TA Day 19

TA Day 19: Monday 6 January 2025

Wanaka - Lake Hawea (Lake Hawea Hotel)

Before leaving Wanaka this morning, we just had to visit Charlie Brown Crêpes again. Lukas had a Kiwi Breakfast-crêpe while Kim had a Sweet Breakfast-crêpe. We also had some ice chocolate and coffee. All really good, although the sweet breakfast one was the least nice one of all the ones we had both today and yesterday, almost so that Kim regretted not getting another crêpe with avocado on, like yesterday!

After breakfast we had some chores left to do in town. At the pharmacy we found a new salve mainly for our feet, lip balm with SPF and for Lukas we got nose oil and silicon heel insoles. Then we were off to the sports stores. Here we got new gas and some freeze dried meals - we wanted to try the brand "Real Meals" which they only seem to sell in sport stores and not grocery stores (compared to two other brands that most supermarkets sell). Something we couldn't find though, was new insoles for Kim. For this hike she bought and brought other insoles than the original Altra Lone Peak-insoles, that seemed good at home. They drained well and were light. But unfortunately the durability is not great, and parts of them are so flat and so worn by now that there will likely be a hole in them soon. Finding new insoles in a store in NZ will be difficult since the ones they sell here are expensive, heavy and with drop...

Another thing that proved to be difficult was getting rid off our empty gas canister. In Te Anau, the first place that we asked would take them, but here, no place would take them. They all referred to a recycling place that was outside town and it wasn't reasonable for us to go there by foot. Another place we asked just told us to bin it... In the end we punched a hole in it and put it in a recycling bin... Not sure if it was the right decision but we didn't know what to do...

Then off we went! We didn't come too far though until we had to stop. When we passed Albert town we passed some shops and restaurants. Here we bought 3 scoops of ice cream, a soft serve, and a bottle of soda from the store.

When we came there it was really calm, just us, but then almost from nowhere it was crowded with people - families on bikes. So we quickly left.

Soon we reached the part where we joined the Te Araroa-trail again. We took another shortcut today as we didn't see the point with following the trail, and we also wanted a shorter day to get some more rest. In the end we think we skipped just less than 10 km.

The bike/walkway that we now followed was flat, fairly straight and VERY exposed to the sun. With no clouds and warm temperatures it was nearly unbearable, and those kms felt very long and tough. So as soon as we reached Lake Hāwea, we walked to the newly built Fresh Choice and bought ice cream, beer and juice (and breakfast). It felt better after this as we cooled down.

Then it was time to try our luck at the hotel. A guy we met the day before told us that hikers can camp for free there. We also read that you might be able to get a room.

Once we got there, we got a room! Apparently they have a spare room in the staff quarters that they rent out to hikers. A room with two bunks. Perfect for us!

After a nice shower, with "shower laundry" (we just rinsed some of our things) we went down to the restaurant to have dinner before they closed. Here we met Caleb! And had dinner and talked to him. It was a nice evening, and afterwards we went outside to see where he had pitched the tent and got to see the sunset in the process.

Today's:

Distance: 20.41 km

Ascent: 234 m

Descent: 140 m

Tent nights: 11/19

Weather: Sunny and hot