Te Araroa : Geraldine to Lake Tekapo

KM this section : 75
KM completed : 2370

Highest point of Te Araroa!

I have to say, hitch hiking is pretty easy in NZ.  I never wait more than thirty minutes for a ride, usually rather less, highlights including a trip on the back of a pickup, a lift from a couple who just completed their own Te Araroa adventure, and finally a ride in a car full of hikers driven by a friendly English expat.  I'm at the trailhead for not much after midday, time to walk up another stream, I am used to it though and make fairly short work of the ascent, up to Crooked Spur hut.  5pm is too early to stop, looks like the hut will be full anyway, so I schlep on, it's a lovely evening for walking, over a saddle and into what looks like boggy country but in fact is dry enough, perfect for a wild camp.

Lovely walking down towards Lake Tekapo.

I'm then well placed for a trek through high, stony valleys and up to Stag Saddle, at 1925m the highest point of the trail.  It honestly isn't that exciting, even when I ascend a further fifty metres or so up a steep scree slope, looking for a ridge path the guide has promised as a good alternative way down.  I spot it, seems by 'scramble up to your right' the guide meant 'follow a contour line to your right', ho hum.  Once I get on it though, the ridge makes for superb walking, with glorious views over the blue waters of Lake Tekapo, with snowy Mountains beyond.  This is arguably the best path I've been on in NZ, appropriate then that it : is not the route marked on the official map; was reached in spite of poor directions in the guide; has no way markers at all; and finally disappears into a mess of tussocks about two kilometres before reaching a 4wd track leading to Camp Stream hut.

I stay at the hut for a change, it is another free one, no way I am using the forty dollars of hut passes in my pack, never mind, think of it as a donation to the DOC. Then on to Lake Tekapo the village, via more pleasant walking high above the lake.  Turns out to be a funny little place, just a few restaurants and gift shops really, and as the campsite is two kilometres or so further on I decide to shop and then spend the evening there.  I end up at the camp BBQ again, looking out over the lake, swigging some local beer while I cook up four cheese and bacon burgers (yes I eat all of them).  This isn't that bad a lifestyle...

The sheepdog statue.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.