Hopping along

February 15th 

Lake Tekapo to Camp Stream Hut

KM 2374 - 2392 - 2409

Distance: 17km transport, 18 km walking 

Elevation: 400m ascent

Steps: 28,000

Time: 8:00am - 2:00pm

We arranged for transportation to the trailhead, so we could avoid the 17km of road walking, some of which is a little bit dangerous due to the lack of road shoulders. So we all agreed that this is not at all cheating, due to the safety aspect :D

We then started a relatively flat track up to the first of three nights' stay on this track. The view was pretty much the same for much of the walk - so boring! (that was sarcasm, by the way)

We also saw some wallaby! They are definitely not native, and are actually destructive to native flora and fauna. But they were still fun to see, bouncing around. We also saw a helicopter a few times, and there's the possibility that it was actually out looking for wallaby signs, since they are condisered a pest species by Environment Canterbury.

The trail was very nice and easy, actually, and made for fast walking. We were feeling very confident at lunchtime, and Vaughan even had a short nap!

After lunch, though, the trail got a bit harder. Not really steep (except for maybe the last 100m to the hut), but the trail surface was alternating between rocky, muddy, lost along the side of a river, etc. So when we got to the last, challenging uphill right up to the hut, we were pretty much done for.

Only to find that there is no water source at the hut, and we needed to go right back down that hill to the stream to collect water. UGH.

Just a cute, partly-cement-floor, owned-by-a-private-trust hut, with 6 bunks.

But because of the number of people showing up at the hut, we've decided to set up our trusty tent for the night. There's Nigel and Linsay, who both also stayed at the backpackers with us last night; another group of four who are not doing the TA but are doing this section of trail (they decided to tent by the river,  smart!); and three brothers who are doing a section of the TA northbound.

Oh yes Linsay has caught up with us! If you remember, she was meant to meet us at Stody's Hut to do the Timaru River section with us, but she never showed up. We guessed, and she has confirmed, that she decided to head back out to Lake Hawea and wait for the river to go down further. She has therefore been 1 day behind us this whole time; a second day behind us since she walked the canal from Twizel to Tekapo. But since we had stayed the second day in Tekapo, it gave her a chance to catch up, so our little trail family is back together :)

Also, last night, we got to meet Nigel's son, Paul. Nigel had lived in Tekapo for many years, and accidentally ran in to Paul. It was good getting to meet him as he's just come back from 2 years living in Japan, and he's happy now to be back living in his hometown for a while!