Day 97-101 | Km 2637 - 2773 | Queenstown & Mavora Lakes

I stuck my head out of my tent’s inner and tapped the fly, sheets of ice slid down and dropped to the ground. Quickly I grabbed my camp stove and smuggled it back into the marginally less icy inner with me. Gas and naked flames aren’t advisable inside the highly flammable cocoon, wrapped in an equally flammable sleeping bag, yet this girl was cold and in need of coffee so fire hazard avoidance was not in session that morning. The historic reserve of Macetown was frigid. I should have know I was in for a cold night, falling asleep with all my merino layers and down jacket on. Unfortunately I hadn’t thought ahead and so my socks and water filter spent a lonely night outside, completely forgetting that freezing the filter compromises its integrity…oops…

On the plus side, I learnt to brush my teeth without covering myself and the surrounding area in toothpaste. Jamie won’t recognise me anymore, I’m a changed woman! :D

Once I’d eventually packed up (loosing most of my dexterity in the process), I wandered over to a restored Macetown cottage, originally housing a gold mining family. Stepping inside the doorway I was surprised how much heat the stone walls retained and cowered in the little barred off entranceway. Temporary thoughts ran through my head of what life was like for women back in 1863; likely not cowering in doorways dressed head to toe in cosey Macpac gear. I b-lined for the rising sunshine.

The last time I cried from the pain of my hands defrosting I remember well. I was maybe 14 and had just returned home from delivering my paper round. I stood in the kitchen doorway flapping my hands as the burning pain set it, tears streaming down my face. Now you may think I sound a little dramatic and / or pathetic reenacting this scene down in Macetown valley but holy smokes I couldn’t hold the tears back! I ditched my pack as quickly as I could and did the old fist pump dance followed by the thigh squish squat. Once I’d calmed the heck down and started my ascent of Big Hill, I was now pain free and stopping to remove sweaty layers of clothing. Even I laughed thinking what a kid I’d been but seriously at the time that pain was real!

Mrs Gallant (nee Hill) looking warm & happy again on Big Hill

Lunch was timed with a 4G frenzy stop on Big Hill to figure out my best plan of attack for navigating Lake Wakatipu. Buried in WhatsApp meant my thoughts of women of the 1860s were long gone - I’m obviously not cut out to be a stay-at-home gold mining wife and mother of 5, way too hard core for me!

Heading into Arrowtown I made yet another fury friend, Molly the golden pup. Her mum and artist friend were so excited by my journey down the country I had an instant offer of dinner and bed for the night. Too kind! Feeling supercharged from their generosity I continued with my plan of reaching Frankton and then spending the night with an old Kerikeri friend - Andrew, over in Cromwell. Maybe a little too enthused I ended up off trail on Arrowtown golf course. Whilst cursing down the phone to Jamie something along the lines of ‘How come I can navigate mountain passes yet get lost on a bloody golf course?!!’ a groundsman overheard and chuckling to himself pointed me back on trail.

The night ended with vegan pizza & buddies sharing beers and trail tails. Not being a connoisseur of vegan cheese, is it just me or does all warm vegan cheese super glue itself to your teeth?! As tasty as it was you have not swayed me this time, sorry Andrew.

Coffee catch ups were had the following morning with the lovely Gemma; moving down from Auckland with her hubby and living the dream building a house near Queenstown. I was super excited to find my very own personalised trail pillow in her shop, fortunately I would of had to leave ALL my essentials in order to pack it with me so, until next time Gem’s!

Andrew had began tapering for the Northburn 100mile (yes miles!!) event so running at my pace was the perfect speed for an easy taper run. He joined me along the shore of Lake Wakatipu into Queenstown. Very cool to see his progress following a few barefoot run lessons from me up in Kerikeri to now pitching to the Northburn race chief that he’ll not only run the event in under 30 hours but also in minimal Vivobarefoot shoes! Always a sucker for a good challenge, Go Andrew!! Here’s a wee vid Andrew made (if the quality isn’t fantastic on the YouTube link below, click here for the GoPro link.) I should of made him my media man from day dot!

