The Twinames Trek Te Araroa

The Editor’s Cuts Auckland to Bluff took us 93 days, including nine rest days. Of these rest days, five were weather related, two were for social reasons (hanging out with friends), one was for admin (to book the kayak section etc.) and one because we just felt like we needed a good rest! Over the last 3.5 months (before reaching Bluff) between us we have had:   Two trips back to Auckland (one funeral, one wedding)  One hospital visit  One physio appointment  One osteopath appointment  One GP appointment  Two lots of X rays One lot of blood tests  Lots of Voltarin and paracetamol (K only)  Some tears (from K only and fortunately not too often)  Some swearing (from both of us, but usually on different days and usually aimed at the track or the trail app, not at each other!)  A lot of flavoured tuna sachets (in wraps with cheese for lunch, pretty much every day!) New found love for condensed milk in coffee Lots of Coconut milk or coconut yoghurt powder - either with cereal or in a new de

Day 91: Riverton to Invercargill (about 30km, of which we walked 23km)            Breakfast in our new “local” in Riverton  After breakfast we headed down the road to Riverton beach, then on to Oreti beach (23km). Beautiful beaches. Golden sand stretched for miles.  We were very lucky as Pol’s mother, Juliette, very kindly offered to drop our packs off at the backpackers in Invercargill so we were able to “slack pack” again (first time since Hawea).  The walk was made all the more interesting by the “moody” weather. It was pretty windy which made the sand float around making interesting patterns and the bushes blow in such a way that they looked like fur on a large prehistoric mammal.  Not only that but the squally rain came and went, leaving a rainbow over the sea.           The wind was so strong it was holding me up.  All amazing!  Along the way we also saw a few stranded cars, left to decay in the sand.   Once we were off the beach, the route was going to take us on a road all the

  Day 86: Birchwood Hut to Merrivale hut ((approximately 30km, of which we hitched 2.5km)/ 7 hrs)   We set off fairly early because the app was telling us it would be a 9 - 10 hour day.    Eek!  Our start was about 2km on a back road but the low cloud and misty outlook made it really interesting.    We passed a bull who really did look quite grumpy and I was very pleased that there was a fence between us!  Once off the road and on the track it was not long until we hit a pretty steep hill. Apparently someone had described it as “the worst uphill on the whole Te Araroa”.  Neither of us agreed with this sentiment but it was quite steep! Fortunately it was reasonably short and it was not too long before we reached the top (with very limited views due to the moody, misty clouds) and started walking down a 4WD track.  Our lack of views were quickly forgotten when we had the privilege of seeing four deer run across the track infront of us - three doe and one stag. It was all too quick to get