Days 134-138: Motatapu to Queenstown

Another 100km down, and only 320km left! We've caught ourselves already occasionally talking as if we've already finished, rather than still having 10% of the trail left. While I'm sure there are still some tough parts left, I think the Motatapu Alpine Track, which we just completed, was the last really challenging section.


Day 1 out of Wanaka felt way longer than it should have. We had a morning on "easy tramping track" (which is TA-speak for "easy cruiser") around Lake Wanaka that still felt like hard work. I've noticed that I always seem to feel like crap on the first day after a town stop. A combination of too much food in my belly, too much food in my pack, and not enough rest, perhaps?

Looking back toward Wanaka

After lunch we reached the start of the Motatapu Alpine Track. Most of this section is across private land - owned by Shania Twain! When she bought the land, one of the stipulations was that she had to fund construction of a track and huts through the mountains. Thanks Shania! Sadly, we didn't see her on our way through to thank her in person.

And, once again, we have impeccable timing - another adventure race was scheduled while we would be on the track! Luckily this one was less of a big deal than the Coast To Coast race - the adventure run was almost an afterthought (34 teams) to the mountain bike race (2000 entrants) that was through the same area, but on a different route. We had no problem staying out of the way, and had fun meeting the racers and officials. No free beer this time, but we did end up with free Powerade, bananas, and even some leftover tomatoes from one of the officials. Liz's dream come true!

Another adventure race? You've got to be kidding me...

De-luxe chicken accomodations on Shania Twain's property

Some nice beech forest, a marked contrast to the rest of this section

That night, we stayed at Fern Burn Hut. The next day, we climbed over Jack Hall's Saddle, with nice views all the way back to Lake Wanaka on the way. We arrived at Highland Creek Hut, a short 6km down the trail, by lunchtime. For once, we're making good on our promise to take some time off and relax in a nice hut.

There were also two volunteer race officials in the hut that night, one of which was a very modest ultra-marathoner. She talked casually about running 100 mile races... it made our 5 month, 3000km trek seem fairly minor in comparison. We had a nice evening chatting with them and swapping stories.

Looking all the way back to Lake Wanaka

There goes our trail, winding down this narrow ridge

That is not what my brand new right shoe is supposed to look like

The next morning was a busy one at the hut. Around 7, a helicopter dropped off a medic, and the runners started coming through around 8. By 10, all but one team had passed, and we set off, secretly hoping to beat the last team through to the next hut.

Liz got tired of walking and called a helicopter (actually, it was dropping off the field medic the morning of the race)

The hut got busy when the runners started coming through

The walk through to Rose's Hut was a tough one, with 2 major climbs and descents, but it was also pretty short. Two half days in a row - we're slacking off as we approach the finish! We arrived to find another busy and crowded hut. This one was just off the mountain bike track, and was accessible by road, so there was more activity. We did end up beating the last team to the hut, but when they arrived we found they were a pair of 67 year old marathoners that decided to try a trail run. We felt a little less good after that, but still kind of good.

The area was very dry and tussocky

Motatapu River valley

Not the grey, rocky mountains we're used to - but still stunning

More across the Motatapu valley

Mountain bikers waaay down in the valley

Another busy hut!

All the race activity cleared out by late afternoon, and we had the hut to ourselves that night. Quite a transformation in the valley over a few hours - people everywhere, squealing bike brakes one minute, empty peacefulness the next. Overall it was interesting to see the race though, and it ended up really not being inconvenient for us.

Day 4 from Wanaka sent us through Macetown, an historic, abandoned gold mining town, on our way to Arrowtown. There was apparently adecent gold rush here in NZ. We spent part of the day walking down the Arrow River, but unfortunately we didn't spot any gold nuggets. I guess that's why it's an abandoned mining town. We did come across a pair of people in wetsuits, face down in the river, with big floating sluice machines though - apparently there is still a small amount of gold to be found if you work hard enough for it! I wanted to take a picture, but it was kind of awkward. Sorry.

Macetown itself was kind of a disappointment for me - I had been looking forward to seeing all the old mining stuff for a while. Unfortunately, most of it was totally gone. There was one old building left, and a few signs, but not much else. I suspect there was more there to see if you know where to look, but our cruise through was pretty uneventful.

Buff thru-hiker Liz warns "Kids, use your suntan lotion every day!"

Last views of the Motatapu Valley

The Arrow River bed had sections that were solid rock, making for some interesting flows

All that's left of Macetown

From here, Liz wasn't feeling too well, and decided to take a 4wd road out to Arrowtown, while I took the shorter, but more vertical route over Big Hill. It was fun to be able to go at my own pace for a bit, but along the way I discovered that Liz serves a very important role on our trip. I encountered a section of trail that was washed out by a big slip close to a river crossing. If Liz had been with me, we would have backtracked a bit and found an easy way down and across the river.

On my own though, it seemed like a great idea to head straight down the slip and bushwhack my way up the other side to the trail - a shortcut! It would save time! (Bad decision count: 1)

Ha. I slid down the hill, reached the river, and didn't see a way up the other side. I did find a faint trail leading down the river though, and thought "It must go up at some point, I'll follow it - I sure don't want to go back now." (Bad decision count: 2)

I followed the "trail", and eventually found a way up the other bank, and picked up a slightly less faint trail, but not the trail I wanted. It did seem to parallel the real trail though, so I figured I'd follow it and they'd merge eventually, rather than heading back toward where I knew the main trail crossed the river (Bad decision count: 3)

Eventually the "trail" ended at cliff, with a really thick stand of pine trees between me and the real trail. I pulled out the GPS, and thought "the trail is only 80m to my right, how bad can this be?" and plunged into the pines. (Bad decision count: 4)

30 minutes later, I emerged from the pine trees AND thorn bushes (boy, I wish I had seen them before I went in), with my arms all scratched up, thinking "I should have turned around at the slip." Apparently I need Liz around to keep the bad decision count to 1 or 2 at a time.

Anyway, the views from Big Hill down over Arrowtown were pretty good, and I ended up walking up to the end of the trail at the same time that Liz emerged from the 4wd track, so it all worked out.

Thank you, contrail, for making this vanilla landscape slightly more interesting

Arrowtown - civilization!

We got a sweet deal on a real bed at the Arrowtown Holiday Park by mentioning the TA, and then gorged on some awesome meat pies from the bakery for breakfast the next morning, before heading off to Queenstown. It was an easy walk, and we stopped in downtown Queenstown for a beer and some chicken & waffles. Perfect hiker fare.

Liz loves cows, don't let her tell you differently.

Another beautiful walk into a city

Ok, ok, the garbage trucks weren't representative - Queenstown is a beautiful place

Tomorrow we catch a shuttle to the next part of the trail, which continues on the other side of the very large Lake Wakatipu. We'll spend four days getting through to Te Anau, the next town, before we backtrack to Queenstown to meet up with Karen, our Boston friend, who is visiting New Zealand!

We'll take a vacation from hiking by... hiking the Routeburn Track, a Great Walk. We'll do short days, stay in super flash huts, carry ridiculous food like wine and bread, and then spend a day kayaking in Milford Sound. Hopefully we'll get back on the trail refreshed and ready to crank through the last 10-11 days that will be left!