Day 128: Waterfall campsite to Pakituhi hut

Thpe track this morning started with more river crossings and sidling along the steep banks. After a while we turned away from the river and then climbed over 500m in about 2km, it was steep! The backs of my legs weren’t too happy, but they got me up. Stody’s hut was at the top of the climb, a very old hut with a dirt floor. After lunch at Stody’s, we continued up a 4 WD track, so much more gradually. The views of the surrounding mountains opened up and there were even a few glimpses of Lake Hawea.

We eventually got to the summit of Breast Hill that overlooks Lake Hawea and it’s town down below. There was a brisk wind, but we stayed at the summit enjoying the view as long as we could and then started down once we got cold.

It was about 2km down to the turn off for Pakituhi hut, which is a newer hut and is more than full tonight with others doing weekend hikes (it’s Saturday).

Day 129: Pakituhi hut to Wanaka

The track today was a lot of steep downhill with views over lake Hawea.

It was quite windy and somewhat chilly despite the sunshine. At about halfway down, I realised that I didn’t have my phone any more. So I went back up the track to look for it and ended up going all the way back to the turnoff to the hut looking for it. Cecile waited for me with my pack. I never found it despite looking carefully at all the places it most likely would have been dropped, but asked everyone I saw going up to look for it. I didn’t have much hope anyone would find it since I had looked quite hard for it. Cecile and I finished the descent and got a hitch to a famous Bakery in Albertown, the Pembroke Patisserie. We felt a bit better after eating lunch and having a treat and decided to get a hitch to Wanaka since we wanted to be indoors while it rained tonight and we thought we might be able to get a cabin at the Holiday Parks campground there. We were in luck and got a room with 3 bunk beds all to ourselves. We spent the afternoon relaxing, planning and resting.

Day 130: Wanaka zero

I didn’t sleep as well as I’d hoped. I slept well at first but then woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. And then when I finally did manage to sleep again, this crazy wind started up and woke me up. I was glad that I wasn’t in a tent since it was loud enough inside. The morning was calm and the skies clearing though. During my time awake at night, I had been thinking of my poor phone out there in the storm and figured that it was a goner even if someone did find it now. However, Cecile checked the TA Facebook page (we had asked people to post there if they did find it) and it turned out that someone had found it yesterday! We got in touch and luck even had it that they were coming to Wanaka today so we arranged to meet. By 11:00, I had my phone back and was feeling so grateful. I did have another issue today though, my bank card was declined at three different merchants. I called the bank, but was told that it must the merchants since there was no reason my card shouldn’t work. And then I tried at an ATM and it worked, so who knows what was happening. Back at the Holiday Park, I found that my milk and yogurt were missing from the fridge, probably my own fault since you’re supposed to label your food and I hadn’t. In any case, we had a nice sushi dinner with some bubbles (to celebrate the phone being found) and I’m feeling well fed if not completely rested.