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Te Araroa (Southern Section of South Island) Thru-Hike

Home Page > Camping > Te Araroa (South) Thru-Hike

Between January and March 2026, we walked a section(s) of the Te Araroa Thru-Hike on the South Island of New Zealand. We planned to follow the trail from Invercargill to Lake Tekapo, a distance of about 600 km. However, while on route, we changed our plans significantly!

Things that came as a surprise, that caused us to alter our plans are as follows:

1) The condition of the trail is very poor. In the forest sections, you are CONTINUOUSLY walking through very deep mud, or trying to pick your way around it. It's extremely slow going, and not fun at all! Other sections of the trail require you to walk IN the river for km, the depth of which varies depending on the recent rainfall. Who designs a trail like this; it's crazy!

2) A lot of the people that you meet on the trail are quite "odd", and having spoken to a few of the friendly hikers, it turns out that the mood amongs the hikers is a lot better in the north where most people start. By the time they reach the southern section of the trail they are worn out (often hikers looked like refugees trying to just get to the next bed/resupply). The thru-hikers' friendliness contradicts our interactions with cycle tourists that we met along the way; always a pleasure. Interestingly, most hikers that we spoke to wouldn't confirm that they actually enjoyed the hike, but rather it was a means to an end!

3) The biggest surprise however, was that NZ comes across as this super idealic place where freedom (wild) camping is allowed pretty much anywhere along the trail. That is definitely not the case. There are pretty much always signs advising that you're walking on private property and/or camping is prohibited. As this is one of the main reasons that we hike (and travel by bicycle), this greatly reduced our enjoyment factor.

For these reasons, we changed our route and cut the TA hike short. We wouldn't return to do any more of the TA, but would rather select individual 4/5 day hikes in picturesque areas which interestingly the TA avoids; go figure!

Our route walked, and places where we camped/stayed overnight are indicated on the map below.




We left Perth on a 41 degree day, so the southernmost town in New Zealand seemed like a smart choice! We flew Air NZ just before 19:00 so left home 14:45, taking the Green Cat bus from our front door to City West train station and then had a 5 minute wait for an airport train. We do not miss travelling with cycle touring gear at all. Mike remembered that there are showers for travellers' use at the airport. We have never used them. There is one airside and one landside. After checking in we sat for a bit and then had a shower which was great. We have not flown Air NZ since 2009. The flight was to Auckland and then a domestic flight to Invercargill. The first fight was around 5.5 hours, and after some deliberation we had bought exit row seats even though it's a pretty short flight. We were looking forward to that as it's a busy time of year and the flight was full. However, getting on the plane we got to our seats and found they were regular seats. Sad face. We would have to take this up with the airline. When the captain gave him schpiel he explained that due to maintenance requirements of the aircraft initially assigned, the plane had been swapped for this one and so "sorry about that" to passengers that were without their assigned seats. At least we left on time. We did not get any sleep and Invercargill is 5 hours ahead of Perth so that was not great.

In Auckland, we needed to collect our packs and then go through the biosecurity check point as we had camping gear which we declared. There is an online declaration process for NZ which you can do 24 hours before flying and is a great initiative. Biosecurity is something New Zealand takes very seriously, and so they should. In fact, New Zealand are next-level on the biosecurity front when compared with Australia. We had our boots and hiking poles inspected and our tent taken away to be x-rayed. We are happy to report it is in perfect health. The plane to Invercargill was not as full and we had a pleasant flight. Arriving in Invercargill at 11:30 was nice, the weather was overcast, but good, and we took a short 3 km walk into town from the airport to our hotel, the Kelvin Hotel. We dropped our bags and went to get something to eat. We were able to check in at 14:00 and our room was great, even had a bath! There were many windows to open and we did. We caught up on sleep and still slept in the next day. We picked up more hiking food and also fuel for our stove. We have brought the trusty MSR as who could deal with the Primus stove dramas we had in Spain? It turns out the MRS XGK is not even any heavier that the Primus Omnifuel. But of course it does not allow for the use of a gas canister. We were treated to a piped band performance on the next block as there was an event on at Scottish House.

After a restful day, when the weather was good, we set off in the rain on 24 January. It is forecast heavy rain today and tomorrow. The walking was uneventful, all flat along the footpath running along the Oreti Beach road. We picked up some water at the campsite there. The beach sand is good for walking, hard-packed. There were were a few fisherman out. The sea was pretty rough and even though it was high tide, the beach was very wide so at low tide it must be massive. Luckily we had the wind at our backs. We passed two pairs of hikers coming towards us and that must have been tough going, that headwind. It wasn't cold and the rain wasn't heavy, but it was very windy. We are walking towards Riverton, the next town on the coast. We crossed a river, taking off boots and socks to do so and a couple of km's after that found a relatively sheltered spot in the dunes to camp. It was just short of a 6 hour day from start to end and we covered 20 km so that was good. Tired feet and legs by the end from the flat terrain. The wind may drop later.


Windy and wet night but it was a good campsite under the circumstances. We were walking by 08:00. No coffee or oats for brekky as it is too complicated in a tent on a rainy day. We made do with a cereal bar. It was a 12 km beach walk to Riverton and the wind was mostly a crosswind. We passed three hikers coming towards us. There were rain showers, but the heaviest came when we were in the supermarket in Riverton which was lucky. Riverton is a very pretty village with very friendly people. The public toilets were spotless and many people stopped to use them while we sat on a bench outside. We bought a coffee and relaxed for a bit. A local gent came over for a yarn and commented on the weather. Of course it is very unusual for this time of year to have the rain and low temperatures. This is what people always tell us wherever we go. But the rain has not been all that bad and it is not cold. We were perfectly warm in our very airy Hilleberg Rogan tent last night. We were both quite sore all over from the walk the day before. We can't remember if we always feel this way at the start of a hike.

After shopping in Riverton we went to the local skate park which had a well-positioned shelter and had breakfast. We set off up the hill with heavy packs now, heading away from the coast and towards the Mores Scenic Reserve. It was great having views seemingly all the way back to Invercargill from up there. The reserve was beautiful, all ferns and deep greenery. After passing through it we crossed into farmland by way of a very high stile and soon were in sight of the sea again, and plenty of very wooly merino sheep. The trail crosses paddocks and dips down to the ocean and rocky shoreline. We enjoy this more than beach walking.

Mike found a camp spot in a narrow corridor between paddock fence and natural reed beds. It was a bit of a climb to get to. It is such a sheltered spot and there is very little rain now. We can hear the sheep. From here it is 50-odd km's to our next resupply point at Otautau.


