QTown Holiday Park to Routeburn Start Meadow 0 k hiking, lots of hitching Paying for camping in town: it must be one of Dante’s lower circles. The holiday park itself is absolutely delightful in its details; it reminds me of the City Museum back home in St Louis. We have a first breakfast of leftover …
Month: April 2018
3/3 Plastic Steampunk and Chinese Polkas
609 Saddle to Queenstown Holiday Park 31 k For some reason, I could not fall asleep last night. I would try, fail, try to journal, be unable to think of words, read instead, nod off, put the book down, and lie awake. One of those nights. It didn’t help that a possum was screeching and …
3/2 The Arrow River
Roses Hut to 609 Saddle 21 k Sleeping in the huts seems to mean a late start, and it is no different this morning. I don’t look at the clock until 7:00, and then try to journal while the morning is still quiet, at least until I smell the coffee that someone else is making. …
3/1 Marvelous Motatapu
Start of Motatapu Track to Roses Hut 23 k (6500 feet elevation) It isn’t raining when the alarm goes off, which is a huge motivation to actually get the day started; maybe the dry window will last long enough to get fully packed. The night was bizarrely warm, and after coffee and granola, we zip …
2/28 Wanaka
Albert Town Campground to start of the Motatapu Track 31 k It was a surprisingly warm night, and I wake up at early light, hungry. We pack up quickly to make sure we don’t offend anyone with our choice of tentsite, and head across the river into Albert Town. The campground that we walk through …
2/27 Down and Around Lake Hawea
Stody’s Hut to Albert Town Campground 33 k We have the alarm set for an early start today, possible once again due to the magic technology of headlamps and the generosity and integrity of Jenny. A gorgeous pink banner sky is our reward, and it morphs colors as the sun rises. The track is fairly …
2/26 Attraversiamo Timaru
Top Timaru Hut to Stodys Hut 13.6 K The hut is so cozy and warm and quiet, we sleep until 7:00, even in spite of the fact that my mattress deflated completely sometime before midnight. Prana’s deflates so quickly now he didn’t even bother to start with it last night and slept on our sit …
muddy shoe memoirs 