Well that was a whole lot less fun. Woke to drizzle and low cloud. First section over to Taipo Hut (2h) was a whole lot of wet track and intermittent bog. Stopped at hut for snack and to layer up – cold across the tops. Hut book had dire warnings from SOBO hikers about swamps. …
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Day 9 ; Mavora Lakes part 1
Well I’m now completely off the plan. Got lift up to start of Mavora Road with Chris and Rich (who are SOOO nice) and started yomping up the gravel road. Only 37k of it to cover to first hut (☹️). After only about 6-7k a lovely friendly Washington State angler stopped to give me a …
Day 8 : an official “zero day” in Te Anau
Well that was nice. Woke to torrential rain but I was warm and cosy in a bed. Eventually got up and had breakfast, inside, using electricity! Read Kindle, wandered into town once rain stopped (and bought two merino sweaters from Op Shop for $24) , ate pizza, drank wine and had an 8k run round …
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Day, errr…7??!
It’s all starting to blur together a bit. This morning Lari and I set out to hitch to Te Anau nice and early to catch the morning workers, only to realise after standing by a deserted road for half an hour that today is in fact Saturday. Oops! Finally a battered red car with a …
End of Day 5 + Day 6
The last part of yesterday was actually not bad – it helped that I was expecting it to be 17k and it was only 12.5 : 5k downhill through reasonably dry birch forest to the edge of the forest (Bye bye Mirkwood!) then 7.5k down a forestry track to Merrivale, where there is an AMAZING …
Days 4 – 5 : Longwood Forest
Mirkwood. That’s all I have to say. Longwood Forest is probably lovely when dry, but after a week or more of rain it was a bloody nightmare. The water race to Martins Hut is at least mostly flattish, but there are about fifty little steam gullies to cross. Climbing under trees, over trees, wading, jumping …
Day 3 : Riverton to Colac Bay
Short easy day. Lay in enjoying my tiny caravan, then leisurely breakfast of canned fruit, then off about 10.30 once the rain eased a bit. Got lost about 2k in as the sign down to the beach was less than obvious (if you follow the marked TA trail down to the fence and stile, head …
Day 2 : The Beach
Got a ride out through town to start of Oreti Beach (thanks Chris – legend!) then about 25k of beach walking into a constant wind. Pretty straightforward and quite scenic but I can see why SOBO walkers go nuts on 90 mile… Got a bit stranded at the Waimatuku stream as I hit it bang …
Day 1 : Bluff to Invercargill
Well that was a day of two halves. Loaded AirB&B bike up for bus ride down to Bluff with the indefatigable Gary from Stewart Island Experience. I think Gary knows everyone in Southland! He insisted that just cycling back straight away would be boring so drove me round to the signpost for photos then took …
T-1
Well I made it to Invercargill and am now waiting to see what the weather gods throw at me. Posts all over the TA Facebook pages about trampers stuck in huts throughout Southland. I’ve checked the forecast and tomorrow says ‘thunder and lightning’ so that’ll be fun on SH1 from Bluff… AirB&B owner Chris is …
Only running the downhills... 