Equipment strike and hut magic

Well, even hiking poles get upset with excessive stress, as our cover image shows. Excessive stress in this case meant Susi putting her weight on the pole, as she couldn't maintain her balance in 50 cm of mud.

This brings us to our past experiences and current news. Recently, we were on our way to Milfordsound. The last few days in Te Anau were very calm. But there was still one highlight. On the occasion of our 31st anniversary, we took a sailing ship on Lake Te Anau in the evening. Very romantic☺. Take a look yourself.

On February 28th, we left the beautiful town of Te Anau well-rested and headed towards Tuatapere (no need to remember that 😂😂). It was a good thing too, because Te Anau was gearing up for the start of the GODZone competition (feel free to google👍). It's a competition that can last up to 10 days, with teams of four competing in various disciplines such as kayaking, walking using maps, biking, abseiling into caves, walking again, and kayaking once more (similar to a modern treasure hunt). The whole thing goes on 24 hours a day, with a packed boat, self-catering, in any weather, without showers, and distances that make you sweat. Why are we writing about this? We'll get to that shortly.

It's slowly becoming autumn here, the Easter bunnies are on the shelves. For us, clear signs that we are soon reaching our goal, incredibly happy about the time we spent together and full of anticipation for home😘🙋. The last two weeks looked/look like this:

01.- 06.03.

Walking 98 km on the South Coastal Track in Fjordland

07.03.

Drive to Riverton and re-entry into the Te Araroa

08.03.

33 km walk TA from Riverton to Invercargill (penultimate stage)

09.03.

Rest day in Invercargill

10.03.

Final stage of Te Araroa, 28 km to Bluff, the southernmost point of the trail and the long-awaited goal of every TA walker

11.- 13.03.

Enjoying the beautiful time and relaxing in Bluff

Today (09.03.) is our day off in Invercargill. We have completed the penultimate TA stage and are looking forward to the finish line in Bluff tomorrow. (We will report on this important day for us😉)

Let's go back to the South Coastal Track for a moment. We chose this one because it promised a lot of nature and - attention - solitude, and it fit well into our schedule. But then something happened that was simply amazing and typical of our previous experiences: you shouldn't plan too much.

The route consisted of 6 stages, with 3 days going and 3 days returning. Each stage was done twice and was very special. It started with 20 km along the southern coast and through the forest. The track promised the possibility of seeing dolphins. The overnight stay was planned in a hut with a historic past. It used to be a school from the 1920s to the 1940s. The immigrants had built a sawmill directly in the jungle on the coast and built a small village with a school. You could still see the remains of the village and the mill, and you could follow the traces of the past all the way to the beach, even though nature was reclaiming its forest with all its might. During our visit to the beach, we were even able to observe the fins of the local Hector Dolphins up close.

On the second day, we continued following the tracks on a 16 km long railway track that was built and used back then for transporting wood to the sawmill. Only the wooden planks were still visible. The construction of three viaducts leading over the gorges of the jungle was magnificent once again. We arrived at a typical walker's hut, nicely situated by the river. So typical that we even had Mr. Jingles 🐀 as a guest.

After a romantic night for the three of us, we were looking forward to the third stage. Suddenly, two men stormed into the hut and reported that the top teams of the aforementioned GODZone Challenge would be coming down the river in their boats at any moment and would plunge into the forest to continue walking. We were excited about the change of scenery and watched the spectacle from the suspension bridge. However, we didn't yet realize that we would become part of the competition for the next few days, with shared hut accommodations, requests for help, pleasant encounters, and shared pains.

The 13 km walk initially turned into a mud battle for us. It was like a free hamam or healing treatment. This is also when the pole broke, but we laughed heartily at our contortions and arrived at the next hut very excited about this varied trail. It had started raining, and we were glad to be in the dry, once again alone, not many people come here anymore. Or so we thought!!!!

The door opened and closed every half hour. Our hut was part of the "treasure hunt", and there was a hidden clue in the hut book about the team's route. One photo shows the "Greenhorns" team, we became fans, and the team finished in 11th place after 7 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes.

After a short break, the teams disappeared into the forest again. This went on until it got dark and beyond. There was coming and going. Some continued, others stayed in the hut for a few hours. Our planned solitude turned into cheering on the participants for us.

It turned out that they had to go back the exact same way after the checkpoint, just like us. So it became clear - three nights of hut excitement and no sleep. It was funny, the teams apologized to us for wanting to leave again at 1 am, and the mattresses were regularly swapped. It was also nice when the headlamp shone directly in our faces🔦. After six days, completely exhausted and with sensational impressions, we reached our starting point. Completely overwhelmed by the mixture of history, wild nature, and human performance, we ended the trip.

We are also looking forward to the finish line in Bluff now. Then there are two more weeks until departure. We will of course share our experiences up until then with you. Now we're going to slow down a bit, not only the equipment but also the body and mind are in need of some reflection.

Please let spring in, it's getting cold and windy here🌞🐣🐏🌸🌻!

Warm regards from the Koewis