Te Araroa: Tekapo to Lake Ohau, Ahuriri & Motatapu

These were our final sections on the Te Araroa.

We decided to pick up bikes for the section from Tekapo to Lake Ohau to give our legs a rest. I was still nursing sore ankles/tendonitis, and spending a couple days pedaling a bike rather than walking on uneven trail was a relief.

The bike ride followed impossibly blue glacial water along a canal that fed into lakes surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

Planning our next move at the Holiday Park

KT tape saved the day

We ended our bike stretch at a ski lodge near Lake Ohau where we drank a beer and soaked in the hot tub. We were back on our feet the next morning for a short overnighter on the Ahuriri track.

We hadn’t heard anyone talking about this section, so we weren’t sure what to expect. The climb up into the valley was stunning withwaterfalls and views back to the lake.

This section was surprisingly beautiful. Moody clouds and tussock as far as you could see.

The scene continued to impress as we dropped down into the valley.

We camped near the end of the track for New Years Eve and hiked out to a ride to Wanaka the next morning.

We arrived in Wanaka on New Year’s Day and the town was packed. Lines out the door at every restaurant and crowds of people everywhere were more than a little overwhelming to navigate immediately after getting off trail. We were worried we wouldn’t find a spot to stay the night with all of the people in town for the holiday, but we were able to find a spot to pitch our tent at the Holiday Park (similar to a KOA back in the states).

Crumpets were a fun new breakfast for us

When your only spoon is in the tent and it’s raining hard, you gotta improvise

We left Wanaka the next morning and started the Motatapu track. The famous Wanaka tree was on our way out.

The Manuka trees were in full bloom.

We spent our first night at another Holiday Park (we’d become quite fond of these for cheap stays with showers and laundry) before heading up into the backcountry. We grabbed coffee and meat pies at a cafe to fuel up on our way out.

We’ve gotten real used to river walking by now

We walked through lush forest before beginning to climb into a dramatic valley on our way to the first hut.

Jamie takes a quick nap on top of the saddle

We had great weather and beautiful views all day. Walking ridges with mountains on all sides is rarely a bad time.

We arrived at the second hut on this track early in the afternoon. This hut had some of the best views of any hut we stayed at the whole trip.

Since we started the South Island earlier than most, we were lucky to have a lot of the huts to ourselves. We were incredibly lucky to enjoy this one alone and even luckier that it didn’t really have sandflies. Jamie took full advantage and took a nap on the porch.

I made coffee on the porch while the sky burned hot pink the next morning.

Another day of great weather in tussock country as we approached our last hut on the Te Araroa.

We met some wonderful people at the hut, but wanted to spend our last night on the trail in our tent. We’d carried it nearly 500 miles and had only gotten to use it a few times due to weather, sandflies, and a general lack of tent pads throughout most of the TA. The next morning was bittersweet knowing that we were starting our final day on the TA.

We had a big climb over a ridge to start the day and then dropped down into a river valley. We had the option to either walk the riverbed with many river crossings or take the high water route which promised dry feet but more elevation. We chose the high route based on advice from other hikers. It was nice to keep the feet dry, but the trail was badly eroded for a few sections and we had to push through thorny brush more than we preferred. The TA wouldn’t let us off without a few new scrapes and bruises.

We made it off of the high water route and joined up with a 4WD track which promised easier walking but countless river crossings. So much for keeping the feet dry.

The first crossing was lined with lupines of every color, and we spent a while with them enjoying their sweet smell taking pictures. The 4WD track was lined with purple and pink and white and peach lupines for most of the rest of the day. I was wishing I could take a picture of their smell to share with you, it was a welcome change to the smell of hiker-who-hasn’t-showered-in-4-days.

A wild Jamie appears!

The route took us through an abandoned gold mining town and through a Lord of the Rings filming location before ending in Arrowtown.

Our time on the TA was finally over. 480 miles on foot, living on what we had in our packs.

It’s amazing how little you need to live and be happy: one pot to cook your food, one set of clothes to hike in and one set to sleep in, a tent, some food, plenty of freeze dried coffee, and good company will get you pretty far. A shower is nice every now and then but the rivers will get you through the days in between.

The simplicity of life on trail is a beautiful thing, and it really puts things in perspective back home. So much of what we think we need really isn’t necessary for a good life. I’m glad to be back home where I have a shower and a kitchen and a couch and my robe, but will be missing the days where all that mattered was hiking, eating, sleeping and enjoying the views.

We didn’t do as much of the TA as we’d hoped, but we’re still proud of what we did do. Trail conditions were harder than we’d expected, and a few lessons were learned the hard way that took us off trail for longer than we wanted.

Before this, the longest I’d been out was 6 days. I learned that eating more and carrying less is crucial for the longer haul. Next time out I’ll be packing a lot more peanut butter and a lot less camera gear. I’m glad to have had my camera on this adventure and am proud that I carried the extra weight without giving up on it, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days that I wished I wasn’t carrying the extra 3.5 lbs on my back. My camera setup with a (relatively) large zoom lens is great for shorter trips back home, but I’ll be switching to a much smaller prime lens, carrying fewer batteries, and less extra camera gear for the next big hike. Essentials only.

I learned that replacing your shoes at the right time is crucial, if your feet don’t work right it’s hard to keep walking.

I learned that you can get away with only eating a few times a day on a short trip, but the long haul requires constant calorie intake if you want to keep going. Peanut butter, beef jerky, cheese, and chocolate became the pillars of my diet after a hard calorie crash a few weeks in.

I learned that every ounce you pack needs to be critical to staying alive and staying on trail, and that everything else should be left at home.

I learned a few things the hard way, but there are things you can’t learn any other way and I’m glad to have learned them at all.

New Zealand is an incredible place and this trail took us through some scenes we could have only ever dreamed of. It was challenging in ways we hadn’t anticipated. The highs were high and the lows were low. You don’t appreciate the highs until you’ve been through the lows. Such is life.

Overall, I’m so grateful to have gotten to experience so much time in such a magical place. Having the opportunity to immerse yourself in nature, relying only on yourself and your partner for long enough that you shake off the shackles of your comfortable life back home is a gift, one that I’ll be thankful for forever.

We’re lucky to come home to the Olympic Peninsula where we have some of the best backpacking in the world where we can continue to get out and immerse ourselves in nature while we test out new gear and loadouts for the next big trip.

We still had a few days in New Zealand before flying back home, and we made the most of them. The final chapter of our adventure in New Zealand was spent in Fiordland and Milford Sound, I’ll post those photos next.