Week 5 – Mount Cook to Geraldine
Day 30 – Mueller Hut Route
We left everything in our tent, only bringing our lunch in our pack up to Mueller Hut. The climb was challenging but the well-formed track made it straightforward. It’s less than 6km one way but almost all that distance was straight up the mountain. The route consisted of 2200 steps, and that’s only to the halfway point! The steps abruptly stopped and from here onwards you follow orange marker poles up a rocky ascend, either scrambling up with hands or rock hopping (not recommended when wet).
There was shade at the start of the track but soon the treeline thinned out and the track was exposed for the rest of the day. I guess it’s too high for anything much more than tussock to grow.
The last finale up to Mueller Hut was an uphill scree slope. Once I reach the top of this scree leg-burner, you’re met with an amazing view of Mount Sefton. And hello, glaciers!
It took us 2 and a half hours to reach the hut and ate our lunch in the crisp air while we waited for the lingering clouds to open up so we could see Mount Cook. The clouds were being stubborn so we decided to summit Mount Olivier in the meantime which had a 360 panoramic view. We were even able to spot our tents back at the carpark / campsite. And eventually, the peak of Mount Cook decided to show herself out of the clouds. The mighty beauty, albeit deathly.
The descent down is always deceiving as you expect it to be easy and fun – knees shall disagree. It was well into the afternoon, and I passed by many families with young kids who must have been staying overnight at the hut. My friends flew rapidly downhill, which isn’t a skill I’ve seemed to pick up as I’m too scared of my rolling ankles. The track was still busy which meant that going for a piss was extremely hard (there was only one long drop by the hut). You think about these things often on the trail.
Finally, I arrived back at the campsite where my Dad notified me he had arrived. I quickly packed my tent and we all got a ride to Lake Tekapo with him, driving past the fluro blue Lake Pukaki.
I arrived at the Air BnB in Lake Tekapo, and satisfied my stomach with my dad’s vegan nutritious dinner, with many many fruits for dinner. Gotta love parents.
Day 31 – rest day in Lake Tekapo
Neither photo of Lake Tekapo below is edited – it really is this vibrant blue. The neighbouring lake, Pukaki is even brighter. It’s due to the minerals that flow down from the glacier forming this crystal blue colour. Nature is crazy.
My parents have been traveling South Island themselves, going on trips to Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, etc. We checked out the hot pools in the morning and looked around this tiny town afterward. I finally bought camp sandals since I lost mine bush-bashing on a cliff.
From tomorrow we’d enter the ‘Two thumb track’, which consisted of wading through rivers. This would be tricky and possibly dangerous with rain that was coming through, so it required a lot of planning (little did we know this forecasted rain never showed up so this planning wasn’t necessary). But better to be safe than sorry!
Day 32 – From Lake Tekapo to Stag Saddle camp spot
Two-Thumb Track
My dad dropped us off at the start of the track, cutting 15km of road walking. This hurt some of the purist hikers. Me, not so much.
We reached the highest point in the whole of Te Araroa today. We suspected a long 12-hour day ahead, so I told myself to have my head game strong. No slacking. No day-dreaming. It’s go-time Sarah. Especially being the only girl out of the pack I needed to get my shit together.
The view of the vibrant blue Lake Tekapo was stunning as we walked through. I loved the colour pallette, burning yellow tussocks and electric blue mashed together.
The ascent looked deceivingly gradual on the map but it was strenuous (for me at least). The huge lunch I ate didn’t help and the lack of sleep crept in and my body felt heavy. I was unable to move fast. I needed a quick sugar fix but being conscious of the wedding coming up, I cut back on buying sugary snacks this time. The climb up to the saddle felt like a rough conquest and all the boys moved so effortlessly fast.
And it turned cold! The wind picked up on the ridge line, so much so that I struggled to walk straight. After hopping on rocks, what felt like a section of breaking ankles, we reached the top! 1925m, the highest point of TA. It felt good. The sign is actually super easy to miss (in fact some of the boys did) unless you directly follow the TA line on your map. Because Lake Taupo is already situated quite high in elevation, you wouldn’t think this point here is the highest on TA.
From here we walked downhill on a path of tussocks and swamps. By the time it got to 6 pm, I knew I wasn’t making it to Royals Hut. We saw some SOBOs camping by a flat spot in the tussocks (around 1700m elevation mark) with a stream nearby so we did the same and pitched our tents, eating dinner at around 7.30 pm. I enjoyed this night albeit the cold. In fact, I like the icy cold air. I did wake up to a near-frozen tent in the morning. I slept cuddling my water filter on this night.
*Mansplanation: once a water filter freezes, it’s no longer good for use even after defrosting.
Day 33 – Rangitata carpark
It was 1 degree this morning! Packing up my wet tent was frosty on my hands. The descent to Royals Hut was slower going than I thought with lots of wet swamps and holes in the ground. It was amusing, however, to observe my clumsy buddy Allen fall here and there.
Once we reached Royal Hut we decided to take the alternative route to avoid a possible flood from the rain. Because my phone didn’t have the map for this alternative route, I really needed to keep up with Pierre and Allen (which is hard when their paces are so fast). The sign for this route stated 22km, 10 hours. It was already 9 am. Another long day huh. The weather turned, and the rain began like it predicted. Fogs and clouds hid the marker poles, making me question the way. I saw Pierre and Allen waiting for me in the distance to make sure I wasn’t getting lost. I felt bad. I’m sorry! I’m a girl, genetically it’s hard to keep up with the boys!
By the time we reached the bottom of the hill, the rain had stopped. It was a solid 45 minutes of rain. From here onwards, the trail… well, it sucked. I felt like a shammy hanging on the side of a steep tussocky cliff with ankles worryingly bending with each step. We’d also yell ‘A MARKER!’ if we ever saw one as they just disappeared from here all of a sudden. We stopped in the middle of this ridge and all ate ramen for lunch. The next section was a challenge and perfect for those seeking an adventure. Due to a landslide, we had to take a temporary track following pink ribbons on trees. As we followed them uphill, we realised these markings were for SOBOs, and it was leading us back to where we came from. Frustrated, we turned back and finally found the right NOBO ribbons. We also heard from a hiker that this leg had the steepest cliff she’d ever seen on TA. Curious, I wondered if it was all that true. And it was. It was so steep and vertical-like that I’m sure I would have slid down to the bottom if it wasn’t for my poles.
Eventually, we hit the riverbed and walked on it for 12 km until we saw a 4WD track. Automatically, we started walking on it. But soon we found out it led us to private farmland with a big sign that stated TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED. I suggested we attempt the puss-in-boots eyes and “We simply didn’t know sir, please let us through” if we ever met the farmer but my friends said that only works on girls. They weren’t keen on getting prosecuted so we jumped the fence back onto the riverbed until we finally reached our camp spot for the night.
Another 12 hour day. Well done team! Oh, and Happy Valentines!
Day 34 – rest day in Geraldine
Hikers attempting to cross the Rangitata River would have continued onwards from here. For all of us 6 responsible hikers, we waited for our 10 a.m. shuttle to Geraldine by the carpark. Geraldine surprised us all, it was a lovely town, much bigger than we all thought. We stayed at the Top 10 Holiday Park there and briefly re-supplied. We didn’t need to buy much as we were all carrying 5 days’ worth of food for what took us only 2 days. This town was known for Barker’s jam factory. We all ate breakfast at the cafe there before our shuttle dropped us off back on the trail. If anyone is driving past Geraldine- for whatever reason- check out the jam factory!