A Mountain of Nachos Awaits

Te Araroa Trail Days 21 - 25 (372km - 468km)

Day 21: December 24

Wanaka and Hawea

Our time in Wanaka was characterized by the consumption of baked goods. We spent long hours at two different bakeries, and then our walker friend and ex pastry chef Brittany loaded us up with a tupperware of her Christmas cookies. Scrumptious.

Maddie’s friend Ken joined us for a wholesome Christmas Eve at Lake Hawea. They met a few years back while studying in Chile and he happened to be in Wanaka. Ken is now a pro rugby player, and we gladly partook in his high meat / vegetable diet, two things we don’t get a lot of on the trail.

Day 22: Christmas (11.25km)

Lake Hawea to Pakituhi Hut

Ate a big Christmas breakfast lakeside and then Ken dropped us at the trailhead to resume our journey.

We strolled around the lake, passing by big happy families biking, swimming, hiking, and camping by the lake. Merry Kiwi Christmas!

We stopped for a quick dip wearing our Santa hats just before the trail veered into the mountains above. The steep climb made for stellar views. Lake Hawea looked like a brilliant blue splotch of watercolor outlined with a turquoise sharpie.

We continued up the wind swept ridge line, eventually lowering into a valley with views of Pakituhi Hut. We assumed we’d have the place to ourselves, but when we looked through the window we saw a face we hadn’t seen in 3 weeks! We busted through the door, “ALI!!”

We met Ali on day 4 (Mud), when we were really going through it, and thought we’d never see her again. The three of us had a wonderful Christmas together, and shared a rehydrated chocolate cake pudding in a bag. It was more delicious than it sounds.

We all had a huge day ahead, which meant bedtime at 8pm for a 5am wake up. Since there were only three of us, we each slept on a double stacked hut mattress, a Christmas special!

Day 23: December 26 (26.3km)

Pakituhi Hut to Top Timaru Hut

Candle lit breakfast at 5:30 for a 7:30 summit of Breast Hill. Of all words that could be used to describe this jagged mountain, the last two would be breast and hill. Great views all around, all under a bath of morning light.

We lowered down the mountain and had the choice of either walking up a creek, or along a thin exposed track with steep drop offs. We chose option one, spending the majority of the day navigating upstream. Though refreshing on a hot day, river walking is tedious and mentally draining. Our speed dropped, (from kilometers per hour to hours per kilometer) as did our spirits.

Top Timaru Hut finally emerged in the distance. Our savior. We ate lunch and dinner back to back at 3pm and crawled into our sleeping bags. That night we shared the hut with a mother son hunting duo, their rifle, and a deer carcass split into three trash bags.

Day 24: December 27 (29km)

Top Timaru Hut to Ahuriri River

Another foggy morning, another climb.

Today presented our first real river crossing. We eventually made it to the edge of the canyon, carved out by the braided Ahuriri River below. We mapped out a crossing strategy from high above and tucked loose belongings inside our packs. Once we got down though, we scrapped our plan and walked straight across. We latched together just how we learned during a river crossing course a few months back. Easy peasy.

Over the course of the next day, we passed loads of worried southbound TA walkers, and reassured them about the impending river crossing.

Found a camp spot a few kilometers past the river and made a staple meal of instant mash, gravy, and lentils. Spiced it up with some instant tasty cheese sauce. The sauce was anything but tasty.

Day 25: December 28 (23km)

Ahuriri River to Lake Ohau

Every time we are within 25km of civilization, we develop a bad case of get-home-itis. We had heard rumors of the delicious nachos at the Ohau lodge, and it was all we could think about all day.

The retro lakeside lodge kindly allows TA walkers pitch tents and shower for a small price. Full speed ahead until we got to Ohau.

We had recently come off 10 days of trail flow: strong legs, healed blisters, peaceful minds, rejuvenating town stops in Queenstown and Wanaka full of pastries, friends, generosity. But the last couple of days to Ohau were tough; full of steep climbs, river way-finding, sunburns, and pretty much the only other people we saw were coming in the opposite direction.

We were slumped on the lodge couch eating a mountain of nachos when we spotted a man carrying around a dry bag just like us. Another walker! We had a lovely chat with Drew from Seattle, who had walked all the way from Cape Reinga, the tip of North Island. He validated every emotion that we were having. It was honestly really nice to have someone who had walked every step of the Appalachian trail tell us this was damn difficult. The amount of bush bashing, road walking, logistics, unmaintained trails, the fact that Te Araroa is young and few know it exists, all adds a challenging layer atop the physical demands of the trail.

“Coming from a trail purist on the AT, there is no way you can be a trail purist on Te Araroa.”

Thanks Drew. Because we’re about to skip a whole bunch.

The next 100kms are along a roadside cycle path. Most TA walkers rent bikes for this section, but we decided to bypass the whole bit and go to Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park instead.

Until next time!

Maddie and Anna