We enjoyed our sheltered camp spot and had a good night. We had breakfast in the tent this morning and were on the trail by 08:00. It felt great to have had a warm mug of oats and a coffee, made a real difference. It was uppy downy, from paddock to little beach and back until we hit the flat beach walking before Colac Bay. Even though it was a still raining it was a beautiful morning. We stopped at a shelter before the village to have tea and a snack. Once again, spotless public toilet. A young couple came along and the bloke had a chat to us. He was from Invercargill but living in Christchurch. Once again, very friendly New Zealander. A big rain storm came through while we sat there and we had to leave in it. By the time we got to Colac Bay it had stopped. It's a tiny place on a lovely bay and another friendly man organised us some drinking water at the tavern, taking our bottles to fill up for us. Everyone here has been to Perth or holiday's there, or knows someone who has moved to Perth, or like the young bloke at the shelter, wants to move to Perth for the opportunities. A little further on an open studio door advertised a weaving loom and handmade merino wool products and the lady that came in to talk to us was also lovely. People were warning us now about the Longwood Forest Track that we were almost at the start of. Usual story, "Mud up to your knees/thighs/eyeballs" (the last one was just the way it felt the descriptions were going). The weaving lady had a little dog who sang instead of barking which was novel and also preferable in a dog.

Leaving the coast behind us, we had a few k's of road walking out of Colac Bay (btw we think we came here in 2009 en route to Invercargill by bike) before turning off onto a gravel track up to Longwood Forest Reserve. This was really beautiful. Trees ferns and ground ferns, ground cover, pretty forest woodland and a great little gravel walking track. Once we left the track which was mostly laid on for day trippers, the mud bath did eventuate and just got worse and worse. The going was super slow, eventually only 1 km an hour as we tried to detour off track through bush or otherwise stop to figure out the best way through the mud. Occasionally the mud sucked our boots in but we managed to escape. You just had to be really careful not to slip or fall as every piece of wood is a potential trap. After 2.5 hours of this we had covered just more than a couple of km's. The hut we were aiming for was still 3 km away and it was 16:00. At this rate we would get there by 19:00 and as the track conditions were getting worse and worse, maybe later. It was raining again and as we were making uphill progress, it was a little misty. The Turnbull's Hut, which we were aiming for was very small and we were planning on camping outside it anyway, so when we saw a fairly good spot to camp by the trail we just did it. Wet everything, trekking pants are beyond dirty and boots will never be the same. Into the tent, no shower, just a wipe down with wet towel. Longwood Forest Track will welcome us back tomorrow.


We had a pretty good night, no rain and then quite heavy in the early hours. We were up and on the trail, sharing a cereal bar at 07:15. We felt a little daunted by the day now that we knew what we were in for. We had only 3 km to that first hut, Turnbull's and it took 2 hours 15 min. Mega-mud. Turnbull's would have been a non-starter for anyone who had planned to overnight there. It was a tiny, dingy place and difficult even to make it to the front door through the thick mud. There was a very nice camp spot just beyond it however. The river was a distance away and we filtered water there. We met a young bloke from Georgia, USA who had walked all the way from the North. He was a nice guy, gave us some advice about the rest of the trail through Longwood. We were planning on turning off the trail at Bald Hill Quarry Road to get to Otautau for resupply, however he suggested we rather take the Cascade Trail at Martin's Hut. He had not done that but he knew others who had. A bit further on we met another solo walker, an older man from Newcastle in New South Wales. He had walked up from Otautau and joined the trail at Martin's Hut using the Cascade Trail and recommended it. He had walked from Martin's to where we met him just shy of Turnbull's Hut in around 2 and a half hours and told of very muddy conditions. We soldiered on. The forest was spectacular really, and this trail is the best way to see and experience this ancient landscape, but the mud was a debacle. Also many fallen trees which are left where they fall and walkers have too find a way around or over/under. In this way the forest remains virginal. The weather was good, no rain and we even saw some shadows.

It took around 3 hours to get to Martin's. The hut was a little nicer but showed signs of a leaking roof as the floorboards were wet. There was not room for camping as the grass around the hut was flooded. At this point we had walked 9 km in 5 and a quarter hours. We had lunch and got onto the Cascade Trail at 15:00. We were ready to leave Longwood Forest behind us. It was 1.5 km quite steep downhill and then we joined a lovely unsealed road, still through forest. We found a small beach where the river rushed under the road bridge and had a freezing cold swim in deep water. It was amazing! First swim of the trip! We felt so clean after. We manage to soak and scrub our trekking trousers in the stream and got the mud off. It is interesting to hear people talk of "mud up to my knees", or "mud up to my thighs". But the mud can only actually come up to your ankle, any higher and you would not be able to pull your foot free. Certainly if the mud came up to your knee you would be done for. Looking at our muddy trousers it was clear that we had mud up to our knees and thighs but this would just be from collecting it everywhere.

We had a great campspot just on the road and near the river where we could actually sit in the sun, dry out our stuff and our new Solly got his first outing charging Mike's phone. Even though it was 17:30 when we sat down to relax and have a coffee, enjoying some blue sky, it felt like our first relaxing end to the day since we started the walk.


We really looked forward to an easier, mud free day today! We set off just after 08:30 and the first 10 km was wonderful walking through forest and farmland. The forest was the same ferny affair that we had on the muddy track minus the mud and we were on mostly wide forestry tracks. There are two options with getting to Otautau and both are approximately the same distance and we thought on similar tracks to the one we had been using. We chose the one through Jubilee forest which would bring us into the southern end of the village right next to the arboretum where there is free camping and picnic area. That way we can walk the 2 km through the village tomorrow and on to the next section of the trail. The other track takes you straight into the village which most people do as they stay in the pub or hotel. We had a rest on a fallen tree trunk and then set up the steep hill to the forest. At the gated entrance there were signs advising that there was no access to the forest road due to logging, however we only had a short way to walk before turning off the main track so took a chance that we would be unseen. There was no one about and we cruised up the hill which was called Link Road.

Turning off Link Road onto Glenburn Road we were in Longwood Forest Conservation Area again but the path was grassy and seemed benign, tightly hedged with bushes. Until we hit our first fallen tree. We knew that a severe storm had passed through Otautau in October last year and clearly it had hit this place hard. By the time we had detoured around our tenth fallen tree we stopped counting. The trees which had fallen were very mature ie. HUGE pine trees and they fell directly across the path completely blocking any passage. The trees had massive trunks and branches the size of massive trunks on their own. Lying on their sides over the track they were far, far taller than us. It was carnage and painfully slow as we would have to check out various options with getting around these fallen giants. The root systems alone, pulled up directly next to the path were metres high and it was impossible to walk through the holes they left. The whole issue was made more complicated by very prickly wildrose creepers which the trees brought down with them and made passage impossible. So we were back to very, very slow progress. Not by mud this time but these trees. We did see two curious deer on this track which didn't seem to have the same issue with the trees. Eventually getting to the other side and off the Fallen Tree Alley it was down the hill through cleared forest and mercifully right at the intersection with the national road was our campsite. We got there around 16:30 which was not too bad all things considered. It had remained dry today, no rain at all and we had worn shorts which was really nice. Boots are drying out. We managed a good shower at the campsite with our shower bag and dried out a lot of our stuff in the brisk breeze. The campsite is a lovely facility provided by this community.


