テ・アラロア
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Te Araroa
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テ・アラロア
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Te Araroa
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It was a hazey condition outside. But I got my mates this time, Omri (a stranger Islaeli guy) , Susav (Tom's colleague at work), Tom (our German flatmate) and Emma. There were a Kiwi-German couple walking ahead of us and we were playing the game of tag. Emma started looking for birds. It was an easy walk. In a while I arrived at the last hut on this section I caught up with the couple. They were walking the 'Cas loop'. As we started having a yarn, the German guy apparently walked Te Araroa three years ago. TA just started getting known and is still now on a young trail it's not so hard to imagine how much more difficult it was back then to through-hike it compared to now. When I got to the car park I was expecting to be waiting for the others to come out but they were already there. I told them that I wanted to walk the road part from the carpark but they didn't allow me. We didn't have much time to spend together so every second was precious for us. The couple came out as well and Tom drove them to the other side where they started 'loop' and their car was. It passed 40 minutes since Tom left with them and we were wondering why he was taking so long even the road is straight not like in Wellington. No way that he could get lost but he actually did. Tom came back eventually taking a big detour to the carpark and we got full people in our car. When we were just about leave, there was a mid-aged guy walking from the road. I could recognise him! He was the German guy I met in Hamilton Hut, who talked a lot but I didn't get a half of what he said! He came out from the other side and hitchhiked back to this carpark. Guess who gave him a lift, the Kiwi-German couple that Tom just dropped off. It's amazing, isn't it? That's how the world should work. The kindness travels to the next person who needs help. Emma kidnapped me into Tom's car and we left for freaking Greymouth!! Emma and I have been to Greymouth in the last winter after we finished Central Otago Rail Trail. Hitchhiked from Wanaka in one go to Greymouth for about 500 Km. I remember that I got very sick on the car because the driver was from Thailand and never drove the winding New Zealand road. We had to get some petrol in Arthurs Pass. While we were queing (there is only one machine for fueling in the eintire town) I spotted a couple of Keas. Also, we were on the mission to fix the knocked front mirror because Omri banged his head and the mirror detouched from the front glass. We asked aroung the people for glue but none worked out. Eventually, it was just barely attached by taping like a spider web. Hope it'll at least hold until Greymouth. Once we made it to the camping place in Greymouth we were just so happy. Steve who is the manager of this campsite was still very nice to us. I was happy to be back here as well since I last was here with Emma. The tent site is only $10 per person and the facility is great. Laundry and shower need additional coins though the free WiFi is qualified. We decided to walk aroung the town and look for a nice meal. I had to try the Thai place that was closed back then with a sign of "Close Sorry Snow is Sick" and we thought it was because of the weather since we were running away from a storm cloud from south. This time they were closed again which made me disappointed but there was a new discovery about this restaurant, "Snow" was the chef's name! Thai people quite often have funny names... So we ended up dinning at a Chinese restautrant. It was such a lovely day but we have to say goodbye to each other tomorrow morning. Omri will keep traveling, Tom and Susav will have to go back to Palmerston North for work, Emma needs to go to Franz Josef for placement of part of the veterinary program and I will need to be in Arthur's Pass to get back on the trail. It's truly amazing that I met these people who I cannot love more but that's for sure what makes us harder to admit the day will come...
