Te Araroa (day 59) - Lake Tekapo to Twizel / mile 1537

Big day, it actually felt like two and might lead to my zero day tomorrow.

I decided to take the challenge of walking Tekapo Canal in one day, there were few reasons for that. It was supposed to be raining the day after, there was no official campsite between two towns (lots of good flat camp space though) and the water sources were scarce.

I started hiking at ridiculous time, it was 3:30am when I set off with the head torch on. Hiking alongside the canal in the dark was fun. I switched off the torch and followed the white line of the asphalt road, sky was jam packed with stars. It was like walking on a giant treadmill spectating the universe. It was cold and humid, I had to wear all the layers to keep warm. After 4am I could see first glimpses of the sunrise and at 5:30am the light spectacle really kicked off.

Trail was following the Alps2Ocean cycling path for the whole day so the grading was very generous for the walkers. Just before the midday Sushi (that's how he would log himself in the books) from Japan zoomed past me, he was also going to Twizel and was hoping to be there early to get a spot at the holiday park campsite.

I topped up the water in the canal (there was no warnings suggesting that the water wasn't good for consumption) and carried on inland towards Salmon Information Centre Shop. Day became sunny and hot. My bellybutton hernia started to get a bit tender throughout the day making me a bit worried. I got to the Information Centre at 2pm, had a white coffee (3.5$), vanilla flavoured coconut ice-cream (5$) and a free water top up. After a short break I carried on, I still had few hours to go. All in all I hiked for almost 14 hours that day. Don't get me wrong I like walking long days but this one felt like an odyssey.

I've arrived at Twizel at 16:30, the Holiday Park office was closing in half an hour, I managed to get in before that and pay for the special TA hiker camp spot (22$) located in the corner of the park and fenced off which was a bit weird but I wasn't dwelling on it. Unlimited shower was included in price, it was my main selling point.

There was already few other TA hikers camping here, I set up the tent quickly before better allotments got taken. Then I went to 4Square and bought a small resupply. It still cost 50$ (never buy food when you're hungry I guess). I went back, had a long hot shower, hand washed the clothes and hung them to dry. Then ate a heap of food. Chicken and bacon pie, can of mixed bean chilli, roasted nut chocolate bars, coke, bananas and leftover hazella chocolate. I've sat in the kitchen area with the other hikers talking about all things TA and how everyone was experiencing the upcoming inevitable end of this journey.

Weather forecast looked pretty grim for tomorrow so I pondered if not to wait it out and take a zero day. It seemed like I might have done one too many big days since returning to the trail from Methven. I was running on schedule and there was no need to keep on pushing, especially if it would lead to some kind of injury.

I left the final decision until morning, if the weather was better than forecast suggested and I was feeling good then I would consider getting back on trail, otherwise I would take a rest day. I hopped inside the tent and almost immediately drifted away to the land of oz.