Mike did some thinking in the early dawn and worked out that due to camping limitations we would have to walk 24 km per day for two days from Otautau. We had initially planned for 6 and a bit days for the next section of walking, which ends at the road to Te Anau. However if we walked two days of 24 km and three of 18 km we could do the 6 days in 5 which also helps with the amount of food to carry. It was a very windy day and the little arboretum campsite was exactly all we needed. We did not even have to get any food in town (2 km away) as we had enough to make do. So we had a lovely day off at the campsite. There were sunny periods and we could charge our battery, phones, mattress pump, earbuds etc. using Solly which was brilliant as we could leave for the next stint at 100% all round. We also dried out our boots and I dried out my feet which looked to be dissolving after the mudfest.

Friday we felt very ready to set off and it was the best weather day we have had. No wind at all and sunny. Happy face! We set off at 07:15 and arrived in Otautau at 07:45. The supermarket opened at 08:00 so we picked up some cheese buns and coffee's at the bakery and sat in the playground/picnic area until we could go and shop. We bought heaps of food. It was good that the first stint was also 5 full days as we knew what we needed to get and the extras that we wanted. The supermarkets here all do soft white Vienna style bread loaves with cheesy toppings which may have other things like onion, bacon etc. We find these great as they remain fresh and you don't have to put anything on the bread, it is delicious just like that. We did get a kilogram of cheese though. Good value for weight! And 750 g of Nutella. Ditto. We were in the village for 2 hours and then it was road walking to Scott Gap and all through sheep and dairy farming country. Some mountains far away and hills all around. We enjoyed it.

Entering Birchwood Station we chatted to the farmer who confirmed we could pick up water in the stream just before the climb up to the ridge. We walked through some pine forest and it was warm and sunny. We met Anna who had started from the north in September and was from Christchurch. We traded war stories of muddy adventures. Our next fest is due to commence in a couple of days when we hit the Takitimu Track which is muddy too. She had wet feet there. We will see how that goes as there is also rain coming when we hit that area. Most hikers carry the Sawyer filter (we take one as back up when cycle touring) but it is difficult to use when the water source is a trickly stream and very shallow. We use an MSR Guardian which we actually had serviced just before leaving. We did not have far to go to a stream crossing (as described by the farmer) and filtered a few litres. We did the same just after the top of the climb. The climb up the ridge was about 3 km long and steep. Hard work, but through very pretty beech forest with ferns on the ground. No tree ferns though! A much lighter forest that Longwood which was certainly dark and moody. This one felt quite friendly and was a little noiser with Birdlife. After we finally reached the top we walked along a track for a bit, stopping just short of our 24 km aim for the day ad the camping amongst beautiful conifers was too good to pass up. We are in the sun which is still warm on our back at 19:00!


It was the coldest night we have had on the trail, the sky remained clear all night and it was clear in the morning. We really loved this campsite, it was perfect. We even heard deer barking at us during the night. We were packed and ready to go when a bloke came along driving a ute, two tough-looking dogs in the back with a dead pig. He stopped for a chat. He is a trapper and lays traps for possum, up to 400 at a time. He and his partner have to check the traps every day. He has a licence to trap over a large area and then sells the pelts on to other people. He told us that possum is not the best tasting meat, but if you are going to eat a possum, the one to choose is a female who has not yet had a baby possum. The dogs have GPS trackers on their collars and he lets them run free through the bush, hunting pigs. The dogs were brothers, Buster and Chase and either one of them will hold a massive wild pig down and wait for the trapper, who will kill the pig with his knife. It was all very interesting and sounded like very hard work. He told us to be careful when we walk carrying hiking poles, not to raise one in greeting to a passing vehicle with hunting dogs as the dogs may attack perceiving this as threatening behaviour. I made a mental note of this.

We set off through the forest and soon entered Birchwood Station again, heading downhill at a crazy angle for quite a way. Very steep downhill, it reminded us of the crazy hills on the Heysen in South Australia. We had amazing views of beautiful mountains. We said "hi" to a southbound hiker who had started at the northernmost point of the trail. We stopped to make tea and for the rest of the day the route remained in farming country, on sheep or cattle farmlands on Birchwood Station and then Mount Linton Station. We crossed over stiles to many paddocks, passed many sheep and cows. Some bulls were pretty curious and even approached us. It was a clear day, windy but sunny and we were kept busy making sure we stayed on course for our second long day. We headed for a place where camping is allowed by the farmer on Mount Linton Station, alongside the Wairaki River, which is a proper braided river and we were keen on having a swim, however on our side of the river the bank was so deeply cut away there was no hope of reaching the water which was very disappointing as it is a beautiful river. We filtered water from a small side stream to shower. We left our campsite this morning at 08:30 and arrived at the end of the day at our next one at 17:50, so a pretty long day but we are happy with our progress. Also we were both very, very tired and body sore.


We set off around 08:30, our first challenge was to cross the Wairaki River. This was our first major river crossing in New Zealand and these crossings are something you need to become skilled at judging in order to do any hiking here. We hiked along the river for almost the whole day. It was a really good walk today, great scenery and a good trail, often on the farm tracks of Mount Linton Station. There was a posted detour on the Te Araroa app for the period 28-31 January, due to the high level of the Waikari River. For that period hikers were permitted to remain on one side of the river and cross it using a road bridge. We met a couple of southbound hikers who said the crossing was fine, about knee deep. They also told us that the bug situaton at Telford Campsite was the worst they had experienced through the whole country.

The river crossing was good and although the river was flowing strongly we managed well. We also had a lovely swim which we would be grateful for later. After this there was quite a bit of climbing but again on 4WD tracks. The sun came out and it was really baking, we got quite burnt even though we used sunscreen. We had to cross the Waikari River about 1 km before Telford Campsite and there were many biting sandflies there. The crossing was pretty fast flowing too and quite deep. We got into long sleeved shirts and long pants after the crossing due to the flies. It was beautiful walking towards Telford Campsite as there were many mature trees around and the area seemed very open. There was one other hiker there and another arrived shortly after. We pitched our tent over a little stream and the bugs were just terrible, even with the wind and sunny weather. We weren't keen on getting into the tent as it was only 17:00 and the sun had a few hours to go to set, but eventually the bugs drove us into the tent. It wasn't too bad, but we felt pretty grubby after a few sweaty climbs and also a lot of insect repellant. We don't think we can wash tonight due to the bugs. Otherwise it was a good day.


We ended up managing to have a quick shower at around 21:30 last night, after the bugs had packed it in for the day. It was a relief to have that rinse off. The wind gusted hard and Mike put up all the guy ropes. The other two hikers had such lightweight tents, they must have had a rough night. We got up to leave at 07:15 and one of the hikers had packed up and already left. We had a very steep climb to start the day, to the top of the ridge above the river and campsite. It took us to 1 000m. It was really windy up there with massive wind gusts that threatened to blow you off your feet. The views were stupendous though, you could see all the way to the coast.

Dropping down we were in the beech forest right away and would remain there all day. It was pretty and so quiet to start, all the wind had gone. We made our way to the next hut. It was raining and pretty wet and we had wet weather gear on. We arrived just as a group of 4 young walkers going south did. They hopped into the hut and pretty much shut the door in our face which was not very friendly. We ended up making our breakfast in a storage area round the back. It was already 13:00 and we had only walked 8 km.