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I was glad that I did not diceded to stay at the next hut. I was actually planning to stay there for last night but because Sam and Karen told me it would be shitty enough to get you walk to Lagoon Saddle. It's as cool as East Ahuriri Hut and Tin Hut on my Day 24 and 25. But the difference was sandflies. I picked up an orange triangle marker fallen from a tree onto the track and tried to remove the remainded nail. I only sat there for 5 minutes and totally surrounded by sandies. I had to start moving otherwise the sandies would have smother my exposed skin! The walk was very easy and the track was clear until the river cut across it. I went into a wrong direction to the right. See? "To the left, to the left" works. I wandered on the dried river bed for half an hour. It was alomst going to get me into a panic zone. Every time I loose the track, it's very hard to keep myself calm for a long time. I needed to stop thinking, shut my eyes and take a few deep breaths talking to myself 'I'll be fine. I'll get out of this situation soon unless I keep panicing.' I went back to the last marker I saw and looked arounf for a second and there was a next marker on the opposite way. Then, it went very misterious after that. Most part of the track has been washed off by landslides or flooding. The river beds were covered by rocks and stones that sometimes made me climbing over them. The markers disappeared instead there were small rock towers piled up for navigation. I finally could get back into the bush and started walking and zoned into trans. All of the sudden I found something animal like on the track just about 10 meter ahead. I wasn't understanding what it was and when it moved and looked at me my heart almost stopped with a loud 'Whoaaaa!' jumped out from my stomach. She was a TA South Bound walker, laying on the track taking a break. Her jacket had a unfamiliar pattern that's what made it look a twisted weird thing. I apologised that I gave her a rude impression from it. She was maybe like mid-50s. It was nealy 11 AM and I badly wanted to make it on time so rushed off ahead. The weather was changing more cloudy and more misty. I even felt it a bit cold. There were some up and down which just kept me warm enought without wearig the jacket. It was already half past 12 PM. I was late. When I found hut hut with a red roof, I was so relieved at the same time really excited as nearly crying. I was picturing Emma and Tom sitting in the hut and welcoming me as soon as I opened the door. At 1 PM with the door dully open, there were two guys inside. I looked at them twice but they weren't looking even familiar. I was seriously disappointed. Maybe I got a wrong day, or maybe they were just being late, or maybe they forgot the day, or whatever it makes this happening. One of the guy, Omri was from Israel, and the other blond guy was German or Dutch. I sat next to Omri and waited for my mates to show up. There were a few couples coming in and out the hut but Emma and Tom. It started raining. It reminded me of any scenes in a movie, when something sad or bad happens it rains, the cliche. I cooked for late lunch at 3 PM. I was too depressed to have any appetite but needed to eat for enery. I boiled some egg noodles and added the instant spring vegetbale soup and stirred them with some coconut milk powder. Omri was really impressed how tasty it was! He kept saying it was the best meal that he ever had in the bush. He was such a lovely guy. We got really bored in the end and my stomach was an ocean of hot drinks. I eventually got out of the hut and just watched the rain drops from the roof outside on the deck. At 7 PM, I saw someone coming throught the trees and heard a girl. Instantly, I knew it was Emma. I screamed to them, 'F*** you!' We huged tight and cried together. But Emma and Tom had no idea why I was crying. They made me wait 6 hours. Obviously, Emma didn't remember what she said in the text. I knew it. I have always known that Emma is Emma, so that was my fault not expectig she was gonna be late. Anyways, the hut was full of happy people celebrating the New Year's Eve. Omri had this unexpected bizzar night with us but he apparently enjoyed it. Tom had an idea of the 'meal course' but as usual Emma and I ruined it by randomly opening and eating whatever we want. We got really sleepy afterall even though we wanted to stay up until the New Year. So we set up the alarm at 11.50 PM for New Year's beer. But you know, we never made it haha Happy New Year to y'all. Wishing more love for our earth and getting close to achieving World Peace. I had to take another zero day in order to see Emma and Tom tomorrow. When I woke up in the morning I was the only one there. Everyone