Much nicer day! Easy walking and running on 4WD tracks for most of the day. Few ups and downs to start then along a wide river valley (not in the river this time) and past A-frame Hut (cute – would be nice to stay but only 4 bunks). Steady grind up to saddle for awesome views of Rakaia. Glorious downhill run through farmland and then following riverbank and field edge down to the road. It would have been perfect except I forgot to confirm my shuttle and missed it by 3 minutes! Fortunately two lovely sets of people stopped and gave me lifts so I didn’t have to walk 90km or so back to Methven! (One of these involved a wonderful older couple on holiday who were collecting wild burdock plants for their garden. My ‘fee’ for the lift was occasional stops to jump out and harvest the evil spiky blue plants. The other was a very kind but rather stressed lady who must have set the land speed record back to Methven…) Now settled into what resembles an elderly single aunt’s room at the Brown Pub before resupplying and sorting sunburn, blisters and dirt (clothes and me) ready to head back out tomorrow.

Well that was a day! Just a few warnings if you’re planning on doing this section. After the stream crossing as you start uphill, the track disappears into a section of matagouri and Spaniards. The poles also mostly disappear. Just head diagonally uphill (use the TA app) and grit your teeth – eventually you make it out! Then there’s a LONG steep climb up a fence line and finally across several scree slopes. This apparently has awesome views but today the cloud was so low I was struggling to see the next pole. Over the saddle is more poleless tussock/Spaniards with hidden streams and bog to fall in. Think Stag Saddle to Royal Hut, or East Ahuriri top section if you’ve done those…

You finally get to the bottom and meet the river. It’s sort of between a small river/large stream. Mostly only knee height if you pick a good crossing spot but fierce flow and slimy didymo rocks mean you have to concentrate every time you cross – and there are over 40 crossings, almost all unmarked. It’s actually easier to just stay in the stream bed where you can. Finally you’re spit out just before a stream junction and up over a little spur to see Comyn’s Hut below you. Aaaah! Old and rustic (the hut, not me) but at least has a fireplace. Warned of rats but didn’t see any. Joined over the next four hours by Tenley and a variety of SOBOs. Full hut!

Well it’s January so it must be another section of TA! This time starting at Lake Clearwater. Got a lift in from Geraldine with awesome TA trail angel Mike Brown, and on his suggestion used the Eastern Link Track to join up with TA route as an alternative to starting at Potts River. Great choice as lovely track. Nice TA section as well – bridle/4WD so nice and runnable. Made good time over to Hakatere Heron Rd car park by lunch.

Started jogging up the road (seriously hot day) but a couple of anglers drive by and I cadged a ride up to the track junction. Phew! Recommend it if you get the chance as that road gets HOT! Next section another 4WD track up to Lake Emily then a short sharp climb up and over to the Manuka/Double Hut valley. Easy walking to finish, and hut has a fab view – even from the long drop! Only me and one other tramper (Tenley, who’s doing all of S Island and video blogging it all) Great day!

Out to Mesopotamia.

A pretty steady 20k morning, starting with around 10k of Forest Creek. This involved a bit of crossing and recrossing the braids of the creek – not always obvious from the map which side it was better to be on. In some places the current was fairly strong but it never got my running shorts wet so all good. There’s an intermittent 4WD track along some sections but it doesn’t always ford the creek in the shallowest bits, and further down it heads off to the right onto private land. The creek itself starts to dry up the further you go, as it drains into the riverbed and goes underground, so bizarrely it’s shallower at the bridge than where you come onto it. Weird….

No DoC poles or markings at all that I could see anywhere on the route. A nice pebble hop but started to get over it a bit by the end and glad to see the road bridge! The marker back in Bush Stream valley had said ‘13k to Forest Creek car park’ but I never saw one of those either.

The last 10k were back up the road to Mesopotamia station where I’d booked to camp on the old schoolhouse lawn for $30. Bit steep for a pitch but I don’t think they really take campers and it was a lovely spot on soft grass, sheltered by trees. Use of a toilet and shower too, which was appreciated. Got there about 2pm so had a nice long afternoon doing nothing. That’s the end of this section too – was thinking of continuing over the next section to Double Hut road, but weather is due to change for the worse in a day or two so I’m going to call it quits for now. Fantastic three days though – reckon this must be one of the best parts of TA…

(Update from next morning – beware the wallabies! Couldn’t work out WHAT the terrifying thumping/tearing sound was in the night, and too scared to venture out to look, but found out later it was wallabies jumping into the paddock to eat the grass!!!)

The long one….

