We started hitching early and didn’t have any problems getting a ride this time. We decided to take two zero days in Hanmer springs and enjoy the hot springs and good food and drinks and hanging out with Oceane, Richard and Stefan. The pools were fantastic! There were hot pools, mineral pools, cold pools and […]
The hike out was long but not difficult. We went over the Anne saddle which was only 200 meters above the hut. We stopped at one of the huts on the way to have lunch, there were sandflies in the hut. We didn’t stay long. Holger and I got to Boyle (where there’s almost nothing) […]
From Waiau hut the river banks open up to more and wider grassland on the banks with smaller mountains behind them. Between the huts I only went down a couple hundred meters over about 25k, so it was mostly flat, but it was warm and the sun was strong. Originally I was trying to get […]
Starting from Blue Lake hut the path goes up to Lake Constance, then up more along the western shore and back down to the lake. The path seems almost unnecessarily aggressive and although Lake Constance isn’t as striking as Blue lake, it sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains on three sides. I have to […]
I woke up at 6:30, originally Katie, Gerben and Sanna said they wanted to leave at 7 so I started rushing until I noticed nobody else was up and packing. I packed up and they were still getting ready so I just took off by myself. There was a ton of damage from a flood […]
I stayed late at the hut enjoying sunrise and drinking coffee, the view is just breathtaking from a spot right above the hut. I enjoyed just watching the sun slowly creeping down the faces of all the mountains surrounding me. Eventually I packed up and left, the hike down was steep but not too slow. […]
I took a zero day on 1/19, did laundry, ate, sorted my bounce box, took several showers, tried to patch my shoes together and just hung out in general. 1/20 Slept in a bit, got breakfast with Holger, Katie, Gerben and Sanna, bought some things from the general store, took a shower and hit the […]
We woke up in a cloud again and it was very cold, the clouds made navigation difficult again and we knew it wasn’t a very long hike; 2.5k to the hut, 13k to the road and 8k road walk if we didn’t hitch. So we waited a bit to see if the clouds would clear, […]
Yuji (One of the guys in the group) expressed interest in my side trip idea, basically instead of following the TA along the river, this way would take us up and over the red hills (I don’t know why they are called hills, they are most definitely mountains). There are no marked trails, but I […]
Morning at the tarn was quite nice, although it was overcast there was a lot of mist. Quickly the sun burned through the clouds for a perfectly clear day. The first part of the hike to the Mid Wairoa hut was uneventful, but the hut has an amazing swimming hole that’s a beautiful sapphire color, […]