Not unlucky 13 at all,
Rolling out of Te Anau this morning brought with it mixed emotions. I was looking forward to leave town and get back on the TA, but will miss the holiday mode, clean laundry and not being able to smell myself. One last visit to the lake, to say goodbye.
Having said all of this, the TA did not disappoint. After a couple of kilometres of road walking, my feet were wet from crossing a stream and I was semi-lost, looking for the next TA marker pole. It is some kind of TA trifecta… [Road walking, Wet feet, Lost] and if you don’t have all of them, you are clearly not on the TA. A BIG help today was that I still had plenty of snacks from my resupply, including a small bag of chippies. Lunch next to the river, yum.
Most of today was next to the Mararoa River, with the track running in between the river and some animal paddocks. The route is not clearly defined and many walkers, unlike me, prefer to just stick to the road. In all, I made it through okay, sometimes being in the wrong side of the fence if needed (sorry farmers). Crossed the river, which was running pretty well and into the forest for a short 2km to be greeted by Kiwi Burn Hut.
For those of you, like me, that were unfamiliar with the term “burn” when used in reference to rivers… [In local usage, a burn is a kind of watercourse. The term applies to a large stream or a small river. The word is used in Scotland and England (especially North East England) and in parts of Ulster, Kansas, Australia and New Zealand.]
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45.3551 – 168.0908
21 February 2024
FP-41