Up and out by 8 to attack Stag Saddle. Easy start on 4WD track but then tussock bashing up onto the ridge, where I picked up a rough trod along the tops, going pole to orange pole. Not always that obvious but as it was a ridge line you couldn’t go that far wrong. The views more than compensated for the uphill pain, or at least they did until the rocky steep bit at the end! Bit of a faff getting across a steepish scree sidle and a rock field to the saddle, but then I suppose it is the ‘alternate’ route up. Would have been much nicer going SOBO here as you’d have had awesome lake/mountain panoramic views the whole way.

Now it was all downhill to Royal Hut. I don’t have any photos of this bit as to be honest it annoyed me – too much bush bashing and not enough damned orange poles. Come on DoC – a few more wouldn’t kill you!

Royal Hut was a bit of an anticlimax- rather dull and just plonked in the valley. Ate a quick lunch and moved on. I’d been worrying all day about the upcoming Bush Stream section, as well as the delights of searching for poles amongst tussocks and matagouri, so when I saw the sign for the alternate Forest Creek route, I decided to give that a go instead. Easy drag uphill on a 4WD track for a few km to Bullock Saddle, then another steep 4WD track down the other side. More great views from the saddle made me glad of this choice of route.

The fun started when the DoC track diverged from this track at the bottom of the first downhill. Suddenly we were back to playing ‘find the pole’ through chin high tussock, Spaniards and matagouri, often on a 45 degree slope. Hmmmm. Finally the route headed downhill into beech forest (although without the Topo map app on my phone I would never have found this) and became a more obvious path marked by pink/orange streamers on trees.

Once down to the broad gravel riverbed it was just a case of following the valley downhill and looking for a spot to camp. There are two private huts on this section but you’re not allowed to use either of them. I found a tiny but cosy spot in amongst trees opposite the ‘Stone Hut’ marked on the map (and clearly visible up on a hillside on the other side of the creek). The creek itself was fairly fast flowing and had some power, but as it’s a wide valley you can just choose a good spot whenever you need to cross with no drama. All in all, a good choice I reckon. Long day though with the two saddles and all that tussock, so happy to crawl into my tent!

Back on the trail! Only a very short section this time due to work commitments, just over the Two Thumb range from Tekapo. Arrived via Intercity in blazing sun to find that my idyllic Lakefront backpackers (1.5k out of town)was now in the centre of a gravel wasteland where a new subdivision was being built. Not so idyllic now…. Cancelled booking and walked the hot and dusty 1.5k back to the awesome new YHA. Sorted! Organised kit, bought food and got ready.

Morning dawned just as glorious – managed to score a ride up the lakeshore to the start of the Richmond Trail with the awesome Shelley and her mum. Thanks guys! The first 13k were all on this well trodden route, ducking in and out of sun scorched grassland up from the lake. Rather frustratingly, the path was often in a dip so you couldn’t see the beautiful blue of Lake Tekapo. Still, easy walking to get to Roundhill ski field road and lunch.

The afternoon proceeded on Te Araroa ‘proper’ – a little bit more tussocky and a steep drop down to the stream junction, with wet feet before another steep climb up and out to Camp Stream hut. This is a private hut open to the public so you need a $10 note for a donation. (The donation box is the grey pillar outside the hut, which took me a while to work out..) Well worth it as it’s cute, cosy (at least in hot sun) and immaculately kept. Spent the arvo sitting outside reading my Kindle in the sun after filling the big red water container from the creek down below. (That’s all my hut karma paid!) Joined later by the irrepressible Syd, doing the full SOBO as a retirement project. Go Syd!

Great first day back on trail…

This is it – the end of the trip (for now anyway). One last push to Twizel. It felt a bit odd to be in a whole room to myself, in an actual bed, with my own bathroom. To be honest I got a bit hut-homesick and pulled out my sleeping bag to snuggle!

Dinner last night was fantastic – they seat you at random with others and I got chatting to some hard-core adventure mountain bikers, a pair of English trampers and a couple of other NOBO TAers section hikers who were going in a bit further. Great yarns and great food. The hot tub was pretty nifty too, and as the rain pelted down I was happy to be off the hills.

The mountain bikers persuaded me to hire a bike for today : it’s 38k from the lodge to Twizel and I pulled a calf muscle fighting the wind yesterday. $90 including transfers, but in retrospect an absolute bargain. The morning dawned blowy but dry, I ate my body weight in continental breakfast, and set off about 10.30.

