Murky

Lake Tekapo to Wanaka
Mile 1605 / KM 2583

Song stuck in my head: 'Balkon' by Stereo Luchs & 'Casino Nights' by Slingshot Dakota

I miss: Conditioner

The night had been freezing cold in the emergency hut and when I opened my eyes in the morning I was lying in the dark. I heard a mouse run across the room with what sounded like some kind of granola bar wrapper, but I didn't care. I was glad the hut existed even if it did look like it was about to collapse any minute. The rain hadn't stopped all afternoon and night, and when I woke up at 2am to the wind rattling the walls of the hut, I was worried we would have to wait in the dark for another day. Luckily the sky was clear, when I opened the squeaky door in the morning. No one had wanted to give up the warmth of their sleeping bag and when we finally got going, the first thing we had to do was cross a river. 'Great', I thought, ice cold feet is just what I need right now. It took a solid hour until I was warm enough to take off my jacket, but my feet stayed frozen for most parts of the day.

A couple hours later I was standing on a hill overlooking the 'Ahuriri' river which under normal circumstances would have been no problem to cross, but because of the rain it had become a massive and fast flowing river. There was no way I was going to even attempt crossing it, and neither were Fred or Zilla. This meant that we had to add 10km detour to our already big day to get over a bridge further south. The landscape around us was gorgeous and walking along the river felt like I was somewhere in a country movie in rural America. A guy driving a pick up with a load full of deer antlers gave us a hitch for the last three kilometers of our detour, so we only ended up adding an extra seven in the end. Riding in the back of a pick up truck is one of my favourite things to do in life. Seriously.

I reached the 'Top Timaru Hut' at 7pm after a 45km day, and I didn't sit down to relax but made dinner straight away because I was so hungry. I inhaled a value pack of mac'n'cheese and half of a chocolate bar and I could have eaten 10 more. The amount of food I could eat every day is ridiculous. There is literally no limit, and I am always hungry.

The next day started with another river walk which was tricky in its own way. It wasn't a particularly big river but it was still larger than usual, and on top of that it was murky. Now that was a new thing for me. Usually river crossings are easy if you follow a set of rules.

1. Cross at the widest point where the water is shalow.

2. If it's deep, open the hip and chest belt of your pack. In case you do get swept away, you need to be able to get 'out' of your pack, otherwise you might drown because the weight of the pack is going to pull you under.

3. Use your poles to check how deep the river is before taking a step.

4. If the river's too large/fast/wild, wait for someone to show up and cross it together.

5. Keep your shoes on.

It is as easy as that. With this river it was a bit different though, because it was murky to the point where I literally couldn't see how deep it was so I basically went in blind. There were moments when I was half way through the crossing, waist deep, but then I had to turn around because of a sudden drop of the riverbed. Tricky tricky. But made it anyways and at the end of the day I stood at the top of 'Breast Hill' (great name...) with an amazing view over Lake Hawea.

Fred and I are taking a zero in Wanaka today. Zilla had to go find some shoes and Cami and Alex are a day behind. Fred and I will get moving again tomorrow because the two of us are on a time constraint. My flight home leaves on 2nd of March, and we still have 421km ahead of us so got to keep movin'.

Feeling very safe.

This section started of with a 50km bike ride along a canal with unnatural looking blue water. At any moment I was expecting one of those three eyed fish from the Simpsons to jump out the water. The ride was fun at first, but then turned into a crazy exercise when we got into a flat area where the wind was against us to the point where we literally fell off our bikes.

Ahuriri River.

Murky murky

Breast Hill Peak

Back to normal. I’m a Cloudventure girl and I always will be. I love this model to the moon and back and I’m stoked to walk the last km in these. Thanks ON 💕

Sweaty and ready for spaghetti.

Spa day!

The weekly resupply madness.