Day 99: One Man Wolfpack
January 17, 2020
Kilometers: 2353.1-2387.8
Camp Stream Hut to Lake Tekapo YHA
Today I walked into Lake Tekapo. The next section from Lake Tekapo to Lake Ohau is long without many camping options. Because of this many people decide to rent bikes for the section and do all 87kms from Lake Tekapo to Lake Ohau or do 55kms for Lake Tekapo to Twizel on bike. With Peter suffering a bit from shin splints recently, Team Belgium has decided to hire bikes and ride to Lake Ohau. This means my wolfpack will shrink to just myself for the next few days until I catch up to them.
Last night I got up just after midnight to check out the stars. It was better than advertised. The amount of stars and brightness of them was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I should try to get up to look at them more often.
I was the first one up at 6:15 this morning. I tried to pack up as quietly as possible and was on the trail 15 minutes later. With different accommodation plans and schedules than everyone else there was no reason to wait. I started down the river valley towards the lake and town.
After about 5kms I climbed out of the river valley and onto a ridge running parallel to the lake. I spent the next few hours walking on this flat ridge as the sun rose.
Around 9:45 I dropped down off the ridge and arrived at the gravel road leading into town. The road ran right alongside the uniquely colored lake. I walked the 16 kms stopping just once around 11 for a lunch break. I got into town around 12:30.
Lake Tekapo is as touristy as a tourist town gets. As an international visitor and not a tourist, it is annoying to go into these type of places in the middle of summer.
I checked into my YHA, which was the most expensive hostel I’ve stayed in so far. I then went over to a restaurant for some beers and fries. I caught up on the blog and was soon joined by Peter and Charlie. I didn’t stay long as I had a bunch of stuff to get done before tomorrow. I went back to my hostel and did my laundry for $12. They also tried to rent me a towel for my shower. I realized that their shower bath mat towels were unattended so I just used a few of those instead of paying for a real towel.
I then headed over to the 4 square. I bought another phone charging cord because, yes, the one I bought two weeks ago stopped working. I also got some new headphones as the left ear stopped working on the ones I had. I then bought breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. As I will be stopping in the town of Twizel tomorrow night there is no reason to carry more than just the days food.
After downloading some shows and podcasts at the hostel I walked over to a Asian restaurant for dinner. I got pad thai, a nice change of pace from pesto pasta.
Tomorrow I will be attempting my longest day of the hike. It is 55kms from here to Twizel so I will be up early to give myself enough time.