Lands End

We’ve been told lots of trail walkers start out early each morning, but we‘re a bit lazy - today was one of our records at 7.35 am. Rob has a lot of trouble getting me moving in the morning, but the thought of having to cross the Waimatuku Stream before it got dodgy at high tide was motivation enough this day.

We walked along Oreti Beach towards the pink sunrise on good firm sand and an ever-changing beachscape. Seaweed, gemstones, birds, sand patterns and the sound of the breakers kept us interested for the whole seventeen kilometres, despite a smattering of rain. It was a still day and pleasant going along this almost deserted beach to our exit– here there were many people walking dogs and beach combing.

We enjoyed the 7 km walk up Dunn’s Road passing venues for every type of sport you can think of, then past flash new houses and eventually crossing an estuary where we saw beautiful spoonbills, white herons and dozens of grey herons. By this time it was raining heavily so we were glad to reach Invercargill and dry out in a backpackers.

We had a brilliant idea – we booked two nights in Invercargill so that we could do our final day to Bluff with light backpacks and hitch a ride back. We came to have some misgivings about this decision as it was a Saturday night and the place was noisy with young revellers. Even worse was the dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit of the pedestrian crossing outside our window which dit-ditted every twenty-eight seconds all night long. Also, why is it that hostels insist on having winter-weight duvets on their beds in summer? We stewed with it on and froze with it off. Sigh.

So, our last day dawned and what we saw out the window did not fill us with joy. It was raining - hard. And when we glumly set out we discovered there was a cold head wind as well. This wasn’t how it was all supposed to end.

The track around the estuary provided a bit of shelter and a sighting of fernbirds, but then it was out on to the totally exposed State Highway 1 for twenty-one kilometres of miserable cold wet walking. There was even treacherous talk of giving it away or hitching a ride – but we stuck it out, putting on gloves, balaclavas and waterproof pants to help ward off hypothermia. When we saw the entrance to the Foveaux Walkway Rob announced there was absolutely no way he was going around to the windward side of Bluff Head in a southerly on a track where people have died of exposure, but if I wanted to do it then I could go alone. Hurrumph. Sense prevailed, we continued along the road and soon arrived in bleak old Bluff with its dingy buildings. Huddling in the doorway of an abandoned shop eating our sandwiches we felt like a couple of tramps but we soon decamped to a café and warmed ourselves up with a big cup of hot chocolate before venturing forth for the last couple of kilometres – and the rain had stopped, hooray.

Suddenly, there we were at Stirling Point – great excitement – and there was the famous sign we’d been aiming for all these weeks, with a dozen tourists clustered around it taking photos. We felt we had superior rights of course, but patiently waited our turn for a photo.

It was all over. We gave each other a big hug, a tear sprang to my eye, we had conquered the beast and felt like heroes for a few moments. But now we must turn north, return home and resume normal life. We about faced and stuck out our thumbs.

Our last trail angels were an English couple, Peter and Annette, who had seen us walking in the rain to the signpost and admired our spirit. So when they saw us hitching back they kindly offered a ride all the way back to Invercargill.
And that was that. Cape Reinga to Bluff: 3156 kilometres. We’d actually done it.

Notes:

Day 70: Riverton to Invercargill YHA. 28.5 km
Day 71: Invercargill to Bluff. 29 km

Postscript.

When you get on the Bluebridge Ferry as a foot passenger you walk in on the lower vehicle deck and then have to climb about 6 flights of very steep stairs. As we approached them, a stewardess came over and asked if we needed any help with the stairs. I mumbled a polite response and we laughed all the way to the top. If only she knew!

Two jobs remain for us:  to write concluding remarks about our overall experiences and to provide a set of notes to assist other people planning to walk the Long Pathway.

Finally, thank you to all our wonderful trail angels and to those who helped behind the scenes or who took an interest in our adventure, and to our fellow trail walkers, where-ever you are.

And for those who are interested, here is a link to a selection of our photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100535446401199071668/TeAraroaTrailSouthIsland111211312#

Tackling the Takitimus

Rob gathered mushrooms from the paddocks along the road up to Princhester Hut - they made a nice addition to the dehyd. We also scored fresh fruit from a couple of hunters who dropped in to say hello. We found a pack of cards in the hut and Rob thrashed me 11-3 at Follow Suit. I hate playing cards with an expert bridge player.

Open tussock country, Takitimus

We were a bit worried by the adverse comments in the hut book about the track ahead - variously described as long, boggy and brutal. What were we letting ourselves in for? It was cold and wet when we set off, initially on reasonable track but at the first patch of tussock we floundered around looking for the trail markers. A lucky bit of guess work found us back on track and we went up and down through a varied landscape of bush, tussock and rocky outcrops. It was tough and rugged, enjoyable but not brutal. We followed animal tracks to avoid the worst of the bog, and finally arrived at Aparima Hut to find it surrounded by tents. They belonged to a group of Southland Polytech students on an environmental course who had kindly left bunks available for the likes of us. We soon made friends, and Curtis offered to carry out our rubbish, Ross offered us a bed in Invercargill, and Derek had his photo taken with us as he thought we oldies were "inspirational".


