Te Araroa (day 66) - Highland Creek Hut to Arrowtown Holiday Park / mile 1665

Long push to town today through several different saddles.

I left the hut in the early morning, Atsushi was also up but decided to give it few more hours before starting as it was too cold for him. Trail immediately shot up and that's how the rest of the day look like, 1-2k feet ascent and immediate descent, it felt like being on a rollercoaster.
Weather was excellent, especially after yesterday's wind, rain and snow cocktail. It was warm and sunny with few clouds scattered around. I've reached Rose's Hut at 11am and had breakfast. As I was leaving I could see Scott from Australia heading towards the hut.

After the Roses Saddle there was a river walk section which everyone was avoiding yesterday and walking the flood route alternate. I hated river alternates and gave the river a go, it was well worth it. Not only it was quite pretty, carved into a valley of solid stone, which was quite comfortable to walk on but it also saved me quite a bit of time and energy.
I me Scott again at the end of that section, he took the flood path alternate and confirmed that it wasn't the most pleasant experience. It looked like we will have enough time from this point on to reach the Arrowtown it would be a big day but getting to recharge the phone, have a shower and have something decent to eat was worth the effort.
Once past Big Hill Saddle it was easy cruising to town and I got here at 6pm. Arrowtown's Holiday Park was very busy but the nice ladies at the counter found me a spot between the caravans. I went to the 4Square bought few items for dinner and did all the usual chores. Being in Arrowtown set me up nicely for reaching Queenstown tomorrow, there was a long bypass to be done there. People were booking shuttle around it but I was hoping to hitchhike and save myself 65$. I had to resupply in Frankton just before Queenstown as well, another resupply point was over 80 miles away, hopefully 4/5 days of food would be enough.

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