else has gone. Felt sad and shot about myself. I stayed in my bunk until 3 PM taking uncountable number of naps. It was even too much and gave me headache. So I decided to take a detour up to Cas Saddle. It was concerning the time. I didn’t want to walk in the dark without the full set of gears. So I ran. It took me about 1.5 hours to the saddle. It was a beautiful day. Gosh, I see things so close. I checked the map on my phone to figure out the name of the peak on my right side. Hamilton Peak, 1900ish meter high. Hmm, maybe I can reach there... but it’s already 5 PM... So I gave myself half an hour to accent and come back to this spot at 6 PM. Sounds cool aye. So I started climbing up. I chose the route that has the tussocks the futherest. Yeah, that one, you see the line, I’m looking at the same line with you. Going up, avoiding the spiny plants, but still they got me, and keeping on going going going for 15 minutes. The wind started developing. I started feeling more risks. The tussock area was done and it was going to get me scrumble up on the scree for the last 200 metres. I sat down on a rock asking my mind if I want to go or not. There are always two Wakos living in my mind, the want-to-be-cool Wako and the chicken Wako. This time the chicken won. ***Plz enjoy how the view changes with regard to the elevation of the altitude by clicking to the right. I forgot to mention the people I met today. A Scottish guy and a British girl couple, and a German guy. I was wishing a Physio or a massages master appears here and get the pain on my back away. Everyone wished anything just nice to them if happens, you know? Just like wishing to score an A without studying much. Well, it happened actually. The Scottish and British couple were both Physio! I heard them talking about some medical stuff and the word. I had to ask them what could my back pain be. Their answer was probably the muscle inflammation due to overwork and doesn’t sound like a trndon damage. Thank god, I was so relieved. They asked me how many more days I would have to walk to finish so I counted the days. It was another 35 days roughly which made them freaked out. “No way! 35 days of waking? You don’t mean 3.5 days?”
The german guy was pretty talkative but half of it couldn’t be deciphered. I cooked some rice porridge and struggled to finish and dreamed about a rice porridge devil forcing me to eat rice porridge the night. We started around 8.30 AM. Our tents were wet from the cold night. Rose showed me the hole on the floor of her tent she made by cooking inside when it was really cold. We started walking and I realised that Lachlan and rose walk too fast. They are tall and have long legs while I'm not too short but not tall either compared to them and with Asian short legs. I had to shuffle my legs as twice fast. The view was very pretty. We followed on the gravel road until to the river. It was not marked we had to take a guess quite a few times. We had to get our feet wet to cross some streams. I was just following them. Didn't even look the map. We took our first break what Lachlan called "morning tea" after 2 hours of walk. And we saw an ute honking at us. It was the farmer guy who gave Rose a ride yesterday. He is a farm dog trainer and had many doggies in the cage back of the ute. I though he was going to take us at least 5km up stream but he got us cross the green weedy river to his ute and dropped us off on the other side of another river. That was it. He said "Yeah, get up to that terrain and keep walking along the ridge. That'll be easier." We were like "Owww... thanks mate!" not really meaning it... Because it looked impossible to get up to the terrain first of all. It was basically a cliff. WTF. Lachlan and I were remembering about the same thing, Chris the guy in Wanaka who suggested us to follow up the stream to Top something Hut. They were the same kind of people, the hunter and like too easygoing. We walked along the river for a while until we found a 'better' spot to get up on the terrain. We literally did rock-climbing and bashed through matagouri and bush-rose bush, clinging to the wall like ground and finally reached to the flat paddock. I think it was right to walk up there instead of tracking the river all the way. We walked the animal path and the 4W drive way and came down to the river. Saw the pinnacles too. We walked along the river and got to Hamilton Hut at 2PM. It was an easy walk and short day for me. Lachlan and Rose kept on going to the next hut, West Harper Hut. Lachlan said he wants to go to A Frame Hut, the one next to West Harper but Rose wasn't keen and told me she would bet on Lachlan $5. On the night, I met Karen and Sam (trail name 'Still Walking') at the hut. Sam hiked Te Araroa last year but due to