Legs and Borders

Navigating through the last long section of Te Araroa sobo continued. After a steady climb from the Lower Wairaki Hut, I've reached the last scenic ridge walk on TA. The weather was perfect for the procedure. On my way down I've met a group of Northbounders and got an intel about upcoming day - it was mainly farmland, the trail run on the 4wd road. I've reached the campsite on the other side of the hill at 9 am, here the easier track begun. Road was covered with animal excrements and.. corpses. I've never seen so many dead sheep in my life, it was a little bit disturbing. They all seemed to be dying by the fence line next to which the trail was running.  There was one shallow river crossing in this section, I had to do another one after I've followed the road too far and missed a turning point. Linton Farm involved a lot of redirections, owners did not want TA hikers to walk through certain points and the trail was twisting and tu...

Gas station was opening at 7am and I made sure I'm there exactly at that time to have a coffee before hitching back to trail. It wasn't easy to catch a ride though, people were still half asleep and the rising sun was hitting directly front windows of passing cars. I got joined by a couple from Christchurch going back to trail as well. They decided to wait on the side until I get out. After 45 minutes a car stopped and a bubbly lady jumped out of it asking where I wanted to go. I explained best I could and asked her if she would have enough space for two more people. I waved at the couple and shortly after we were on our way to the trail. It turned out that the lady worked for Simply New Zealand and I met her yesterday at the shop asking for Paua shells. She and her husband were going to do shopping in the other town as they Te Anau markets too expansive. Ride finished after 15 minutes and we started walking. I had a short conversatio...