Congratulations, you've made it through the week!

January 31st Wanaka Distance: 0km Elevation: flat Steps: 8,600 Time: n/a Most of today was spent relaxing at the Wanaka Backpackers Bothy (bothy being a Scottish term for a mountain cabin), or wandering around Wanaka. Here's a photo of the Bothy itself, the TA special accommodation at the backpackers We did a bit for the local economy, although after the large brunch of savory waffles, neither of us had room for lunch! It was also VERY warm and a bit humid today, so we were glad not to be out walking. That only means that we hope to get away early tomorrow and do as much as we can before the heat of the day sets in. We also took the opportunity of having coverage to speak with a couple of our nearest and dearest, who haven't heard our voices in a while (and if we didn't talk to you, that doesn't mean you're not still part of the nearest and dearest!!) This update is mainly a heads up that we are leaving mobile coverage for 8 or 9 days, with the possibili...

January 30th Fern Burn Hut to Wanaka Distance: 24km Elevation: quick 450m descent then flat Steps: 41,000 Time: 7:40am-4:00pm So 9 days on the trot, we decided this would be the last before a rest day. Plus, most of today would be flat, so that's kinda like a rest day, right? We are wiped  right now. We did make it to Wanaka, we're checked in at a backpackers. They put us into the special "TA hiker" room, which is I think partly to keep the regular backpackers out of our hair, and partly to keep us out of the regular backpackers' way :D We also went out to dinner - did you know that Wanaka has an amazing food truck village? If we hadn't had the strong recommendation for the chicken ringing in our ears, we probably would have taken 20 minutes to decide which one to eat at. And we are definitely going back to try other places tomorrow. The hike today was down the same brown hills that we've been hiking through for the past few days But then at le...

January 27th Arrowtown to Rose Hut Distance: 23km Elevation: NOT flat - total 1380m ascent, 1060 descent, two major hills  Steps: 42,000 Time: 7:45am-6:30pm Lots of pictures for you today! Not shown, although I did get a short video and hopefully will share the youTube link to it: river crossings. Like, 50 or more. Part of that is the trail: at one point it goes along a 4WD track that crosses the Arrow river back and forth. Later, though, the track gives you two options. One is to keep going up and over the hills and spurs as you slowly gain altitude. The other option is to basically walk up the Arrow River (it's a stream at this point), crossing from bank to bank to get some good walking time, although there are sections that you cannot avoid just walking straight up the river at times. Although Eliza found the river rocks to be very friendly and not slippery at all, Vaughan managed to find the one slippery rock in the river, and took a dip up to his waist. Luckily, nothing except...

January 28th Rose Hut to Highland Creek Hut Distance: 10km Elevation: NOT flat - total 1090m ascent, 910m descent, the entire day was two major hills. Steps: 22,700 Time: 8:00am-3:00pm In today's match; The Trail 1, Eliza and Vaughan 0. What was supposed to be an easier day by distance, was undone by terrain and duration. We shouldn't have been surprised because the trail notes described this section as "the most demanding section of the (Motatapu) track". Even after reading this we still thought we could complete it AND walk to the next hut. Again, the Trail scoffed at our intentions.  One of the first views was of our next rest day destination, Lake Wanaka. Still at least 2, probably 3 days away. As you can tell it was another blue sky day. In 28 days on the Trail we've had only a few hours of rain.  One of the track markers was adorned with this piece of tramping history. A pair of old leather boots with what looks like iron crampons and nails.  ...

January 26th Queenstown to Arrowtown Distance: 30km Elevation: flat Steps: 45,000 This might be a short report, even though it was a long day. At 30 km, we spent much of the walk tuned into podcasts to pass the time (a list of recommended is at the end). Broadly speaking, the route passed through suburban, commercial and industrial Queenstown before arriving at the old Shotover Bridge where the scenery took centre stage. The track did kindly take us directly to the Frankton (a Queenstown suburb) Countdown (grocery store), which made it really easy for us to top up our food supplies for this coming 5-7 day run (depending on how hard we push ourselves). There was also a conveniently located cafe right outside the Countdown, so we both got a long black and shared a caramel slice "for the trail". Yes, we are absolutely slumming it on this trip :P From here on we followed a well integrated network of shared pedestrian/cycle trails between Q-town and A-town which took i...

January 25th Greenstone Hut to Queenstown Distance: 12km plus an 80-km bus ride Elevation: flat Steps: 22,200 Woke up to a beautiful morning, went out to the (flushing!!) toilet at Greenstone Hut, and a toutouwai (robin) was there to greet me. I think it was hoping the human would bring with it some sandflies to eat, but they (the sandflies) had not yet found me, so the toutouwai went away a little bit disappointed. We then had a leisurely walk to the pickup point. This is a break in the trail; there is no safe way to get on foot from the carpark at the Greenstone Walkway trailhead to Queenstown, so even the official Te Araroa trail notes describe getting a bus (or other sort of ride) those 80 km. It is mainly a narrow dirt road, and walking it would truly be dangerous, especially given the way some of the tourism operators drive that road! The trail from the hut to the trailhead was absolutely lovely, and is strongly recommended by both of us to anyone wanting to see if they might lik...

January 24th Campsite to Greenstone Hut Distance: 17km Elevation: flat-ish Steps: 28,500 What a gorgeous day! I was afraid that the weather would turn super cold over night, being at relatively high altitude (600m or so) and with the clear skies as we went to sleep. The good part of the clear skies is that I could get a great photo of the stars! So when I woke up around 2am and stuck the camera out of the rain fly, and got this brilliant shot: Yep, the clouds had already rolled in, so there was really nothing to see. Sorry - I'll try again tonight :) And when we woke up, we were just below the cloud deck - close enough that as we started walking, still up and over those lateral moraines, we were alternately in and under the cloud. We spent another 2 hours or so on that landscape... ...before getting into a mixture of tussock and beech forest for the rest of the day. It was just about the most perfect mix of exposed walking without being too hot, ...

January 23rd Mavora Lakes Campground to campsite on a moraine. Distance: 20km Elevation: flat-ish Steps: 32,500 This afternoon the trail decided that we would be camping atop a grassy lateral moraine (look it up) in the Mavora Valley, approximately equidistant to Boundary and Taipo huts. We're looking down on the gravelly Mararoa River, coloured cobalt blue by the crumbling greywacke slopes either side of it, threading its way through high country grassland. I should also acknowledge Ngai Tahu, traditional owners of this area, who have given permission for the trail to pass through here. We started the day skirting Mavora Lake in chilly temperatures but clear skies. The lake glassy lake suface forming a canvas for the surrounding hills. After that the remainder of the walk was in exposed grass and tussock land with temperatures in the mid to high-twenties, the clear blue skies remaining with us. Just after leaving Boundary hut, where we ate and made some run...