Day 7

Route : Roses Hut – Highland Greek Hut

Length: 11 km 5h (94 km)

Profile : Very steep

After the wet day before we had great weather to climb two very steep “hills”. We were greeted after this effort with the best view of our trip so far. Here we took the opportunity to wash ourselves in a small stream, near the hut. This was incredibly refreshing after a sweaty day

Day 8

Route : Highland Greek Hut – Fern Burn Hut – Fern Burn Car Park

Length : 12 km 5 h (106 km)

Profile : mainly downhill, exhausting for the knees

Today we had a pleasant hike along a stream. Initially still over slopes full of tussock (tufts of grass) and from Furn Burn over wooded banks. At the end of the trail, as agreed, Logan’s parents met us. This marks the end of our first section

On the whole, everything has gone very well so far. I had imagined it to be considerably more difficult

From now on we have a week’s break with Logan’s parents

One week break

After a week break we continued north from Wanaka. We spent the week with Logan’s parents and in Dunedin, where we visited Logan’s sister and met up with two friends from Logan’s childhood the next day

He had not seen Sam in more than 10 years. They were very close friends in elementary school, but no longer had close contact due to distance. We picked Sam up at his own gym and went to Sandfly Beach together. The beach is called that because the wind is so strong there that the sand flies around. We saw sea lions and robes there. Not a rare sight on the beaches of New Zealand.

After we brought Sam back to town, we met up with Logan’s longtime friend and former roommate Seth. We spent the evening and the following day together

Day 9

Route: Lake Hawea – Pakituki Hut

Length: 7 km 3,5 h

Altitude difference : 1000 m

Profile : Very, very steep

Our next eight day leg started by having Logan’s parents take us to Lake Hawea, 25 km from Wanaka, to continue up Te Araroa from there. We had briefly considered cycling the route and then have the bikes picked up, but then decided on the easier option. There were many meters of altitude but very little distance ahead of us. We had expected a very strenuous climb due to our much luggage. It turned out to be easier than expected.

Official website of Te Araroa