Day 131: Wanaka to Highland stream hut

It was a clear but chilly morning as Cécile and I set off along the lake. The first point of interest was a tree that’s growing out of the lake.

There was an information sign saying the tree is 70 years old, fragile and doesn’t grow fast. But it didn’t explain how it came to be there in the first place. We continued along the shoreline all the way to Glendhu Bay. The lake was crystal clear and was lovely with the mountains in the backdrop. We even got a peak at Mt Aspiring through a gap in the mountains.

Glendhu Bay seemed to be campground and not much else but about 500m after turning off down the Motatapu road, we found a bike hire place with a cafe. We stopped in for a drink and then continued on our way. After following a gravel road for about 2 km, we arrived at the start of the Motatapu track, which we’ll follow for the next few days and which is supposedly quite hard with lots of very steep ascents and descents. It started off along the Fern Burn through farmland before entering a forest and then emerging into a tussocky landscape. There were a lot of interesting rock formations and the views were as breathtaking as any we’ve had.

After a bit of a climb, we arrived at Fern Burn hut and after taking a break decided to push on to the next hut. It was a very long and sometimes quite steep climb up to Jack Hall saddle from the hut. I saw some goats clambering along a rocky outcrop above me on my way up. The track down from the saddle was even steeper and we arrived at Highland Creek hut quite exhausted and sore. It’s a lovely hut with a view over where the track will go tomorrow. There’s only one other hiker here so we had a lot of room in the 12 bunk hut, which is nice.