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32km 9.5 hours or what seemed like eternity.
This was a great day but it also turned out like we were trapped in a labyrinth of sheep and cattle paddocks on a 12 000 hectare station and we were going crazy.
Our tents were absolutely soaking this morning and so were our sleeping bags. Condensation is unreal and none of us can work out why our down sleeping bags also seem to take in the moisture.
It was freezing but again blue sky and sun so I cannot complain. I packed up the wet tent and set off down the shadowed valley. Your feet are soaking wet within 5 minutes of walking through the long wet grass. The path kept criss crossing a fence for no obvious reason too which really annoyed me before making our way to our first river crossing.
The sun was just coming up over the hills and walking on Mt Linton Station, one of New Zealand's biggest sheep stations was so peaceful and beautiful. I couldn't help but feel so content and thankful. Thankful just for where I was and amazed at being in these rolling gold hills with sheep everywhere. As I climbed up the first hill of the day I spotted two beautiful NZ Falcons. I hadn't seen them before, they were just perched on a rocky outcrop looking down the valley but I was sure they were falcons. This was confirmed upon getting to Birchwood when another lovely older hiker Sev, asked if anyone saw the Falcons.
For the most part of the morning the trail just meandered up and over rolling hills all across the Station. What an huge operation this place is. Every gate/paddock we came across and there were a lot had a name. While there were boundary fences everywhere what it lacked were orange markers we are so accustomed to following so Laura, Conny and I got 'lost' quite a few times. I say lost but we had just walked up the wrong valleys, so engrossed in conversation that you don't realise you haven't seen an orange marker until after quite some time you stop and think 'when was the last orange marker'. After getting of trail twice in the one kilometre and adding an extra km or two we had to cross a river.
This river crossing will go down as one of the funniest incidences on trail. Making our way through the thistles and nettles Laura going first tries to find a part in the bank that is low enough for us to climb down. She then pokes both her poles in the ground and then jumps down. At that exact moment a duck appeared out of nowhere giving us quite a fright, quacking non stop and it literally ran on water the entire length of the downstream river, looking rather maimed and unable to fly. We can only presume Laura accidentally stabbed it with her pole. The one duck we had seen (or not seen in this case) on all our river crossings. I know it's cruel but I laughed so hard! What are the chances. We joked Laura is the new horse man and could have had duck for dinner.
On the other side of the river we met up with Ivan who had slept in an extra hour and still is faster than us. The four of us now walking together, chatting and joking around as per usual. We came across a heard of cows we had to get through and decided to just keep walking towards them and if they charge we jump the fence. Ivan grabbing the fence, and soon realising it was electric. Haha sucker. Fence wasn't to be an option.
We stopped for lunch ontop of a hill in the sun and had a good break. The best part about being the last day in a section meant all of us sat and ate absolutely all our remaining food.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent getting off course paddock after paddock of sheep and cows and when that was over we got lost in a paddock of knee high fodder beet and thistles.
Ivan and I walked and chatted about our childhood. All the stuff we'd get up to. Us rounding Mr McFarlanes cows up, letting them out, blowing up old cars, towing people on boards behind cars, water skiing by being towed by a car over a lagoon. Just the usual... Not the usual compared to Ivan's Parisian upbringing. But kids are kids and you make your own fun! It got me thinking that all my childhood adventures were just training me for this hike.
We were to be staying at the Shearer's quarters at Birchwood station and had organised the tavern shuttle to pick us up at 430pm, take us to Four square for a resupply and then onto the tavern for dinner. But at 2pm and still 8km away feeling trapped, making the shuttle and having a shower prior seemed unachievable.
We were getting grumpy, fed up and over it. Also very over climbing up and over stiles too because there were sooo many! What got us more annoyed was David had already made it to Birchwood and had sent us through a photo of the tavern menu. So close but still so far for us!
Finally at 4pm we stroll into Birchwood station. A half hour for 4 people to shower after not having had showers in 7 days... Near impossible but doable. None of us got our hair washed but we had no shampoo either so that was that. There was no clothes washing facilities so we were still in our smelly 7 day worn clothes. It didn't matter we were excited for a pub meal.
The shuttle gave us 10 minutes at the four square. Oh the panic! It was like we were all on some cooking show where it was a race against time to get ingredients or food for the next 3 days. Being a very small four square meant our usual trail foods and meals weren't an option. They didn't even have wraps! We've all come away with the most eclectic mix of food for meals. I'm now carrying cruskits with spinach and feta hummus and plastic cheese slices. Half a kg of peanut butter. Classic raro as a substitute for electrolytes and two blocks of Cadbury chocolate. Thank goodness it's just 3 days.
Next stop was the tavern and my goodness if you ever pass through Nightcaps go to the Takitimu Tavern. I don't know what world I stepped into. It was a Saturday night so all the locals and farmers were in. There was a live band that at times were so off it was so good. A black labrador strolling through the getting diners to throw his chewed up open tennis ball and play fetch. There was a cat eating cat food from a plate at the bar. And what topped it off was a man walking around carrying a chicken under his arm. It was comical but so great!
The meals were next level for a country pub. All of us starving ordered a huge burger and chips and a large pizza each. Whilst hungry we did still justify the pizza as we could take half of it for lunch the next day. When would I ever order two main meals?! Whilst I was starving the problem is I'm full after a few bites and so I forced myself to eat half the burger before handing it over to Ivan. The gin and tonics went down easily though.
The lovely lady at the tavern then shuttled us back home to our quarters and while we knew we had a 30km day tomorrow all of us were so full and tired there was certainly no getting organised tonight, that's tomorrow's problem. It was time for sleep!
Ren x
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