The forest was very muddy, very similar to Longwood. We soon realised that making it to our planned end point at Apirima Hut would be impossible and in the end managed to get about two thirds of the way there. Mike had spotted an area on the map which showed grasslands and we were able to pitch our tent on some quite wet grass, but it seems alright. It was 19:15 by the time we arrived so that was a 12 hour day. We do not enjoy this walking at all. The forest is nice enough, but how long do you really want to spend in one? We want to be in open spaces with a view. We managed a river dip and avoided most of the bugs. There were not as many as at Telford. Today we saw quite a few walkers, three solo, that group of four and a couple.


We were up early, feeling a little daunted by the day ahead. What if it was as demanding as yesterday? The campspot had been good, although it was pretty wet the tent remained dry inside. We were packed around 06:30, head torches on to the delight of the sandflies. We needed to cross the river first so we wore our plastic shoes to start, Mike has Crocs for around camp and wet situations, I have Merrells. Mike filtered water and we made it over the river, not very wide but knee deep and fast flowing. Then we were on our way. The beech forest was still pretty crap walking, fallen trees to navigate, large mud patches. Usual story. We hit an open section of tussock grasslands about 2 km short of Aparima Hut. It was lovely being out in the open and a clear, sunny day. The path was narrow and completely flooded so we had to continually avoid the water. A group of 5 walkers came towards us, older people who had overnighted at the hut. They were friendly and told us the hut was about 30 min away. We crossed the pedestrian swing bridge and walked up to the hut. It was a nice spot and there were a couple of buildings. Taking off our boots (BTW boots and socks completely inundated with water) outside the hut we could hear people inside still and going inside we met Isabella and Dan, from Rhode Island, USA. Very nice people planning on walking the whole TA and going north. They were also disappointed by the mud and had walked the whole Longwood forest. They said that the conditions after Martins Hut were diabolical. The mud was truly waist deep and they met a couple of southbound walkers who ended up just walking the whole Longwood Forest in one day (it's 38.5 km). Apparently these two had really just had enough. The woman was muddied up to her waist and the bloke up to his neck. The mud patches were unavoidable as the surrounding vegetation was too thick. We were pleased to have bailed at Martins Hut. We arrived at Aparima Hut at 09:00, had breakfast and left at 10:00. Isabella and Dan had taken a rest day at the hut due to the rain yesterday and were getting ready to walk to Lower Princhester Hut. We were also planning on getting there today. We had walked 5 km to the Aparima Hut already.

These rest of the day was a combination of forest and tussock. The forest was actually far better than we have had up to now, drier and not as many fallen trees and also not so uppy downy. The walking was faster. Tussock was another story, the grasses were high, as tall as me, the path through invisible from a distance. The only way to find it was to look for the muddy section by picking around under the tussock with your poles. There are orange tipped pole markers for the hike which you can see from a distance and aim towards. The tussock was often very boggy, sometimes with large ponds and pools to avoid. It was pretty rubbish. We met three southbound hikers coming towards us, solo walkers. Apart from the difficult terrain there were nice views of the surrounding hills and the rivers were lovely. We crossed several. Sitting in a forest having lunch, a fourth southbound hiker chatted to us, he had left Lower Princhester Hut at midday and it was 15:30 then so we realised it would take us a fair while and were hoping to arrive there by 19:00 or 20:00. The conditions were good today though and the walking was overall easier.

There was a large section of walking over very spongy thick mosses, like tundra. It was very pretty but difficult to judge whether it would hold you or not. I saw my entire leg disappear into the water below up to my thigh. Not mud, but very wet. Shortly after this with 4.5 km to go to the hut we came to a beautiful campspot which was too good to pass up. It was sunny and only 17:00 so we could charge everything with Solly and dry out our stuff. There was a river where we washed and got organised for tomorrow. We need to get a super early start, probably 06:00, as we have a bus booked from a point called The Keys, 9 km from Lower Princhester Hut.


We were up with our alarms at 05:30 and on the trail, headtorches on at 06:00. The forest section to Lower Princhester Hut was difficult walking again, muddy, uppy-downy and some tricky roots to navigate. Slow going. We got to the hut at 09:46 so it took us three and three-quarter hours to walk the 4.5 km's. I should say that my walking pace slows to a crawl over anything technical, like steep descents over tree roots, logs etc. My knees have taken strain over the first part of the walk, my tricky right knee, for which I had a Synvisc injection prior to the walk has been agitating. It's from tricky, steep descents where you put a high load on the knees. Mike is miles stronger and often has to wait for me.

The hut was just as we finished the descent out of the forest, it was quite pretty with a clearing in front. We could hear someone inside and there was a group of four young blokes who had camped outside, having driven there. They were packing up.We brushed our teeth and kept going. Immediately passing through the gate onto Princhester Rd which passes along paddocks on either side, sheep and cows. Such a bucolic scene. You would never think that just a few hundred metres away lies wilderness. The mountain scenery was beautiful. It was great walking along a farm track and we even had a chat to a farmer who was driving his ute with large flocks of sheep behind, being hurried along by a single sheep dog. At the end of Princhester Rd is a coffee shop where we caught up with Isabella and Dan who were having a drink and snack, before hitching a ride toTe Anau. We kept going as we had to walk along the busy SH 94 road to The Keys for our bus pick up. This 3 km stretch was a pain as the road is busy and if a large vehicle came along, like a truck, you needed to get off the shoulder for safety. We had about 40 minutes to relax waiting for the Tracknet bus. This is a brilliant service as these medium size van-type buses (think Iveco or Mercedes bus size) ply the road between many track heads. Our driver was so friendly and invited Mike to sit up front with him. He also told us that we could have requested pick up at the coffee spot where we spoke with Isabella and Dan, saving us that walk.

We had booked a return trip with Tracknet and were supposed to do our laundry and shop for food before catching the bus out again at 17:50, but we decided to stay in town and have a rest day. We were dropped off at the Caltex petrol station and over the road was the laundry, next door the Top 10 holiday park. We stayed in Te Anau in 2009 on a cycle trip but could not remember which campsite we had stayed at, there are two. As we walked into the reception building at the Top 10, we both said, "It was this one!". We booked in for two nights. Te Anau is of course the launching place for the Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, and very, very touristy. There are many options, bustrips, plane trips, boat trips. We were allocated a very sunny campsite and went off to buy food and then relaxed using the guest lounge and dining area. Later on we shopped for more food and looked around town. The campsite has really good facilities, like boiling water on tap and big fridges, very hot showers. We met another couple of walkers from the UK who had started the TA in Invercargill but got as far as Colac Bay, heard about the mud, had some gear issues and so were camping here. We were very happy to get into bed and have a good sleep.