the crappy weather he had to skip some sections and he came back to walk those this year. That's why he is 'still walking'. Check out his Instagram, he's got some cool photos up there. We went to see the tarn together and bumped into a Chinese backpacker, Lin. He was a funny dude. He's got his own YouTube channel. There were a few other hikers walking the Cas loop track. It was such a fun night with all of us joking around. I will have to stay here for another night to meet with Emma and Tom on New Year's Eve at A-frame Hut. It will be only half day tramp. Another zero day. I'm becoming such a lazy walker. The Japanese-Kiwi family drove me to the road in the morning on their way to to North for the camping trip. Today is going to be a boring road-walking day. It's about 30Ks to the campsite near the lake. I'm still traumatised camping near the lake from my experience so far. It was alaways blowing. I started walking from where Harper Rd starts. I met two long guys- they were skinny and tall so I call it 'long'- on the drive way. The 'longer' guy had two wooden poles sticking out from his pack and the other guy had a music loud on the speaker. His pack was the 50L-ish green osprey's, the one that Chris Solomon had too. I kept on going on the gravel road to Lake Coleridge. There were several cars passed by and spraying lots of sand dusts on me. It was very tempting to hitchhike but probably not enough to break my fake 'pureness' at that time to make me try. But if there's a car offered me a ride, I would take it. Eventually none of them was that kind so I walked entirely. Good on me. I got to the campsite near Lake Coleridge which is 1km away from the lake. I really didn't want to stay on this place because the ground was hard, too big, no trees to shelter my tent from the wind. I couldn't even find the water. There were apparently some 'huts' on the map around here but since they are not indicated in the trail notes they must have been private. But I needed to try a slight chance. I walked in the farm paddock and found it, "Rainbow Hut". It was big and nice but locked. Damn it. I knew it. Proactively made myself disappointed. I'm good at it. And I never learn. I tried the other one on the next paddock. The same. Okay, you know what, I'm gonna stay in my tent! I set up my yellow pretty tent next to the table because it could maybe protect my tent a little bit from the wind, and was doing nothing in my tent. Just laying there and literally doing nothing. Heard the noise that someone walked in. Saw the green shorts walking there. Wait, no way. It was him, Lachlan! He said "I wondered why Rose had the same tent as yours!!"... Rose...? Rosie Rose!?!?! According to Lachlan she left Methven ahead of him and was supposed to be here. Maybe she kept on going or getting in trouble. But she showed up eventually with four bottles of beers in her arms. She said "I was picked up by a lady on the way and as I told her what I was doing she took me to her home and treated me lunch. When I was leaving her she was crying. Then I was back on the trail and got picked up by this farmer guy and he took me to the pub and treated me beers and those bottles for New Year. So I'll carry this shit until New Year. I ain't drink it yet! And now i'm here with his ride!" Hoped it was going to be a fun walking with those Kiwis.
So, I slept 12 hours. Just barely made it before Mike and Lucy leave. It was sad to say goodbye. Wishing all the best for them for the rest of the trip. HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike)!! Oh I just realise that English people do the hug on the wrong side don't they? I was almost going to kiss Lucy. It was close. I moved to Tokiyo's home after lunch. I mer her sons, Locchlan and Connor again. I had to fix my ripped gloves and camaera bag by stitching up the parts and also Connor's sports bag. It's a good feelng to be useful for someone. Tokiyo's partner, Mike works for Mt Hutt Ski Field and he took me up to the off-season ski field once he came back. There were some snows up on the mountain and obviously it was freezing cold. He was nice to me to show around his work place and the lift machine to carry the skiiers to the top that got his hand smashed. Ouuuuu. Once back to the house, Tokiyo offered me to take a hot bath or a hot shower again. But I declined kindly it because I was feeling too clean... Why do I have to clean myself while I haven't started smelling yet? She cooked lots of Okonomiyaki which is one of the traditional and typical foods from Osaka where is my hometown back in Japan. That was really nice and filled me up to my throat. I have decided to take a few days of break from the trail and skip the section between Rangitata river and Rakaia river. The pain hasn't been gone yet.