It just got better all the way : first few kms were along the Lake Ohau road but even that was scenic. Then onto the quiet and flat A2O cycleway to the weir, and along the canalside road to Lake Ruataniwha. Stunning turquoise water (at last), a tailwind all the way, and hot summer sun. I took a long late lunch break on the lake shore, although I wasn’t quite brave enough for a dip. One final turn of the wheels up the hill to Twizel, dropped the bike off and walked the last km to High Country backpackers. Made it about an hour ahead of Raul, a TAer who I met in Top Timaru hut and passed coming out of Ohau. He looked knackered and hadn’t spent three hours reading a kindle by a lake….

That’s it – done.

Feels a whole lot different to coming home from Queenstown at the end of Part 1. Then it felt like quitting, even though I knew it was the right choice. This time I feel I have nothing more to prove. I’ve forded rivers, sidled along rockslides, climbed ridges and slept solo in multiple spooky huts. I’ve loved (almost) every minute of it and I’ll be back sometime for the next chunk.

So long South Island – it’s been good!

Well this was it – the day of doom. The Big One. Martha’s Saddle (1700m), the crossing of the mighty Ahuriri and a 31k day ending either at a derelict hut or a bivvy bag in the bush. Gulp!

Actually it was all a bit of an anticlimax. The saddle, although hard work, was all on a graded track and just slow and steady, followed by an epic run down the other side, aeroplane style! Stunning pastoral valley as well. Then it was Birchwood Road and across the fields to my first sight of the river. Having just met three twenty-something SOBO hikers who admitted they hitched round it as it was so scary, I fully expected to take one look and head for the bridge 5k downstream. But no! It looked….doable. Two braids, gravel island in the middle, not too deep. I could do this! I positively skipped down the bank and found a spot, stepped confidently in, slipped on a slimy rock and lay flopping in about a foot of water, giggling. Thank you very much Ahuriri. After that I was more careful with my feet and despite a strong current, made it across without further dramas. All that worrying for nothing eh? (Mind you I wouldn’t have tried it on my original date – I’d have been swimming,)

Up the bank, along the pine plantation, then a case of ‘where’s the path’ for a few km in marshland as DOC clearly ran out of orange markers. Finally refound path on side of river and climbed for another 5k until the hut came into view. Scrambled down slope and across the stream to see just how derelict it was (opinions had differed online). Wow! New tiled floor, smart red door, little window and two mattessed wire bunks. Good enough for me! No toilet but I have a trowel…

Now the final challenge of the day : do I have enough gas left for a hot meal, or is it cold-soaked oats and a Cliff bar for dinner?? (Update : there was just enough for both dinner AND coffee in the morning!)

Another day of two halves – woken by howling winds (SO glad I found this hut!). Whole morning of steadily climbing up the top of the East Ahuriri valley (once again DOC appear to have been on a money saving drive with the orange poles…) to the saddle. Winds up there were so strong I nearly got taken off my feet jumping between rocks! Another 2km of boggy tussock : brought back memories of Mavora Walkway. (Shudder…)

Then down into beech forest on lovely trail and along the A2O cycle path to the lodge. Even got some running in at last. A hot shower showed up quite how bad my shorts-tan is, along with how much I thought was sun tan was actually dirt! At least now I’m clean enough to get in the spa pool, so that’s the afternoon sorted. Just need to decide whether to cycle or walk to Twizel tomorrow. It’s 35k so a fairly long walk, but today was gale force winds and all the cyclists here say it was appalling out there. Plus it’ll cost me nearly $90. Hmmmm…

So this was the day ( well, one of them) that I’ve been having cold sweats about since Bluff. Vertical slog across slips and broken trees down to the Timaru river, then sidles, climbs and dodgy river crossings for about 8h.

Well it wasn’t quite like that. Admittedly the route down to the river started with me getting lost within about 20 paces of leaving the hut (bloody DOC markers!) and it WAS relentless, steep, rocky and at times completely unstable, but nothing much worse than I’ve already encountered. Then the river was back to normal flow so that was completely fine – crossings up to ‘wet shorts’ territory but hot day meant it was actually quite pleasant. I only had one moment of hanging onto a rock face wondering where the hell the track went! Lots and LOTS of steep-as ups and downs to get around gorges and rapids, but nothing unmanageable, plus some of the best scenery so far. In fact a pretty nice day and I got to the shiny new Top Timaru hut before 3. Didn’t fancy 4 more hours over saddle though, so early finish. Hut is currently home to a sick French tramper so really hope this was not a bad move…

Have washed me, washed clothes, and am sitting in warm sun looking down beautiful stream valley. Life is good and I’m very glad I did that bit of the trip. Now let’s hope I can get across the Ahuriri tomorrow AND find a spot to bivvy…..