German they have the short name "Neuseelandfächerschwanz ") and the Robins (iGthtsn "Langbeinschnäpper"). They sometimes seem to just stay with us for a few minutes and come really close, those brave birds. Today we got a fantail to land on our poles and even took a picture of it.

When we finally got to a turnoff, where we left the river to go up to the next hut, Stodys Hut, we were surprised, that it was incredibly steep, around 500 m elevation in just around 2 km. It was difficult to stay motivated, but then again, there is no other choice than to go on and get there. Mathias had expected to be at the hut between 1 and 2 pm. Actually it was around 4 pm and we still had water to filter and a tent to dry. We did this and had a snack, but also hurried, because Leah made - what would turn out to be a great call - the decision to go on to at least Breast Hill and camp there. The views were supposed to be great and the weather seemed okay.

We left around 5 pm and expected the worst after what the trail had been today, but actually it was a quite easy going farm track and just the last bit to the summit was relatively steep. We crushed the 8.5 km in around 2 hours and found Ben and Liz had pitched their tents already. The view over Lake Hāwea was incredible and Ben's tent was in a perfect "National Geographic Photo" spot. So beautiful. We were in awe.

There was NO wind, NO sandflies and NO clouds. It was perfect. We pitched the tent and had dinner watching the sunset, taking heaps of pictures. We also took some time lapse videos: Youtube - Breast Hill Video.

Day 111 - Breast Hill to Lake Hāwea

Start: @ km 2547.5
End: @ km 2561
Hiked: 13.5 km

We had a good sleep, even though it was a cold night. We had set an alarm, so we could watch the sunrise from the tent. We opened the tent on Mathias's side, started boiling water for coffee and porridge and watched the beautiful sunrise over the mountains we came from. Eventually after another little nap in our warm sleeping bags, we also opened the tent on the other side and just then saw that the valleys were filled with low clouds under us and that the view on that side was at least as good. What a surprise!

We took our time, enjoyed the views and Leah took advantage of the great phone reception and sent messages to various friends on Boomerang (an app other people might know as Marco Polo), took time taking the tent down and finally left around 10:30. We managed to hike around 10 minutes and then stopped for a photo shoot again. While we were posing and shooting for some great panoramics, we saw Kirby getting to the summit and had a little conversation screaming back and forth. We had left her at the previous hut, she planned to sleep in the rather old hut (full of character - which always is a description, that should warn you), but after a rat ran over her feet during dinner, she decided to pitch her tent instead. :)

The downhill was long and hard in a way going from 1578 m elevation to 351 m, but it also had beautiful views while we followed a ridge line most of the way. We found ourselves an awesome lunch spot and after that were happy to find some of the rather rare switchbacks for the last couple of kilometers.

After all this downhill it was great that just a little later we passed a beach on Lake Hāwea that was very inviting to go and have a little swim and who are we to pass such an invitation. The water was fresh but not too cold and super clear like so many lakes here. It felt great to cool down and get a little cleaner, especially because there were hardly any sandflies around. Makes such a difference!

We got to the township of Lake Hāwea and stopped by the dairy for some ice cream. When we saw the portion size, we remembered, that Richard had talked about this place a few days ago. They really had huge scoops, so that two scoops would not fit on one cone and Leah ended up with a cone and a separate cup of ice-cream.

We checked in for the night. The hotel didn't have any backpacker rooms left, but we called ahead and they had an "overflow" room, that we would share with Kirby for the night. It was in a little tower right under the laundry room and actually it was quite nice. Oddly it had a little seating area with a couch and table and some other items, but almost everything had a price tag as well, the table lights for example were priced $7 and $8. Did we end up renting a bed in a garage sale? Maybe.

For people staying at their accommodation, they served $15 burgers and $5 drinks and we took advantage of that and had a great evening, still hyped from the beautiful views on the summit, the perfect lake and from that our knees did not give up on us on the downhill.

Day 112 - Lake Hāwea to Wanaka

Start: @ km 2561
End: @ km 2586
Hiked: 25 km

We packed up and had another stop at the dairy for breakfast, where besides the usual scones, Kirby introduced us to cheese rolls. The trail today started as a bike path along a crystal clear river. Our pace was good, motivated by our second breakfast stop coming up which was a little Patisserie halfway in Albert Town. We had something savory, something sweet and a coffee and almost got stuck, because it was so nice, but hikers gotta hike.

We followed the river further to Lake Wanaka and then along the shore to the town. It was quite busy, because a big show - the Wanaka A&P (agricultural and pastoral shows) - was going on in town and heaps of visitors were in town. Good that we already booked an Airbnb. We went to the address and first were not sure which house it exactly was, because there were two houses behind each other and we didn't know which one belonged to the postbox with the house number we saw in our booking. We went to the back house and tried to find the door that they told us would be open for us, through every window we saw that the house was quite messy and full of stuff and we were starting to get worried, but then a friendly neighbor sent us to the house in the front and we found our room. It was a very new Airbnb listing, which gave us 20% off, but also some things were still weird. It wasn't as clean as we were used to, we didn't get a key, but the door was always open and doing the laundry required going through their garage and living space multiple times (thank you Leah for doing laundry twice!). At the end we were still very happy that we had a place and headed out to town.

The corona virus (COVID-19) was starting to become more and more of a concern, so we didn't really want to check out the show which also seemed to have a little fair like area with booths and rides. We were happy to head into town, meet up with Kirby for dinner from some food trucks (Burrito for Leah and some Bangladeshi food for Mathias) before going to the famous cinema Paradiso, which has awesome seating mostly on couches where you can snuggle up. They also do intermissions in which they sell fresh and warm cookies... yummy. We watched Dark Waters, a recommendable, but also disturbing / depressing movie/reality.

We said good bye for now to Kirby as she would walk on on the next day, but we would stay a day longer. We went back to our place and to bed. A bit disturbed from the movie and catching up with the corona virus, we went to bed.

Day 113 - Zero Day in Wanaka

They day began with a lazy sleep in. Things were starting to feel a bit heavy; corona virus and the movie last night. We have been in an off-gird-ish bubble for some time and although we have been hearing about the Corona virus from our families, over in NZ we had yet to really see or feel the effects. But things were starting to feel a bit different.

Eventually we felt motivated to do another load of laundry and head into town to grab some food. The weather was lovely and we were able to find a big empty table outside at Big Fig. The food here was delicious; hummus, fresh pita, salads, and smoothies. Wanaka is a very cute town, which is filled with cafes, restaurants and cool boutiques. There was not enough time in the day to consume all of the food that we would have liked, but we did what we could.

After filling our bellies with nourishing food, we headed off to New World to do some restock shopping. In other exciting news, Mathias got to get a new free pair of Icebreaker socks. For those of you that don't already know, Icebreaker will give you a free pair of 'replacement' socks if you return a clear pair of yours that have been worn through. In the states the company Darn Tough has the same policy. While Mathias exchanged his socks, Leah grabbed a warmer pair of Icebreaker long john pants. It is starting to get colder.

Of course, during this time our hunger resurfaced and we fed ourselves from the food trucks once again. Mathias found currywurst while Leah returned to the burrito truck from the day before and again had an incredible smoked jack fruit burrito. Then we found a dumplings truck and shared an over of those as well. We made one more stop to New World, to grab a carton of ice-cream for dessert.

We were excited for the upcoming section and wanted to get a good night's sleep so we headed back to our Airbnb, inhaled the ice-cream and went to sleep.