I contacted my ex-flatmate and my craziest friend a.k.a Emma Chen. She and Tom are supposed to come to South for some reasons and we could potentially meet up somewhere. I was expecting Emma to join the trail for a section, preferably Richmond Ranges as she was keen too. She said over the phone that she cannot do it but can have a day-walk together when I'm coming out to Arthur's Pass on the New Year's. I was so bored. Walkers have no idea what to do when they aren't walking. Maybe I should replace my shoes. The soles are getting flat and that must be why slipped so many times. I googles the nearest Kathmandu shop and gave them a call if they have exactly the same shoes. I liked my trail-runners, Salomon X-Ultra Prime Women's Hiking Shoes which I started wearing since Central Otago Rail Trail in last winter. I had to upgrade the comfortability by inserting the insoles because of the experience of painful feet from last time. Sofsole's Athlete insoles with the green bottoms are amazing. The combo of these just beats all. I should stop being like a sales person now. So, Ashburton was the closest town that had my shoes. It's not too far from Methven, maybe like 30km away. It was harder to get a ride than I expected. The trafic was good for but the quality of people wasn't that good for hitchhiking. No, actually yesterday was too good. Eventually there was a car stopped by and I hopped on. It's a very rare case to get picked up by a female driver with her child in the car. She looked like Asian but her son was Pakeha. I was confused but didn't ask because I didn't want them to notice or I was being ashamed that what I thought was really prejudiced. She asked me what I was doing in Methven. I said "I'm walking." Her reaction was big and funny every time. "Where are you from?" she said, "I'm from Palmerston North and I'm Japanese." I answered. That small talk changed my entire stay in Methven. The lady was Japanese too. She was like "Are you Japanese?! I couldn't tell that you were Japanese because you don't have an accent at all! Don't you think so, Conner? She dropped me off at Kathmandu and promised to give me a ride back to Methven as well. I got my shoes for Boxing Day price and a foam-matress because the inflatable one I use was leaking and too heavy. I experienced the maddest road crossing ever. It was drizzling and the traffic was heavy. The traffic light with the crossing stripes were 200 meters away and my destination was right across the road in front of my eyes. I saw some guys run and crossed the road. And I did the same. There was no car that could threat my life expect one. It came out from a car park into the road and started speeding up rapidly. He was laughing and driving crazy, and of course the car was going like a controllable machine. I could tell that he was doing it intentionally but at that moment I was feeling being like a testimony of a car accident. A second was long. I could almost throw up my heart. On our way back after shopping, Tokio offered me a place to stay. Unfortunately I had already paid for the night at Snow Denn but she still welcomed me for tea. We cooked some Japanese meal together. She let me take a hot bath. Was a good night. I still want to blame myself that I didn't push keep on walking. However, if I hadn't made this decision yesterday, the chance to meet this lovely family would not have even existed. It's no right or wrong, it's what you bump into on the path you take. I woke up in the morning with some fatigue still left in my body. The wind was still. Glad that they didn't break my tent during the night, maybe the strings that I tied my tent to the tree branches were good. I packed up and was ready to leave. When I put my pack on a sharp acute pain stubbed my back through to my left elbow. Already my mind was feeling the conflict of whether quitting the day or pushing through. I stepped forward, forward, forward, step by step, every single footage on the soil, and the pain. The last step I took totally collapsed myself eventually. I could not breath. My lungs expand and my back was resonating with the breath with suffer. A step I took was sensitive enough to shock through to my back. It had been only half an hour since I started walking. I hated myself. To me who cannot even deceive my own physical and mental to the pain to keep walking. I turned back aiming to the road running along the other side of the lake. No guarantee that a car would pass by and pick me up. Man, it's fucking Christmas. I was wearing my pack only on my right side. The shoulder was almost breaking because all the weight is on one side.
