Days 125-128: Tekapo to Twizel and Beyond!

We cranked out almost 100 km in three days - not a lot for some, but a lot for us! We found this section a bit boring and tedious, but we had some incredible views along the way to keep it interesting.

Day 125 was a much-needed rest day in Tekapo. We consumed massive amounts of food, did laundry, took showers, tried to catch up on email, and spent as much time as possible off of our sore feet.

We also sorted out our latest scheduling problem. We had a choice of slowing down to end up in Queenstown on March 15 to meet Karen, our Boston friend, or keeping up a decent pace, to reach Te Anau (the town after Queenstown) before meeting her. We looked over the calendar and distances, and decided to give the faster pace a shot, as it will give us more time to make up our missed north island sections after we finish in Bluff.

A pint of mint chocolate ice cream - not a problem for 2 hungry thru hikers

On day 126, we headed out of Tekapo to start a 70km stretch to Twizel (sadly, the town is pronounced "twyzel," not "twizzle(r)"). We weren't really looking forward to this part - there was a long stretch of gravel road walking, followed by a long stretch on a cycle trail, which, except for the lack of cars, is indisitinguishable from gravel road walking. We quickly learned that long, "easy" days, especially on rough gravel, are actually quite hard on your feet and legs. It's easy to go fast, and you never really get out of breath, but boy does your lower half complain at the end of the day!

Leaving Tekapo, we had a wall of low lying clouds in front of us. Ominous!

Explosions may happen at any time. And we thought sidling was dangerous!

To add to the fun, the gravel road had quarry trucks driving up and down it all day long. Some of the drivers were nice, and slowed down as they passed us, but others blew by and covered us in dust.

On the positive side, we had some great views of Lake Pukaki, another huge lake surrounded by mountains - and not just any mountains. At the head of the lake stood Mt. Cook, NZ's tallest peak. It was pretty amazing, and over the 2 days we spent walking to Twizel, we got views from several different angles.

We found a decent camping spot next to a strangely located pit toilet in the middle of nowhere. We had some good shelter and nice views of the lake, but after walking 40 km we probably wouldn't have cared if it was a flat spot on the moon.

Nice reflections on Lake Pukaki

Day 127 was more of the same, but with better views of Mt. Cook from the bottom of the lake. We ate PB&J for lunch at a rest stop picnic table by the lake, and drooled over the "Mt. Cook salmon" sushi being sold there.

We ended up in Twizel that night, and decided to stay in a hostel again, rather than camping at a holiday park. We were both feeling pretty run down and tired, and were hoping for a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, the lodge in Twizel only has single-sex dorm rooms, and their private doubles were super expensive, so we ended up both sleeping in separate rooms with strange people. At least it was a bed!

Pipes leading to a power station on the lake

The lake was an incredible color

Mt. Cook, NZ's tallest peak, is in the center. The views of it all day across the lake were incredible!

Day 128 was another long day of walking on easy gravel tracks, as we approached the Ahuriri River section of the trail. We had some more nice mountain & lake views, and spent the morning successfully dodging rain showers that were rolling through the region.

Sun on the mountains

Toward the end of the day, our luck ran out, and we were caught in a cooold rainstorm. Once the clouds lifted, we saw that it had snowed in the mountains - almost all the way down to the lake! After the rain stopped, it stayed cold. That night, we ended up shivering and camping in a campground near Lake Ohau.

Snow in the mountains!

Tomorrow we head up into the mountains again (where it snowed yesterday!), and then have to cross the Ahuriri River, which is the largest unbridged river on the trail (the Rangitata is technically not part of the trail, and doesn't count). We've heard of people having trouble with this river, so we're hoping for good weather and no rain before we cross.

We chugged through some decent kilometers in these 3 days, but it took a bit of a toll - we're definitely feeling a little tired and worn down at this point. We started to question our decision to keep up a decent pace, and are thinking about slowing down to just reach Queenstown on the 15th. It helps that we can see the end - only about 550 kms left! - but I think our bodies might be starting to cry uncle after the months of strenuous activity.

It's true - we are almost there!