Day 110: All Quiet on the Southland Front
January 28, 2020
Kilometers: 2699.1-2737.4
Taipo Hut to Stream Camp
I woke up a few times to hear mice running around in the walls. I would look up at my food bag hanging in the rafters to make sure I didn’t see any activity up there. I got up at 6:45 and ate some breakfast bars as I packed. Peter was a bit behind Charlie and I this morning so we took off a bit before him. We were off at 7:25. We crossed the swing bridge and started our day.
The first 12kms were mostly through tussock up on a short ridge running alongside a river. The pole markers were spaced far apart making it hard to spot the way at times. I walked ahead of the others. With my broken headphones I heard nothing but the occasional squeak of my pack, other than that it was all quiet on the Southland front.
There was a lot of swampy areas with standing water. There was no avoiding it so I walked straight through. After just over two hours I saw the next hut, Boundary Hut. After serving through a maze of tussock grass as tall as myself I crossed the bridge and arrived at the hut.
Charlie arrived about ten minutes later to find me eating an early first lunch. With our big day today we were gonna finish the section in three days. I packed four days of food so I had extra I needed to eat so I wouldn’t have to carry it. After a short break I was off again for the next hut only 6kms further.
The trail turned into a 4WD track. As I walked I listened to an interview of Kobe Bryant done a year ago by both Alex Rodriguez and a cohost of my favorite sports podcast. I listened through my phone speaker as my headphones don’t work at all. It was sad to hear Kobe explain how he began taking helicopters everywhere so he could maximize time with his family in his busy schedule.
The track began to climb a bit as I got to North Mavora Lake. The increase in elevation allowed me to get some great views of the lake and the surrounding valley.
I arrived at Careys Hut around 11:15. It was gross inside, I could only hear the buzzing of many flies inside. It also didn’t smell good. I decided to walk another 100 meters down trail to eat my lunch. I ate as I fought off the sandflies. As I finished up Charlie and Peter arrived. All three of us continued on together.
We walked alongside the long lake for 10kms. It was an easy 4WD track so we made good time although it was a bit hot.
We arrived at the Mavora Campground. Charlie and Peter ate lunch and I had another snack. We had already covered 28kms on the day.
We kept on walking and the trail quickly brought us to South Mavora Lake. This lake was a lot smaller than the first and we walked around the west side of it on a forested path.
When we got to the end of the lake we arrived at another suspension bridge. I sat down to wait for the others. We discussed how much further we wanted to go today. Here we are deep in thought.
We got up and kept on chugging. After another 5kms or so we called it quits for the day. We found a nice camping spot next to a stream and set up camp. We then headed down to the creek for a bath.
For dinner I made the same thing as last night. As I was putting my stuff away for the night I let Team Belgium, who was about to go to bed with their rain fly off, that the last forecast I saw called for rain all night. They put their rain fly on. We were all in our tents at 7.
As we get closer to Bluff we are seeing more and more northbound TA hikers. These people are starting in Bluff and walking the South Island, or sometimes both islands, the opposite direction as us. We have had our mind set on getting to and finishing at Bluff for so long that seeing people who have already been there and are still so early into their trip is weird.
As we are in the final stretch of a four month hike we are doing big days pretty easily. The NOBO hikers are in shock at the distance we are covering each day. Some people have taken 20+ days to do what we are doing in our last 10. It’s cool to be able to cross paths with so many people just starting what’s gonna be an awesome journey.