Today was much better than I expected. It was 30km with 4km on sealed road, 5km on the track and the remainder on gravel road. The advice I'd received from a number of others on the trail was to go around this part on the roads.
At one point, following the left hand side of the road, I ended up at a bridge crossing the river that I was meant to be shadowing. Te Araroa signs on each side indicated the trail. Half a kilometer back to the intersection, or the trail? Maybe it's not as bad as they made it out to be...
I probably halved my speed and at points I was walking through grass as tall as I am. Made my way back to the road asap.
On the gravel section I met a couple of cyclists who'd just come over from Queenstown this morning. THey'd met on the Earnslaw and were heading towards Te Anau. Never did catch their names.
Apart from that the trip was long and uneventful.
I discovered what didymo is today. The nickname "rock snot" is appropriate. I can also see what the big deal about it is. The section of the Mararoa River that I forded to get to Kiwi Burn was literally carpeted with the stuff. Anything that relied on the spaces between rocks for habitation is not going to have a snowballs chance of living here anymore.
When I finally got to the hut I was greeted by Mike. After dropping me at the Princhester/SH94 intersection he drove up to the North Mavora Lake campsite and walked down. Five and a quarter hours from from the car to here. Will likely try for Cary's hut tomorrow. It's 27km from here and the trail looks much better than anything since the initial bit at Bluff.
Mike and Katrina have been fantastic. While I've been in range they've offered lifts to and from where ever I was up to. They've fed me, gave me use of their place while in town and have never asked anything in return. It's good to have such giving friends.
Mike also brought wine and shared his dinner that he'd cooked, while it was still light, before I got here. Mike has also just told me he's keen to push through to Carey's hut tomorrow too. So there's more incentive to get there.
Morning, 29th. Mike has just told me about plans to put a monorail through from here to Te Anau Downs. This thing is nuts...
Also, I'll update the mornings photos of the hut (now it's daylight) to appear on this page instead of tomorrows seeing as they're more related to the topic of this post than tomorrows walk.