The next day we spent looking at the two outdoor stores. We made a mistake in that we did not bring replacement zip sliders for this tent, having replaced one slider on the Heysen hike which was the last time we had used it. Anyway, now we need to replace another slider so that Mike can use his outer door! Of course we paid the pharmacy a visit for more plasters and other things. Mike was suffering today with a terrible eye infection, very painful. We carry antibiotic eye drops, but by the afternoon it was worse even with using the drops, so he went to see the doctor at the medical centre next to the laundry. Everything here is very convenient! The doctor had all the necessary equipment to examine his eye as it is an urgent care centre. He was very thorough and could not find anything in the eye so gave Mike more antibiotic drops and ointment. If the eye is not significantly better by tomorrow, he told Mike to go back. The eye looked really bad by the evening. It was nice to be able to stay indoors in the lounge area as our campspot was very sunny and his eye was very sensitive to the light.




Luckily Mike's eye felt better today, but did not look much better. We decided to leave the campsite anyway as it is very packed with people and you can't really just have peace and quiet. We spent a few hours in the Te Anau park and by then his eye was feeling better still. We did some food shopping for the next leg, 6 days again. We booked the Tracknet bus for 16:30 today to drop us at Mavora Lakes Rd by 17.25. We have decided to walk that road, well it's more like a good gravel track to Walter Peak Station from where we will catch the Spirit of Queenstown catamaran to Queenstown. The TA route is a debacle in this area, very wet and indistinct. It runs parallel to the Lakes road for a way. We cycled from Walter Peak in 2009 along the Mavora Lakes Rd to Te Anau and loved the open scenery so hopefully this will be enjoyable to walk. We will take a rest day along the road. Arriving in Queenstown means we miss the Greenstone/Glenorchy section but that is also road walking and we would have caught a bus from Glenorchy to Queenstown anyway. We have been surprised by the TA sections we have walked as there is no trail maintenance at all. We don't think it is reasonable to say, "Here's a route but not a trail." We can make one up ourselves.

We got the bus as arranged and although our packs were very heavy, we walked the 10 km as planned along Mavora Lakes Rd to where the TA leaves the road for the river. We however will remain on the road. Our feet are looking forward to some flat walking, however we anticipate that they will also become tired and grumbly after 4 days of it. It will be a nice mental break not to have to stress about trail conditions. The walk was scenic with great mountain views and also the views of the river. The road runs through a valley which has cattle and sheep farms. We passed a walker coming towards us who had walked 51 km today, from Mavora Lakes and wanted to get to Te Anau tonight. He would hitch on the SH 94. His two buddies had hitched the whole way today. We could see another couple of TA walkers setting up their tent near the river at the end of the access track. It was 20:00 when we put ours up, but we stayed high, at the road on some grass. So much more peaceful than in a campsite. We are pleased we made the effort to do some walking tonight and it was a pretty relaxing day. Mike's eye appears to be on the mend and he is using the antibiotic drops and ointment for about 5-7 days. A few years ago he got prescription clip in lenses to go inside his sunglasses in case of an eye infection but he has never needed to use them while on a trip. They are coming in handy now! As for me, my feet have demanded attention which they have in the form of Gurney Goo, and amazing cream for adventure racers, which I am not. It helps prevent chafing, blisters and prune-feet. I underestimated the toll that walking for days in mud and water would take on one's feet. I also bought a bag of merino wool. I have wanted to try this for years. You pull off bits and put it in your socks so it sits against any area prone to blister or chafe and creates a barrier.


It felt so good to wake up without the pressure of a difficult trail day. We got going at 08:30 and the gravel road was pretty busy, mostly long weekend traffic with people heading off to the lake to fish, kayak etc. We came across quite a few hikers, about 6 from memory. It looks like no one hikes the TA section, south of Kiwi Burn anyway. We admired the surrounding mountains and the herds of cows and flocks of sheep. The only difficulty to contend with was a strong headwind, which did gust to over 70 km per hour at times, but no rain. Also, along the left of the road the margin is wide and often mowed, or worn away by sheep so easy walking and we did not have to walk in the road. We saw a few cyclists too and reminisced about our cycle route through here 16 years ago.

We made it to the car park for the trail head to the Kiwi Burn walk, which the first TA hut after Lower Princhester would be on. There is a toilet at the carpark. Crossing the beautiful river by a swing bridge we found a perfect campsite just on the other side. So nice to arrive at your end point at 14:30! We chatted to a couple of anglers, then went down to the river to filter water and have a swim. Freezing but very good. We relaxed in the tent for the rest of the day as it was quite buggy.


We had such a funny little pair of birds visit our tent site. They were not at all wary of us and even walked into the tent vestibules to peck at things while we were looking at them from our sleeping bags. They seemed to like blue and green coloured things. We were on the trail by about 08:45 and stopped for morning tea at 10:00, just after the turn off to Mavora Lake. This was good as from now the road would be much quieter. The only other place to go is Walter Peak Station and most locals just want to hang out at the lake for the long weekend.

What a stunning day, warm and sunny and this amazing view of the valley at the base of the Eyre Mountains. The gravel road was also in better condition, with less traffic and easier to walk on. The Round the Mountain Cycle Route has great infrastructure, in the form of enclosed shelters and toilets, rain water tank and even a picnic table. We passed three today. They looked brand new. Isn't it amazing that you leave the actual trail and have better facilities? Much of the walk was through the Mount Nicholas Station and there was free range stock (cattle) and pristine rivers to cross. We really enjoyed the day.

We got to Vonn River Shelter (this one was not enclosed) at 15:30 as a group of cyclists arrived there. We chatted to them, they were on their way to be picked up at Mavora Lakes campground. One of the blokes had walked to TA last year. When I asked if he had enjoyed it, it had not seemed to be a factor he had considered. He had finished it, which seemed more important. EFI he said. This means , "Every f***ing inch". Can honestly say we had a great day today not being on it. We had done our distance today and although these shelters say "no camping", it seemed like the best place to camp, a large open grassland expanse already impacted by the building of the shelter and toilet. So we hung around, showered and relaxed. A passing cyclist asked if we were camping there and did not seem to think it an issue. It is certainly peaceful and warm in the sun.


It was a really cold night and in the morning my pack had ice on it inside the vestibule. There was mist rising out of the valley towards us but a clear day. We had a great walk, dropping down Von Hill to the valley below. We met a group of cyclists from the UK and San Francisco. It was a beautiful day. After passing a small shelter we met a Canadian couple and then passed through a herd of cows. The cows are free to roam and many have calves. They are very wary of people.

We were surprised to come across another shelter and also happy as it meant we had a good place to camp. We have 21 km from here to the boat and also a rest day so that all works out well. It was hot and sunny at the shelter which was being taken over by wasps. We went to sit in the shade of many trees at the old cook hut which was near where an old homestead used to be. A variety of trees were planted in the 1860's by the land owners, mostly European trees. It was a bit buggy in the shade though. We pitched the tent around 18:00. We expect some rain tomorrow.


