Start – St Arnaud
Finish – John Tait Hut
Daily Distance – 24 km
TA Distance – 2003 km
Dear Lord my bag is heavy today. My food box contained a pessimistic 8 days to ensure I don’t go hungry
before reaching the next town. I hadn’t factored in having leftovers from the Richmonds though, so I think
I have in the region of 10-11 days of good eating in my pack. Combined with the heat, it has left me
feeling really tired and not particularly looking forward to tackling 1000m of ascent tomorrow morning.
Fatigue aside, today was a beautiful and really enjoyable walk. Initially following the shoreline of lake
Rotoiti, after 3 hours the route departed the lake and spent the rest of the day alternating between grassy
meadows and well tended bush forest. The meadows reminded me greatly of the fields of home, but with
some mountains photoshopped in. The route never strayed far from the banks of the Travers river, so
lunch was spent paddling in the cool waters until my toes started to go numb, at which point it was time
to return to the sunny bank, before repeating the process again.
The big event of today was passing the 2000km mark. 2/3 of the trail distance complete! Sometimes it
feels as if I have been walking this trail forever, but this is proof positive that I am making progress. The
progress may be slow at the moment owing to the rugged terrain of the South island route, but Bluff is