I heard some noise coming behind me. It's a car. I put my thumb up. It's a big black 4W car. Definitely locals. Yeah, for sure they didn't stop. They made heaps of dusts and disappeared in the smog. I subconsciously put my hands on my head, despairing. But I had to keep walking. I cannot die here at a middle of nowhere, too far from home! I straightened my back and got my head up. I couldn't believe my eyes. The black car was there! It stopped like 200 meters ahead as if they suddenly became a Santa Claus from an ordinary human. There was a pakeha couple who wore aloha shirts on them. The guy was like "Where are ya going, mate?" and the lady was quiet. There were puddings and some no-nutritious-but-taste-hell-good food sitting on the back seats. The guy moved them aside and let me sit behind the lady. They said they were on the way to Timaru to see their son's family for Christmas dinner. I was like I don't wanna join that but can I have some of your food? in my mind. It was quiet in the car because I didn't want to really speak due to the pain. I was grateful and super lucky that they were nice enough to pick me up on the quiet road in the quiet day. Literally in a second I got dropped off at the intersection of somewhere that I even don't know when I was still watching them leaving and driving away, there was another car stopped by. The English guy asked me where I want to go and wait for 10 minuets until they come back from the detour to the library to return the book. While I was standing and waiting with my confused face on at the corner of the road like a weird traveler who just stares at the empty road there was another car that asked me if I need a ride. Oh my goodness, I love Christmas, people are nicer. The English couple came back and I hopped on their car. They were on their way to the airport to leave for home or somewhere else, I can't remember but anyways they were in hurry. They had their brains on their mouths. The guy was like "Okay, we are going to the airport and our flight is this time so we still got this much time but want to get to the airport by this time then which means I have 45 minutes while the Google map indicates 40 minutes of driving so that gives us 5 minutes to drop you off in Methven. Where do you wanna go?!" in one-breath. And I said "Four Square please?!" I had to ask the local people if there is any backpackers I can stay. They all said "Snow Den". Methven is popular during winter for winter sports as there is Mt.Hutt close by. However, during the summer the town gets dead apparently. Snow Den was located at a very convenient spot, Supervalue is right across the road and Foursquare is as well. It was $20 for a night. They gave me a whole room with 5 beds. It is supposed to be a shored/dorm room but because there aren't many people staying we all could have our own room. There were a couple of TA walker staying as well. Lucy and Mike from UK. They were cooking typical Christmas dinner for all of us (two staff at Snow den, themselves and me). I wouldn't have expected to celebrate Christmas like this fancy on the trail. I was even dissing it a bit in my mind. Do you remember the guy called Tom from Czech Republic who I met on my day 6 at Aparima Hut? Lucy and Mike started walking from Cape Reinga with Tom on the same day! They still keep in touch with him by email. TA community is growing rapidly recently but still small enough to connect the dots into a whole web. We watched the Christmas film 'Holiday' after tea. I surprisingly didn't get bored of the story until the end of the film, to be honest I enjoyed it. I don't usually like any romance- if I do watch them on Youtube, I set the speed to 1.5, seriously. It was a nice night although a lot happened and still my back hurts. I try not to be depressed. Thank you heaps to those anonymous ones who gave me a lift. I was very determined to cross the rivers. My eyes were fully open and my blood vessels undulated with the beat of my pounding heart. I couldn’t wait. We walked to opposite directions. Good luck, we said to each other. Now I’m back to a solo walker again. The track went very steep down hills right after I left the hut. I couldn’t even see where it started because it was literally down below the cliff. That would be super fun to walk up but hell no for downhills. Marisa was right. The river whose name I forgot was rapid and deep for me. It went up to my hip and cleaned my underwear. I started counting how many times I will have to cross the river to get out to the road. There were like nine. Lots and lots of ankle-twisting-rock-walk along the river. It was very frustrating since there weren’t clear tracks nor enough signs. But I don’t like saying any words negative. It was a salient fight between my mental capability called patience and the nature. I lost the track at some point and kept on going along the river. Finally I saw