So what happened?
Why did you stop writing?
Did you finish the walk?
I know for a fact some of you want to know because you've asked. I suspect a few others would be interested too, so I'll answer those questions in reverse order.
Did I finish? Yes! I arrived in Bluffnon February 4, 104 days after starting. I'm quite proud of the achievement. Even moreso because I walked every single step of the way (except for bits of the trail that were over water. And possibly about 200 or 400m near Lake Coleridge that I may have accidentally skipped.)
Why did I stop writing? About 4 days from the end my phone got wet and died. This took with it the entries I'd written since Queenstown and prevented me from writing anything more until I got to Invercargill. I just couldn't bring myself to go back and redo the lost entries, especially after I got back to Wellington and returned to real life.
What happened? I won't be doing an entry for each day, but here's a brief summary of what went on between Queenstown and Bluff:
First day out of Queenstown I hitched to the start of the Greenstone track and did all 51 (or so) km of the Mavora Lakes Walkway in a day.
The next day was one of the worst on the trail. It was one of only three instances in the whole walk where I thought "I don't want do be here. I don't know why I'm doing this." It was mostly road walking, and was very hot out (apparently 34C in nearby Te Anau that day.) I'd skipped carrying water from the campsite because there were lots of streams along the way. Which, due to the exceptionally warm, dry summer I'd been enjoying, were all dry.
I got a gift of 500ml from some NOBO walkers who were out dropping supplies for their upcoming walk. And near the end of the day filtered 1.5L from a shallow stream that had a couple dozen sheep standing and pooing in it. But I loved it!
The next couple of days were through the Takatimu mountains which, while not huge, were really lovely. Pleasant varied walking and I saw a Karearea (NZ native falcon) up very close.
In fact pretty much all of the trail through Southland was really lovely. Which was a surprise because the trail notes don't do much to sell it. It's mostly about what you aren't allowed to do and how difficult it is to find accomodation and resupply. But since I was walking monstrous long days by now and had done a bug resupply in Queenstown, these weren't really issues.
I even enjoyed the full day's walk through Molesworth Station, NZ's biggest sheep farm. Surprising, since I'd loathed the pasture walking in Waikato/King Country. But it was easy walking on nice farm tracks with pleasant views.
Just about the only thing that wasn't pleasant was the previously mentioned fourth to last day. After a lovely night in a private hut owned by a local farming family I decided to head out into the rain and keep walking the next morning. This despite the fact that I would be on exposed tops for a while and that the rain was due to the remains of a tropical cyclone. But it was only 800m or so at the high point in the Longwood mountains, and not too far in the open. It would have gone fine except I discovered that when walking with trekking poles in heavy rain you're basically pouring rain down the sleeves of your coat. Which is then wicked up by your shirt so that your cold and soaking inside your raincoat. As long as I kept moving it was fine, but the combination of wind, rain, wet and cold had me worried about what would happen if I got hurt or otherwise had to stop. The hut at the end of that day was a solid contender for crappiest on the whole TA, but it was also the most welcome!
From there on it was pretty much flat and easy. A trail along an old water race. Some road and then beach walking to Riverton. Some beach and then road walking to Invercargill. And then the final (anticlimacticly flat and boring) 19km to Bluff.
Not only was that the end of the road, but I got a special treat: Sarah came to meet me and walked the final 5km with me! This was appropriate since she'd been with me at the start. And very nice of her, given that she'd already spent 3.5 months with me in my own little walking world, which often left me to neglect everything outside it (including, too frequently, her.)
We took photos and had lunch at Stirling Point, the official trail end. (Fish and chips and Rodenbach Charactiere Rouge if you're curious). Across the street from the finish we picked up the medal kindly made for finishers by the Invercargill City council and the nearby Aluminium smelter. Then we took the bus back to Invercargill, cooked a nice dinner in our hostel and had a few more nice beers. And the following morning flew back to Wellington.
It was surprisingly easy to return to semi-normal life. Everything just slotted right back in as though I'd never been gone (though one friend did comment that I talked less than I used to.) Even my body returned to normal pretty quickly. My feet hurt first thing in the morning for a couple of weeks, but that passed. And after 2 months of being fairly lazy and eating and drinking a lot, I suspect I've gained back pretty much all of the 15 or 20kg I lost.
So what's prompted me to finally write this concluding entry? I went tramping again of course! Sarah and I have actually done a couple of very nice overnight walks since my return, but I'm writing this laying in my bunk at the Alpha hut following my first day of the Southern Crossing of the Tararuas. As usual I'm alone here (I've spent four nights in this hut, evey one alone with wild weather outside.) But hopefully that just means that I'll have a chance to re-live some of my TA memories in solitude during what is forecast to be a beautiful day out on the tops tomorrow.