The day was an easy walk, but not as visually appealing as the others. We saw sheep and cows, even a small herd of cows walking through a river course. We had only one toilet as a rest stop, no table or shelter, so these shelters for the cyclists on the Round the Mountains loop get better as you move south towards Mavora. Mike accidentally knocked our roll of toilet paper into the pit toilet where we camped last night. It wasn't the worst time to do it; we had not much left and we assumed that the DOC site we were heading to today, and having a rest day at tomorrow, would have toilet paper. However, we were very happy to discover a large roll of toilet paper and one small roll left at this last pit toilet, so took the small one with us. We also bought some honey made by the bees in hives visible from the road, at the farm gate at Mount Nicholas Station, called "Nic's Gold".

It was a windy day and after buying the honey, the road ran close to the lakes which was very choppy. The weather looked to be pretty rough towards Glenorchy which is also on Lake Wakatipu. It was not far to go to the Walter Peak Station which has farm tours with sheep dog displays, sheep shearing and other farm animals to pet. There is a really nice store selling high quality souvenirs, and Nic's Gold honey at twice the price. Also, an all you can eat tea for $40. The campsite was 1 km around the point and it was spectacular. Picnic tables, benches, a shelter, mowed lawn and right on the pebbly beach of the lake. We have the day here tomorrow before catching the catamaran to Queenstown on Thursday.


We had a great rest day at Beach Point. What an amazing spot. The sun shone, we had many very cold swims in the cold, clear lake. It was paradise. We had a Canadian couple from Vancouver Island who were cycling New Zealand, a pair of local hikers who gave us some tips about good hikes to do around the area and a young French man from the Basque region, so full of enthusiasm, also cycling south. They were all lovely to be around. We were very low on food, but didn't mind. We ate every last thing.

Our boat over to Queenstown left Walter Peak at 11.30 so we farewelled our fellow campers, and then left ourselves at about 10.30. The lake was a mirror. The boat was packed, many people coming over for special fancy lunches and also farm tours. Walter Peak is a very popular day trip from Queenstown. The boat took a tour of the lake heading back to Queenstown so it took around 45 min. It was the perfect day. Queenstown was mayhem, so pretty, tiny and crowded. We got a coffee, looked at a couple of shops (Icebreaker and Fjallraven) and got the first bus we could. It was a $4 fare to Frankton Hub (near the airport) where there was a HUGE Pak 'n Save so we could resupply, and also a Bunnings where Mike bought shellite fuel for the stove. We then took another $4 fare bus to Arrowtown. You can buy a bus card (Bee card) and then the trip costs $2.50, but it costs $5 for the card so not worth it for us. In between, we ate 4 meat pies and a meat spring roll

We ended up getting to Arrowtown at 17:00 and the bus stop was right outside the campground. The village is very pretty, historical from gold mining days and well preserved. The campground was full, however TA walkers are always allowed in the overflow area. We met some very nice people, an Irish girl from County Mayo, also heading our way and a few people from Colorado who come to walk sections of the hike each year. We also chatted to a couple from the Netherlands who have been cycling and are just heading to Queenstown. It is a nicer crowd here in Arrowtown than Queenstown. The campsite has good facilities and a treat was the highland pipe band that practiced for an hour in the rugby field next door. Many campers walked down to our end of the site to listen. We will start the section to Wanaka through the high country tomorrow. It is rough walking but we plan on short days. It will be raining heavily tomorrow until late morning and the hike has a river walking section which we will avoid by sticking to the high route. In a way it would have been great just to start walking in Queenstown as the scenery is so spectacular now, but the experience up to now has been worthwhile, especially the Mavora Lakes area.


We woke to rain which was forecast to get harder until about 10:30. Most hikers seemed not in a rush to get going. We had breakfast in the kitchen and saw our Irish neighbour, Saoirse head off in rain jacket and shorts. She felt optimistic about the weather, which is an Irish sentiment through and through. There are two options with the start of this portion of the trail, called Motatapu. The first leg to Macetown (once a flourishing gold rush village of a couple of hundred, now practically nothing, barely even a ruin) can be walked over Big Hill or along the 4WD track alongside the Arrow River. The fords can be impassable to vehicles. It was tricky to start with with huge wash outs and a rushing river, but once we got onto the Coronet Loop, a MTB trail and walking path it was plain sailing. There were even bridges to cross the river and it was a very nice walk heading up the valley. We stopped to make tea after the rain stopped and very much enjoyed the walk. We met a southbound hiker who had walked the route in two days and suggested we follow the "high route" from Macetown. The river was often a brown colour after the rain and that is a caution. There were good little tracks to take you around the fords and bring you back to the 4WD track by moving up a side valley. Macetown was very pretty actually with many info boards and places to camp. Also pit toilets. The mountain views were lovely. We waited until we had walked out the other side of Macetown and camped on a raised spot at a ford, just near a toilet which has no door but a great view. Still pretty buggy but a lovely sunny afternoon.


Mike has developed pain in his left knee. It started towards the end of the Mavora Lakes Road and then we had the rest day and a travel day through Queenstown so he expected it would have improved. However, it was very painful last night and so we decided to rest here instead of heading up into the mountains. A little way into the day we decided that we would not continue the walk into the mountains at all and wait here until Mike's knee felt better and then head back to Arrowtown. My knees have both been grumbling, however I know that I have osteoarthritis so just have to manage it. This is the first time having knee pain for Mike so he will probably need medical advice, here or at home.

In any event we have lots of food and a good camp spot, albeit many many many sandflies. We had many hikers walking passed along the track over the two days, one group of about 6 Swedes. We assume they were Swedes as they smiled and were friendly, but quiet and wore a lot of Fjallraven gear. It is easy to see hikers taking the high route as it goes up and over the ridgeline in front of us. Those coming from the north however all say that they walk the river route, which is actually walking in a river, although often it is wide and shallow and your feet are not underwater. At it's deepest it seems knee deep. A bloke going south is camping at our spot here and says he didn't mind it. One guy going north this morning reckoned he would go high as his feet got numb from river crossings yesterday. This is not something we had considered, people walking so often through water that their feet go numb. Almost everyone on this hike wears soft, low cut runners, probably trail runners. It seems wild to us when watching them just walk straight through water up to their ankles. What must it be like to have wet feet, as in absolutely wet through socks, shoes etc, almost everyday. It just seems strange to us that you would just accept that level of discomfort as part of what is already a very tough trail. And actually, when you are told, there is your trail, it's in the river, well that's not really a trail. We feel disappointed not to be able to hike this high country route, however we have many months of hiking to do this year, and so injury is best avoided and far easier to deal with close to home. We expect to take a couple of days to walk down to Arrowtown, camping along the way and will then possibly take a bus to Dunedin or Omarama, not sure, to tour around a bit.

We decided to make our way back to Arrowtown over three days as we have so much food! Mike's knee is not right. We continue to have good weather, no rain, slightly overcast, very happy sandflies. There are hundreds, all taking shelter under our tent outer. Everytime you open a door a crack to get something in from outside, at least 5 fly in If you get out to go toilet or make tea, about 50 fly in. It is the next 10 min of entertainment, killing them. It would be better just to be walking as they don't bother you when you are on the move. The first day walking back towards Arrowtown we got to the wonky bridge. It's a suspension bridge held together with chicken wire and very wonky. On the other side was a nice campspot and access to the river where we could swim and relax for the afternoon. Some crazy possums kept us awake that night, screeching in the trees and poking around our tent.