the road and the bridge, also there was a tall fence separating there and this side. I couldn’t find the way out. The fence had the scary spines on its top. I can’t go over this with my pack on me, I thought. I’m sorry my Cha cha pack. So sorry. I had no choice. I threw my pack over the fence to the road and she rolled on the dusty sands like a sushi roll. Now it’s my turn. I stepped on the unstable fence, carefully not to touch the bloody spines, got one of my legs over the top to the other side trying to protect my important reproductive excretory organs and finally I jumped off. That was dangerous. Make sure you find the right spot for your way out. To cross Rangitata River obviously I had to get to the river first. But I didn’t know how. Well, I just needed to walk but wasn’t sure if it’s legal to go wherever I decided to walk through. But again, no choice. I went into a private farm I believe and just kept walking straight. I did climbed over some fences. I’m so sorry. Walking through the sheep farm, wet lands and some unknown stuff, finally yes here’s Rangitata River in front of me. It looked very low but the wind wasn’t so nice. Especially it was blowing down along the current. Some blades of rivers were very easy to cross. Some went my hip high. I was using a wood stick I picked up from somewhere as my waking pole. People told me it would be useful to have a third leg but I found it sometimes really disrupting. The wood stick was thick enough to catch the current and light enough to get washed away. I concentrated on the core and glutes. It reminded me of gyming. Repeats of simply movements with short but intense focus. I could have not done this crossing if the river was a little bit higher. But it was so cool. Lots of adrenaline under the thrilling condition made me feel real good. I went just straight aiming the trees neatly aligned I could see on the other side. When I made it to Hakatere Potts Road emptiness hit my heart. I didn’t know why. I should have felt satisfaction and the sense of achievement. But it ended in vain. I was walking on the road and seeing quite a few cars passing by. As soon as I got to the DoC sign where starts the new section, I made some noise, alone. And said “lonely” for the first time ever. There was no one that I could share this moment with. I took one hour nap by the sign. Bees, butterflies and small insects were curiously touching my smelly socks and shoes. I got my heavy arse off and started walking to Lake Clearwater. I knew my back had been aching but the adrenaline was curtaining the pain.
It was a very easy walk to the lake. I got even so bored and tired of it. I needed to fill my water bottle but all the creeks have been dried out. When I got to the lake it wasn’t very tempting to get water from Lake Clearwater since it didn’t look that clear. I set my tent up but the wind was blowing everything away. It took me a while to compete my base of the night. I escaped into my tent and the wind was getting really bad. I hate camping by the lake. It always becomes very windy. It was worse than the night at Lake Pukaki. I prayed for every God of every religion and every spirit of the nature that the wind doesn’t destroy my tent and I can have a peaceful sleep. Woke up in the morning with my sore body. My original plan was to get out to Mesopotamia by the night which is a tiny tiny town attached to the road along Rangitata River. I started walking slowly. There were lots of river crossings involved in the track and the track wasn’t marked very well. I had to stop every time at the marker to search for the next one but often I had to take a guess and it wasn’t working always. “To Te left, to the left” I sung the phrase every time I was lost. It did worked. Sometimes. It took me 2.5hrs to get to Stone Hut which is only 6.5km away from Royal Hut. It was a big struggle to get up there. I took an early lunch and headed to Crooked Spur Hut. I met an old guy walking South Bound. He was aiming to Stone Hut and I told him that Royal Hut isn’t too far to make it by tonight. And he said “You know, I don’t have to walk full day long. I like to spend good time around the hut with a nice hot drink.” That sounded like a good idea but I still wasn’t really getting it well. I met two kiwi guys who looked like a son and a father. I forgot their names though I remember it was something super common. The son had a nice walking wood stick wrapped with a black plastic tape around the hand grip. I was still exhausted and couldn’t resist to take a nap right on the track. I sometimes do it. Just collapse on the ground and sleep in any posture as I am. Luckily I haven’t bumped into any hikers while I’m sleeping like dead. I imagine if they would seem me they might prepare to press the PLB handy. After the half an hour nap, I felt a bit better and had enough power to get on the uphills to the Saddle coming