Day 123: Stone hut to Camp Stream hut

The day dawned clear as forecast so it was a go for Stag Saddle, the high point of the TA at 1925m. First, we set off towards Royal hut. It was a freezing morning and of course multiple stream crossings were on the agenda, as well as wading through shoulder high tussock grass that was soaked from either the morning dew or the previous day’s rain and snow. Arriving at Royal hut, apparently named given that the then Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited it, Cecile and I had a snack break to give us some energy for the climb to come.

Leaving the hut, the trail climbed gently alongside a stream for a while before cutting away from the stream and climbing steeply up the hillside. There was a boggy plateau before more climbing, in the snow now, to reach the saddle. It was beautiful climbing up with all the snowing peaks around us and the azure blue sky.

At the saddle, the Southern Alps come into view, as well as Lake Tekapo, the most panoramic view so far.

Although the official TA goes back down the saddle straight into the valley, everyone climbs up to a nearby ridgeline and follows this before heading back down to rejoin the TA. We breaked for lunch on the ridge with the Southern Alps, including Mt Cook, spread out before us. The sun was shining and things just couldn’t get more perfect. The walk along the ridgeline was a real joy and we were sad to leave it to go down to the river and along to Camp Stream hut.

It’s a very small hut with six bunks and lots of character. It was very warm inside so we set up our tents next to it. I decided to go down to the river for a dip, it was quite the climb down but great to bathe in the refreshing water and dry off in the sun afterwards. It was a nice evening chatting and cooking outdoors, but the temperature did take a plunge as soon as the sun dipped behind the hills. I’m hoping that I’ll be warm enough in my tent now!

Day 124: Camp Stream hut to Lake Tekapo

It was a cold night (there was a bit of frost in the morning), but I was just about warm enough in the tent. Even so, I made breakfast from the comfort of my sleeping bag. The trail started off with some stream crossings, but I somehow managed to keep the feet dry by rock hopping them, at least the first couple of crossings. It didn’t take long to warm up anyways and then there was an unexpectedly short but steep climb up a hill.

The trail then meandered across a plateau until it crossed a road that leads to a ski centre. Just before the road, we met Steve coming along from the road as planned. We walked down the road to where he had parked his car and then he drove us into Lake Tekapo village. We stopped on the way to look at these pine trees with pine cones the size of your head. Once in the village, we had lunch at the Greedy Cow Café before Steve dropped us off at the hostel before heading back to Timaru. I called the place where I was supposed to be renting a bike from for the next section and learned that they wouldn’t be able to bring me my bag tomorrow night so that if I still wanted to bike, I’d have to take panniers with my overnight things. She also warned of gales for the next few days. I took some time to think about the options and in the end decided not to bike to Ohau from here. I’ll hitch to Twizel tomorrow and rejoin the trail either at Ohau or past the Ahuriri river the following day. There is a ton of rain (300mm) forecast to fall on the West coast over the next few days, which could impact the Ahuriri river and make it impassible. The river catchment is more the eastern side of the Alps so it’s really hard to know what will happen to the river levels with this weather system. Hence not being sure what to do about where to rejoin the trail…what else is new! In any case, we resupplied and got some fish and chips for dinner from a food truck. It was really good and the local ducks were very interested in our dinner as well.

Day 125: Lake Tekapo to Twizel

The day started off well with another trip to the Greedy Cow Café for a coffee and a breakfast pie. I got my bounce box posted off with no problems this time. Cecile and I then hitched a ride to Twizel. It had been raining when when I first got up, but the day cleared up and the drive was nice with beautiful views of the Mountains and also Lake Pukaki. We also saw the canal that the bike path from Lake Tekapo to Twizel follows. There weren’t any gales to speak of so I think the biking would have been ok, but it didn’t look I missed much since it’s just a straight path along a canal for many kms. In any case, it was nice to not do much today and really rest the Achilles. We chilled at a cafe and then at the hotel room for a bit before heading out for dinner at a Thai restaurant. It’s still not clear what to do about the next section since the crazy amounts of rain will start falling tonight on the West coast and in the Alps and continue for much of the day tomorrow.