Te Araroa (day 55) - Methven to Manuka Hut / mile 1437

"Well, George, we knocked the bastard off." Edmund Hillary

First day out of town with a heavy backpack and good miles on the clock.

Alec as promised came to pick us up and shuttle back to trail at 7:30 am. I was up since 5:30, screeching birds and snoring neighbours did a good job of convincing me to get up. I had Campbell's Irish Stew, an apple and a black tea for breakfast. Packed the excess food (I definitely had too much) best I could and went to the campsite entrance to board the shuttle.

There was seven of us going back to trail. Kiwi couple who gave me Alec's number yesterday, Craig, two German guys, Paul from Australia and myself. It took an hour drive along the gorgeous Rakaia braided river to reach the end of the bypass. I started hiking straight away but got lost soon after when the trail got a bit confusing and Craig and Paul managed to get ahead.

Trail initially followed rocky bed of Glenrock stream. I caught up with Paul here and hiked most of this section with him. Paul was 52 year old fencer from Melbourne in Australia. It was his first long distance hike but he did a lot of shorter walks in Europe and Australia. He was also thinking about crossing the Rangitata river tomorrow, we met few northbound hikers throughout the day confirming that the second braided river was indeed passable and that they walked it.

After the second and final climb of the day I got ahead of Paul and didn't see him for the rest of the day. The trail was very grassy and tussocky and it was hard to find the markers. Spotting pot holes in the ground was a challenge as well, I lost balance few times after an unexpected drop.

I went pass the Double Hut here but it was a mile away from the trail and I decided to carry on. Apparently there was a graffiti of Edmund Hillary inside, the Kiwi mountaineer who was the first person (alongside with a Sherpa) to successfully climb Mount Everest. He scribbled his name inside the hut back in 1955. I kind of wanted to detour and see it but got confused which hut was it and eventually let go of the idea. It was nice to know that this renound mountaineer has hiked in this area when he was young.

After a while trail came out to a fairly even 4wd track which allowed me to walk a good distance despite the late start. I decided to skip staying in huts tonight as they were all away from the trail and pitch a tent somewhere in the grasslands. The place I chose wasn't far away from the turning sign to Manuka Hut. The only issue was wind blowing throughout this entire section but I managed to find a sheltered spot behind a small tree which protected me from the worst of it.

Plan for tomorrow was to get to the banks of Rangitata as soon as possible, check the weather, get more intel from people coming from the other direction and potentially cross it. Hopefully Paul will be able to catch up so we could do it together but I can't count on that. There was always a shuttle or a hitchhiking option in case weather decided to turn.

Saturday, 13th of January 2024. 29 days to go.