Next day we ploughed through wet tall tussock (over Rob's head; I couldn't see a thing as I was completely dwarfed), and then walked through primordial beech forest, dark, silent and remote. We had to be vigilant to stay on track as there were confusing animal trails that were better used than the marked trail - the trail here is new and has only been used by a handful of people so far. Crossing a little stream we nearly died of fright. With a mighty grunt and snort a huge pig came hurtling past me and towards Rob - I thought it was going to charge Rob but it ran off down the track probably as frightened as us. Whew. The final challenge was a careful crossing of the quite boisterous Wairaki River before reaching Lower Wairaki Hut. That night Rob cooked up turnips he'd nicked from the edge of a paddock on Princhester Road - delicious. You can see how obsessed we are with food, can't you?

Telford Tops

A massive but enjoyable day followed, up through forest and on to the beautiful Telford Tops. It was a really exciting moment when we saw the Southern Ocean and our destination, Bluff, in the distance. Wow, we were getting close - but what a lot of forest there was in the distance down below to get through over the next few days. We descended in just 4 hours (track time 8 hours!!)to our planned campsite for the night, Telford Burn, to find a DOC toilet plonked in the middle of a paddock full of cow pats, not a tree or other redeeming feature in sight. So, blow this for a joke, we kept going.

Linton Station

The pressure was on though - the next track was through Linton Station and had to be done in daylight, no camping allowed. We were practically running - except Rob kept stopping to pick mushrooms and ended with a good haul. We still got out by 6.00 pm and Monica and David from Taylor's Lodge in Ohai provided transport, accommodation, a delicious dinner and a lunch for a very reasonable price, and we had a gorgeous room in their old pub. Rob cooked up and shared his mushrooms for breakfast next morning.


Then it was up through farm paddocks on to the Twin Law Peaks, spotting two falcons on the way, and through the newly opened Woodlaw Track. I felt like an early explorer leading on the indistinct trail. On to the Island Bush Track through forestry, gorse slash and a farm to emerge on to the Tuatapere Road and culture shock with fast trucks whizzing past us. And there we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere, no place to camp, no water, rain threatening. We were rescued by the kindness of strangers. Jesse offered us water and a place to camp, but then Chris arrived on the scene and took us to her lovely home and gave us a delightful room for the night - with ensuite no less. Then she cooked us Tuatapere sausages and fresh veges from her garden for dinner, served us great wine and topped all that with brandy snaps. Southern hospitality has been outstanding.


After an hour and a half of walking next morning, at the end of Merrivale Road we gloomily read a DOC sign indicating that Martin's Hut was still 9 hours away. Rob set off at speed with me panting along behind him, trying to admire the goblin forest on the way to Bald Hill. From there it was on to the twisting, turning Longwoods Forest Track and another climb - then another up to the Longwood Ridge where we battled our way through tussock and bog. We were rewarded with wonderful views, but the descent to the hut was down a boggy, steep, gnarly track requiring great care and by now we were very tired. We arrived at the hut  to find that the only source of water was a distant creek.

The hut - our very last DOC hut on the trail - was really old, with only one operational sacking bunk and many gaps in the floor boards and walls. We made ourselves "comfortable" on the floor and listened to the moreporks as we tossed and turned all night.


A wonderful and longed for sunny day greeted us, but we found ourselves stuck in gloomy forest on the endless Ports Water Race track. It twisted and turned and drove us bananas, never getting anywhere, and with some truly nasty little bits, including old, rotting narrow log bridges crossing deep gullies and streams - these needed care and balance. To add to our misery, we missed the "small but obvious" wooden bridge right at the start of the track, and walked for half an hour down the wrong track. Then I did a spectacular face plant tripping over a tree root, shortly after my left leg plunged into a hole when a tree root broke underneath me and then I burst into tears when faced with 2 narrow, rounded logs over a huge chasm which Rob had just managed to cross by virtue of his long legs.


In short, after all we had been through over the weeks on the Trail, this track more than any other got to us. When Rob spotted an exit, we gleefully got out even though it involved crossing private land. Embarassingly, walking out down a stock race a whole herd of freshly milked cows advanced on us! We rolled under two electric fences, decided to find the farmer to apologise - who was as sweet as pie and even jumped down from his tractor and shook our hands and congratulated us when he found out we were about to complete the Trail.


So we made it to Colac Bay, where we spent a comfortable night at the Tavern before a truly enjoyable walk today along the beautiful Colac Bay beach and then the road margin into picturesque Riverton. We sat around in the sunshine generally relaxing before our last two long days. Nearly there!!




Notes:

Day 62: Half day rest day then SH 94 to Lower Princhester Hut. 6 km
Day 63: Lower Princhester Hut to Aparima Hut. 16 km
Day 64: Aparima Hut to Lower Wairaki Hut. 14 km
Day 65: Lower Wairaki to Struan Flat Rd. (Taylor’s Lodge, Ohai) 28 km
Day 66: Birchwood Wairio Rd. to Merrivale Road. 28 km
Day 67: Merrivale Road to Martin’s Hut. 27 km
Day 68: Martin’s Hut to Colac Bay Tavern. 24 km
Day 69: Colac Bay to Riverton backpackers. 10 km