The official Te Araroa Trail ends at Queenstown lake front and begins again the opposite side of Lake Wakatipu at the start of the Greenstone Track. That’s 81km you have to cover between the two. Being someone who likes to avoid unnecessary transport costs, I walked as far as I could on a trail around the lake then hitched to Kinloch. Firstly to Glenorchy via the lovely Nora, a German girl fresh out of an Ashram stay in Takaka. Second almost immediate pick up was by Claire from Missouri in the US who was heading back to Kinloch lodge where she was working - perfect for me, exactly where I wanted to be. 5 minutes down the road and there’s 3 boys sat on the verge, Claire timidly says ‘Shall I pick those guys up too?’, my overzealous squark of ‘YES! it’s the boys! Followed by.. ‘err I mean, of course only if you’d like too’. It was Canadian Yoni & Noah (Noah I’d christened Elton John for his love of singing on the trail) and Callum an English guy from Bolton -we’d said our goodbyes on Breast Hill a week earlier as they headed off to test the Wanaka Taco Van followed by the Cascade Saddle Track. Having done the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) in the US those guys are hard fast hikers, so I was surprised to see them sitting on the roadside. Now poor Claire had her bosses fancy pants 4x4 packed with 4 smelly trail bums with the 3 guys nursing their packs on their knees in the back seat, she could only hear their voices from behind their towering back packs, bless her!

I headed for the Greenstone Track hoping for a hitch so I wasn’t putting in too many extra Km’s. What happens? The reverse of yesterday! The boys had got the hitch behind me and persuaded the driver to squeeze a 4th bum into the back seat. All the while his son in the front seat found his law breaking dad hilarious. (Disclaimer here, it was 5km on a dirt back road with no other cars, plus we were so jammed in in the back nothing was moving us!)

The Greenstone Track felt much like the Queen Charlotte, well maintained and easy to navigate…

The Conga Line with Elton John’s tunes to lead :D

This merged to the Mavora Walkway and soon my shoes and socks were soaked in wetland bog. I arrived to Taipo Hut before the boys leaving them a note ‘Birthday bash at Boundary Hut for Callum?’. I was keen to put in the distance knowing rain was forecast for the following morning, luckily they did too. We got the party started with some Chocolate protein powder and DJ Callum spinning the iphone decks with ‘Mr Brightside’; there’s nothing like The Killers classic to give you a second burst of energy. We were all jumping around the hut like kids at our first school disco.

Feeling a little foggy headed from all that chocolate protein powder the night before (ha!) I had a Coffee stop only 6km down the track. An uber geeky Lord of the Rings fan told me of all the places used around Mavora Lakes in the film, looking clueless as to his scene re-enactments he pulled the film up on his phone, even showing me his photos of the EXACT tree. As I trotted by the lake that day, all the trees looked pretty similar to be honest. I’m obviously not a die hard Lord of the Rings fan! Though I respect those of you out there who are so here’s a guy showing you THAT tree and other scenes shot around Mavora.

For the entire trail I’d been quietly dissing people for eating crisp wraps at lunch. The nutritional value in them is?? (Clare Rose I will love you forever for doing this everyday for our entire school life, you’re excused xx). Then I thought about it, it gives a peanut butter wrap a little crunch, packs in the calories, adds a little salt…I vowed to myself I had to try it before the trail was up! Check out Elton’s wrap above, a thick layer of peanut butter, Nutella and scrunched up crisps; he’d be a great brick layer!

The trail along South Mavora Lake was more forested and continued much closer alongside the Mararoa River as it headed south. With the bright intensity of greens hidden away on that forest trail, I wasn’t feeling so blue anymore about the grey weather and soggy feet, it really did feel quite magical. So much so I wandered a little way off track and laid down on the soft bouncy Moss to have a nap. Some kayakers riding the rapids woke me from my snooze fest. I opened my eyes just a little and as the light filtered back into them I focused on something strange near my right foot… an old school yet shiny new possum trap! If my foot had lent a little further out to 3 o’clock I’d be ending my adventure right there 200km from the end with a metal jaw clamped on my ankle!

Talking of food, here’s an example of what 3-4 days worth of food looks like for me. Not the best resupply as Queenstown Fresh Choice costs a bomb - I’d normally get an entire bar of dark chocolate Whittaker’s but seeing at that was $7 I bought 2 reduced choccy bars and vowed to make them last! I’d also ran out of my beloved Pic’s & Crafty Weka Bars so ended up with some far less superior cereal bars. You may think this is gross, but for breakfast instead of oats which are quite heavy and never seem to fill me for long, I’d have the thin rice noodles (bag at the top, coffee is in bag at bottom) and heat them up with powdered coconut milk throwing in a handful of nuts and pumpkin seeds- warming and filling! Although that overpriced Fresh Choice didn’t have coconut milk powder so I used protein powder instead ;). Lunch was generally cheese and tomato paste wraps or olives if I felt fancy and Radix for dinner, which I genuinely after all this time still look forward too, YUM AS BRO!

Next stop Te Anau where the wonderful Abi of Rosco’s Kayaks was holding onto my next resupply parcel…

Camping on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, Kinloch

Day 97-101 | Km 2637 - 2773 | Queenstown & Mavora Lakes

— Go GALLANTLY —