Legs and Borders

"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 secti...

A Nero day, I've walked for half of it until the Rakaia river hazard bypass and hitchhiked from there to Methven. It was mostly gravel road walking, so the miles were flying fast, I've left the Harper River Campground early and arrived at the Lake Coleridge before midday. I've been told it was easy to catch a hitchhike here.. but the road was empty. I could have prearranged a shuttle for 50$ but I didn't think it was necessary, so now I was just walking along the road hoping a car will appear. Bypass was about 50 miles long so I had to get lucky or I would lose a lot of time trying to walk it. After half an hour a car appeared and the driver was kind enough to stop and give me a lift to an intersection from which many cars were heading towards Methven. Another 20 minutes of sticking thumb up brought me a ride to town. This time it was mother and daughter from Auckland going to pick up their husband and son (or father and b...