Day 123 - trail magic
Wanaka —-> Fern burn hut 24km
After a miserable night attempting to ignore the snorers and late night coming and goings of my hostel room, I made little effort to be quiet as I packed up my things this morning.
I was out of the hostel by 7.30am, on the hunt for a coffee to wake me up when someone came running up behind me. It was Marley! He and Katherine were having coffee in a nearby shop. They’d been on bikes since I’d last seen them in Nelson and were now cycling the Tour Aotearoa route - it was much less stressful on Katherine’s foot than walking. I grabbed a coffee we sat catching up on our respective journeys. I envied how quickly they were progressing down the South Island, they were cycling for a few days and then hanging out for a few days, it seemed a wonderfully relaxing way to travel. But after seeing the elevation profile of their next section to Queenstown I realised it was anything but and felt grateful I was able to continue on foot.
I headed off towards the lake. It was a drizzly morning in Wanaka which meant the usual lakefront crowds were hiding indoors. I had the beach to myself as I pootled along towards Glendhu Bay, looking forward to a relatively flat and easy morning.
Even the Wānaka tree, typically crowded with selfie sticks and long lenses was empty - it really was quite a magical spot.
I was joined after an hour by a lovely Scottish woman walking her two dogs. She worked in the Motatapu ranges where I was headed that afternoon and usually ran the TA trail every other weekend “for fun”. She’d run it in a half a day - I’d be walking it over three.
The Glendhu Bay track skirted the edge of Lake Wanaka for three hours or so, it was easy walking and I sat for a break on one of the many grey sand beaches covered with piles of driftwood.
As I neared the town at the other end of the lake, I almost tripped over a rock on the ground. I stopped and screamed at what it actually was…
…my friend Michael had left a bag of chocolates along the trail for me to find! The bag was soaking but the choccies inside were perfect - the most unexpected and amazing bit of “trail magic” - I almost cried at the thoughtfulness and joy it brought me!
I had lunch shortly after and tried not to wolf down all the chocolate in one go… I was heading into the Motatapu this afternoon and the elevation profile showed I’d need those chocolates for energy over the coming days!
I was aiming for Fern But hut tonight - all the huts in this section were supposed to be really lovely. They’d been funded by none other than Shania Twain - part of the agreement with the NZ government when she and her ex-husband built their mega mansion here 20 years ago.
I slogged it up through farmland and then through a rather battered forest track - a walk harder than I’d expected it to be, maybe all the chocolate was slowing me down.
When I came out into the open, the day’s drizzle and clouds had started to clear, revealing the incredible mountain-scape around me. Steep peaks dropped down to rocky rivers, tussock covering almost every inch - it was a landscape I hadn’t really seen until now.
The track along the mountain side was fairly well etched in and Fern Burn hut came into view around 4pm, nestled into the base of a large peak.
There were a few other (non-TA) hikers already there. A father daughter duo came in as the light faded - they’d heard a lost cow wailing from down in the valley - they’d hiked in to try and find it.
Fern Burn was indeed a lovely hut, failed only by its lack of stove. But seeing the landscape I could understand why DOC hadn’t included one - with no trees around here there would be nothing to burn but grass.
Once I’d eaten dinner, I wrapped up in all my layers and snuggled down in my sleeping bag, falling asleep before I could feel any sort of chill on my face.