The next day we got almost all the way back to Arrowtown. It is all easy walking, but Mike has the pain from his knee. He takes Nurofen which helps. Arrowtown capitalisers on it's recent history as a goldrush village and the village itself is charming. There are many old buildings on the outskirts and historical spots such as the Chinese settlement. Just before we got to this area which is a popular picnic area and full of tourists, we found a good campspot where some bush had been cleared alongside the river. There was a tiny path leading down to it and a great swimming hole. The whole way walking back along the gorge we were struck by it's beauty and also how different it felt walking the other direction. It may as well have been a different trail. We saw a couple of goats walking along the water pipeline which is a big feature of the gorge.

Before camping, we went to the picnic area to try to figure out what we would be doing next. It took a few hours, considering many options. It was possible to change our flights to go home earlier, but the only time worth considering this would be the 26 February which was only a week before we were due to fly home anyway. This would have cost an additional $750. Otherwise we would be looking at an additional $1 000. We could just fly home from Queenstown any day, for almost the same price as we paid for the entire trip. So then even with the costs of various hotel stays and bus trips, along with Mike seeing a local physio, it seemed worth staying on for the experience. We had some ideas that we hashed out and then crept quietly back to our hidden campspot to have a lovely swim in a deep swimming hole in the river and then get into our tent. Boy the bugs were bad once we were inside! There was a wasp's nest nearby and a wasp ate many of the bugs, hoovering them up as he passed over.

We were up early next morning, quickly packed up and headed for the picnic area. The facilities are good, clean toilets, picnic tables and very pretty. It was a beautiful day and a hot air balloon was going up above the clouds which were breaking up. We have decided to book into the Arrowtown Campsite again for two nights (this all there was available but we know that we can also use the TA overflow as before). We got a powered site, it's huge but pretty nice. We have friendly neighbours and some TV's blaring but that's okay for now. We booked bus tickets to Dunedin on 22 February, which was the first booking available and a hotel stay for 2 nights. We also booked in to the same hotel we stayed at in Invercargill from 24 February to 1 March. We booked a bus trip from Dunedin to Christchurch for 3 March as we already have accommodation there until we fly home on 5 March. We will stay a couple of nights in Dunedin again, breaking the journey between Invercargill and Christchurch otherwise it's an eleven hour trip. It was cost prohibitive to change our flights from Christchurch to Invercargill. The Intercity bus is reasonable. There is not much in the way of hotel availability but the ones we have found are reasonable. So we are just going to have a little holiday instead of hiking for now. Never fear, we will be doing plenty of that from 15 March when we arrive in the UK! It is very convenient being here as we can take a metro bus to Queenstown. Mike has booked to see a physio there. There are only two campsites in Queenstown and both are booked out. We took a walk back into town this afternoon to check out the little shops. All very quaint and tourist centred, but really nice.


It is so funny as our little tent is in the corner of our HUGE site and the sites around us are such a tight squeeze for the campervans that arrive. It's mad! There are very large, spruce trees (I suppose) which reduce the available area on the sites, but we don't have one. Our neighbours are Ian and Jill from Christchurch who kindly let us use their power cord to charge our battery and phones, as we don't carry the special adaptor. We have a powered site, again we don't actually need it, but all the sites cost the same. It's 55 NZD a night even in the TA overflow. Any site, no matter the size is the same. We were really just lucky to have a site for two nights, and get 25% off for booking two nights. We don't know how we did it! The other neighbours are a couple from Yorkshire Dales who only just fitted their van up against the huge tree, and a family from Vancouver Island travelling for a year, two kids in tow. It is so strange how many Canadians we have met here and even just from Vancouver Island. We got the bus into Queenstown late morning. It was a very scenic trip in. It was not as busy there as it was a week ago. We had a delicious cooked brekky and bottomless coffee, and then it was time for the physio. While Mike went in I went to the Queenstown Holiday Park to ask if there was any sort of camping available for even Saturday night. We had actually stayed at this park in 2009 before catching the ferry to Walter Peak. The receptionist said that as it is Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) this week it's actually busier than Christmastime. We believe her. In between the campsite and the gondola station where you can whizz up the mountainside is the gorgeous Queenstown Cemetery. Couldn't ask for a nicer spot to while away eternity. While leaving a largish tract of land and amazing view tied up away from any development plans. It is beautifully kept. Not a soul there (well only the departed), I went for a wander all alone. Amazing. The physio pronounced Mike's knee to be nothing serious, she worked on it to release the muscles and strapped it. Rest will do the rest. He will continue to take pain relief. It was a beautiful day and we went for a walk about the town centre. We remembered the Fjallraven store which we looked at a week ago passing through, and happily did a spot of shopping, also picking up some useful things at Small Planet, a local hiking and climbing store. We broke the trip home at Frankton, which was initially the main town 170 years ago, before public pressure moved it to Queenstown. Frankton is where the airport is and a large shopping area. We picked up some food and had Subway for a meal. Also visited some other hiking stores. Obviously as Queenstown is the outdoor capital of NZ there is heaps of this sort of stuff. Then we took the bus back to the campsite. We arrived just as reception was closing and went in to ask about using the overflow area for the next two nights. Initially the woman on duty was negative, saying that the TA area is only for emergencies. "Well, " said Mike, pointing at leg. "This is one." "Ok, well could you sort it out tomorrow so we can go home tonight." This place is odd. It promotes itself as a place to come and holiday but is woefully under resourced. They must know how busy it gets this time of year, but there is zero accommodation and then you can't wild camp. Honestly, the pristine rugby field right next door looked perfect for us. We were tempted to pitch our tent in the middle if all else failed. It rained heavily overnight.

Mike found seats on the bus for 21 February, so he moved our booking (the bus is 100% flexible like that) forward a day. We can't get an extra night in the hotel in Dunedin but we can just get another local bus to the campsite when we get there for a night so that is all good. We also booked our bus seats to Invercargill, and from Dunedin to Christchurch so all done. We didn't sleep very well, not sure why. We were told when checking in today that we could use a different overflow area near the tennis court which was nice and we were at first the only people there. Then another couple came (also Canadians and very cool) and later three other TA walkers. We also met up with the couple from England who we met camping in Te Anau. They had one night's camping here which they had booked last week. Counter-intuitively we have enjoyed the company of caravaners and campervaners more than the TA hikers who are almost all tossers. Not sure why this is, but they come across as pretty self-absorbed. Some of them seem like refugees. They have that air of desperation about them. No offence to refugees intended. It is really odd. Mostly, they do not seem interested in other people. If the trail makes them miserable they should just stop and do something else. Anyway, they seem happy to pitch their largely crap tents two metres away. We relaxed around the tent today and did not even walk into Arrowtown having spent enough yesterday! We have an early start tomorrow as we get the 06:30 bus into Queenstown, to get the 7:45 bus to Dunedin. Looking forward to it.


