Last Flat Terrain Day.

February 1st
Wanaka to Hāwea / Lake Hāwea 
Distance: 25km
Elevation: flat
Steps: 37,700
Time: 5:50am - 1:15pm

Woohoo! One month on the trail! I know we said there might not be any posts for a while, but we have data coverage here to write and publish one.

Knowing today would be a long day (distance-wise), we decided to get up early to get as much walking in as possible before the sun got too hot. The goal was to be on the trail by 5:30 - we're still working on our morning routine :D

This did mean that we got to see the sunrise over Lake Wanaka.
This was only the first of stunning views all day, as we moved from Lake Wanaka to the headwaters of the Clutha River (did you know this is the biggest river in NZ by annual flow?), which is the only river that drains Lake Wanaka.
Just before crossing the Clutha, we stopped in Albert Town. We had been told by many, many locals (like, pretty much every local that mentioned a cafe) that we needed to stop at the Pembroke Patisserie. They were all correct. Wow those were delicious fresh fruit tarts, chocolate brownies, and coffees!!
And yes, we are living up to our Aucklander reputation by stopping in at nice looking cafes, food trucks and bars along the way :D

The rest of the day was following the Hāwea River, which drains Lake Hāwea and is a tributary of the Clutha, upstream to get to Lake Hāwea and the small township of the same name. 

We're staying in the in a cabin at The Camp, since the rain is supposed to start this afternoon/evening, and we'd rather start the savage uphill tomorrow without the extra weight of a wet tent, if possible. 

On arrival, we both passed out for decent-length naps (well-earned, I'd say), and are ready for dinner.

There's also a bit of running repairs on feet, and of course the camp showers were greatly appreciated. While there was enough cloud cover to keep it from getting as hot as the last two days, it was still quite warm and enough of a walk with very heavy packs, for us both to work up a good sweat.

Oh yeah, heavy packs. Since we're on the trail for 8 or 9 days straight, there is a substantial amount of food in our packs, that we are not looking forward to hauling up the Breast Hill Track that climbs 950m in the first km, tomorrow.

Finally, a couple of fun signs that we passed today:

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 1, 2022 at 5:42 PM

    I had not realized there are so many lakes yet I don't recall seeing a single boat in any of your pictures. Sure looks like it would be fun to have a kayak! Bub

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 1, 2022 at 6:05 PM

    I finally found a decent map with km marks along the Te Araroa. Perhaps each night you could provide your location to make it easier to follow. Thx. Bub

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 2, 2022 at 10:39 AM

    Looks great! Stay safe, keep a close eye on the weather.
    - Ross

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you, we love reading your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Thought for 14 February 2025

Image
Ha ve a Happy Tho ught:     There is an old saying that you learn something new every day. (My college roommate added the corollary that once she learned something, that meant she could go back to bed – no matter how early in the day it was!)     Unfortunately, sometimes the new thing you learn is, in fact, not true. So fact-checking is always a good thing to do (yes, I very much try to fact-check these emails, but have and will miss things!). One way to reset yourself is to , every once in a while , chec k out Wikipedia’s List of common misconceptions page . Here are some of the things that caught my eye during my own recent visit there. I either learned these recently, or can vividly remember when I learned them. Words in italics are mine , everything else comes direct from Wikipedia:   1. Allspice is not a mix of spices. It is a single spice, so called because it seems to combine the flavours and scents of many spices, especially cinnamon , nu...
Read more

Happy Thought for 25 July 2025

Image
Have a Happy Thought:  Reading truly is a way to explore other minds and other worlds. Science-fiction especially is a great way to explore possible futures. From Star Trek communicators inspiring the popularity (if not the development ) of flip phones... ...To the terrifyingly accurate description of American politics in the mid 2020’s in Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower and sequels...     ...And then there is Roald Dahl foretelling ChatGPT. Yep, you read that right. The author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG accurately described today’s “AI” language generators, in his 1953 short story “ The Great Automatic Grammatizator” . It’s a short read, and well worth it, here are the things that really impressed me. Dahl forecast: the over-use of strange or exceptionally long words real life : words like comprehend, boast, swift, meticulous, and delve Dahl: “For example, there’s a trick that nearly every writer uses, o...
Read more

Happy Thought for 27 June 2025

Image
Have a Happy Thought:  If you’ve ever woken up from a weird dream, and had to say to yourself, “okay brain in the real world, foxes are not monks”... you are not alone. Apparently this was a very common problem throughout the middle ages in Europe, and beyond. Here’s a statuette from Denmark, made around the 1530’s: Image: Ivory figure, 6 cm tall,of penitent Reynhard fux, with a rosary between the paws. Dated to the time of the Reformation in Denmark (1530's) http://samlinger.natmus.dk/DMR/168006 And here is one from Japan: Image: a kitsune statuette. Source https://www.instagram.com/p/DKH2lvVMYnt/ In fact, this idea of foxes as monks was so common that there was a popular cartoon character called Reynard the Fox, dating from as far back as the 12 th century! Image: Reynard the Fox in British Library MS  Royal 10 E IV, late 13th/early 14th century https://i0.wp.com/streetsofsalem.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/fox-reynard-royal-10.jpg   Reynard appare...
Read more