up. I lifted my head. There were many animals that I’ve never seen running away from me to the cliff on the right. It was like a mix of sheep and deer, a huge body with white back and a brown round thing attached to the each side of the head and fluffy straight hair like things all over their body. I’m pretty blind without glasses. I couldn’t see it well even though they were standing really close to me. I’m sure they got freaked out that there’s a human head popped out from the grass suddenly and watching them! I could be a good hunter. It didn’t take me long to get up to the saddle and I actually really enjoyed it going uphill. At the top it was windy and forced me to go down immediately. There was a big man coming up towards me. He was looking like a heavy old truck running so hard and slow constantly exhaling lots of black smogs. It was almost 4PM and I asked him “Hey, where are you going?” He said “to the other side.” I didn’t quite get what he said so “You mean Stone Hut?” I asked. He answered “To the other side.” I was worried about this big man now. His face was really red and he was really puffed up. To Stone Hut there’s still a few hours to go. I told him “You should be able to make it by tonight. Yeah... you’ll be fine. Good luck.” It was almost talking to myself to make myself feel better about him. Hope he made it eventually... Crooked Spur Hut was right there. There were four other TA walkers. An American couple Marissa and Chris, another American guy Tares and a German guy Seb. They were all ultra light hikers. Especially Tares, he had the smallest pack I’ve ever seen. He showed me his gears which were pretty much what I had too but way smaller, lighter and fragile. His pants were ripped off at the bottom and becoming a skirt. The mattress he had was thirty centimetre square and thin as my dad’s hair. Seb met Tares long time ago and “inspired” by him to reduce his 5kg base weight down to 3.5kg. He had the shortest pack I’ve ever seen. It was falling apart and barely holing it’s shape with a coupe of pins. He also had a thick book. That could take up a half of the base weight. It was 5.30 PM and they started packing up to leave. I though they were all staying at this hut but no “To Stone Hut”. They started somewhere on the other side of Rangitata River, crossed the river, walked up to Crooked Spur Hut and still wanting to go further. That gut they had brought me a push to Mesopotamia although Tares and Marissa told me to give myself plenty of time to cross the river after this hut. According to Marissa, it was harder than Rangitata River. It was very controversial. Saw totally different ways of tramping, the old guy who stops, looks back and stands still for the view as long as he wants met verses those young boys and a girl who keep going until they hit the bottom of their energy tanks. There were a lovely couple staying at Crooked Spur too. They have been going for tramping for a couple of days to escape the Christmas mood every year. They hate Christmas. I kind of understand that. Because I just feel ‘Christmas’ is used to get people buy more rubbishes as an event under this shit Capitalistic society. I could tell how the guy David was like when he was 7 years old. He probably didn’t know how to stop. And still not. This mid-60s guy loved to watch tars standing on the cliffy surface of the mountains. Marian the wife told him that tea would be ready in half an hour and wanted him to stay waiting on the chair in the hut. David was listening her as tying the shoes laces of his boots said “I’ll go have a look the tars and be back by tea!” His body was already half outside having his right hand twisting the door knob. In a second, he was outside with his binocular hanging from his neck. Marian couldn’t even have a word. I was talking to her while waiting for David to come back for obviously more than 30 minutes. Marian doesn’t have a child with David and I wondered if it is because David is like a kid forever. Marian told me David has a twin brother and the whole mountain becomes a playground of a kindergarten for the old twin men when they both are together. That sounded really terrifying. I don’t know how she’s been coping with it for decades. Marian and David were very into wildlife. They spotted Keas calling and flying above us. There were four of them while it had reported there used to be five. Two Keas landed by the hut. It was my first time watching them in real. Wow, they were beautiful and so cute... Gosh, I love their feet. So big like a dragon. A dragon feet-ed anarchist Alpine parrot! They love destroying stuff!
During the night, I heard the Keas trying to rip the roof of the hut and some mouses running around the floor. The weird hairy animals that I saw under the saddle were tars. It was a hard day for me, however, full of new discoveries. |
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