We have a while until we get home so we will do a few more updates, although we are no longer walking. Leaving Arrowtown, we were early enough for the 06:00 bus to Queenstown in the pitch dark, so had enough time there for a relaxing coffee before the bus to Dunedin. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the bus trip to Dunedin. We saw much of the route that we had cycled in 2005, passing through Cromwell. There has been so much development into cycle tracks, for example the Clutha Gold Mining route which is a gravel path following the river and even has cantilevered sections. We got off at the Dunedin bus hub and took a metro bus to the Dunedin Holiday Park, which is the only campground in the town, at the coast. We camped there in 2009. It was fully booked by the time we arrived and they were not able to give us a spot to pitch our tiny tent. The campsite, along with the suburb, hunkers down behind what must be sand dunes, but are covered by vegetation and even small bushland. On top of this higher ground is a road which runs along the edge of a drop off to the beach. So the road is up high but the beach and the campground and other recreation areas like a golf course are much lower down. The good thing about the road is that it is closed to vehicles on the weekend. There are bollards up and it is used by walkers, runners and cyclists. This meant that finding a place to pitch our tent was easy as Mike had spotted a break in the bush and a grassy track in the satellite image of the area. It was a few km walk and there it was, the grassy strip running to a dead end above the golf course. We sat around a bit, luckily no rain but very windy, and then set up later in the evening. As there was no vehicle traffic it felt safe, a group of drunk kids came walking along the road late at night but that was okay, they couldn't see us. Mike's Thermarest mattress which he used for this trip (having bought it in Spain to replace one) suddenly grew a big bubble, which the self-inflating Thermarests often do due to delamination. He has had this happen multiple times. It happened with two nights camping left! So it really is the end of the hike! He already bought a Sea to Summit XR Pro Insulated for the trip we start in March and we have ordered one for me too. My Thermarest NeoAir has a pretty big gash at the valve which Mike has repaired twice as it leaks air, so its time is up too. He hoped that his Thermarest would get him through this short trip, and it didn't even manage it, ridiculous as he only started using it in May last year. He has probably had 4-5 months use our of it. Mattresses are not cheap. The Thermarest inflatables ( like the NeoAir that I have and he used to have) can set you back 500 AUD so you want to be able to get at least a year out of one. The Thermarest guarantee against delamination is good, they will replace however often want you to send the mat in for assessment which is impossible when touring. We have not tried Sea to Summit mats before and hopefully they will be good.

It was lovely sleeping listening the to big waves and we were up early. Walking back along the road we saw a sea lion pup. At the end of the road, passed the life saving club was a park where we could get a little shelter and have breakfast. It was really windy! The metro bus ran on the hour so we caught the 10:00 to the city and could drop our packs at our hotel, The Law Courts. We went to pick up my Icebreaker wool loft vest which we had ordered when in Arrowtown. Mike's knee is not improving and he really needs to rest it, we had the one day in Dunedin where he could do that but the next day we had a bus at 14:00 to Invercargill. We checked out of our hotel at 10:00 and then went to sit at the First Church of Otago, lovely grounds to relax in before moving to Subway for a meal and then a bench outside the art gallery. The Dunedin Art Gallery had very good exhibitions on and is a nice building. The bus trip to Invercargill was shorter than usual, with hardly any stops and went quickly. Also very scenic as lovely weather again and nice farmland. We arrived at 17:30 and have 5 nights in the Kelvin Hotel, back to where it all began! As we are here for so long we have a lovely room on the top floor with nice views of the estuary. There is a complimentary guest laundry! Amazing! We only needed to buy soap powder sachets at reception, but the washer and dryer were free. So this is very convenient, we can do all our washing here and more than once if we like. Mike even went and bought 4 tennis balls at KMart to refresh his Patagonia down jacket (not his new one) in the dryer. I refreshed my jacket too. Mike has done some self-diagnosis on his knee complaint using the wide wide world of web and has self-diagnosed the problem to be pes anserine bursitis, which is the swelling of the bursa due to overuse. He's also found a very good YouTube treatment and has been rehabilitating his knee by using a foam roller which he bought in Queenstown to release the muscles, doing various stretching exercises, taping the knee, and icing it as there are ice packs available here in a freezer in the laundry, and using Voltaren gel. He has felt let down by it, but with patience and rest it is showing signs of improvement quite rapidly. He has scheduled a physio appointment in Perth for when we get home. Invercargill is actually quite a sizeable town, spread out across the coastal plain here. We like the feel of it, no tourists and wide streets.


We had 5 nights at the Kelvin Hotel in Invercargill and it went pretty quickly. Our room only had one window which did not open very wide and we had one warm afternoon/ evening but the next day the frigid air was pumping through again from the coast. There was also a team of scaffolders working nights on a building in the next street which was very noisy and also we would argue illegal? Don't suppose we can comment much on noise-level guidelines in Invercargill city centre at night. When the window was closed you couldn't hear them. We suppose windows are not opened very often around here! On our last night which was a Saturday they were not working but the wind was so strong the window blew shut on its own! We really loved the hotel and enjoyed Invercargill. We caught the 08:25 bus to Dunedin and had only a few minutes walk to the bus stop. The bus was much busier than when we caught it to Invercargill. Once again, lovely farmland views. The bloke who had camped at Macetown with us was on the bus and we had a chat to him when we all got off for a break in Balclutha. His name was Jannie and he was from southwest Germany, near Stuttgart. He had started at Cape Reinga mid-October and had walked the whole way. He could not profess to enjoying the walk and said everyone doing the whole 3000 km is of the general opinion that the trail is shit. Which we agree with have walked 10% of it. He often felt as if on a treadmill, just getting through it and compared it to an army march which echoed our earlier sentiments that the hikers seemed like refugees. He said the North Island experience was better with hikers being better connected and supportive of each other and also trail angel support on the trail. Better local business support for hikers in general. As he had walked down the South Island he found the hikers got more and more worn down and did not connect with others as much. He found it a lonely time and even though he would look forward to being in a hut with other people, when he was he felt even lonelier because these interactions didn't create camaraderie.It was so interesting hearing this as it exactly echoed our experience and actually confusion when we first came across hikers. We are widely travelled in remote areas and we have never come across people engaged in a similar endeavour who seemingly have little interest in connecting. Psychologists or sociologists would have a field day and a study should surely be done on this! People start an activity, enjoy it less and less as they proceed and yet still refuse to change course. He had finished at Bluff which he said was anti-climactic as well as it's just this huge carpark full of RV's and the only real option is to hitch to Invercargill. He is heading back to Germany in a week, we might bump into him in Christchurch.

We arrived in Dunedin at 12:30, dropped our packs off at The Law Courts and went off to Subway for lunch. It was windy and extremely cold. The Subway does pretty good cappuccinos and lattes too and was busy on a Sunday lunchtime. We were checked in to our same room in The Law Courts as before which was nice! It rained during the afternoon but later we went back to The Great Wall for fish and chips which was as good as last time we were here. Mike's knee is now pain free and as good as new which is so good! The rest days and regular icing and rolling etc did the trick!