Lake Ohau - Ahuriri River East Branch

I can’t exactly give wholehearted praise of the hitchhiking culture on the South Island as we have around a 50% success rate. After nearly two hours by the roadside with enormous smiles plastered on our faces, it became clear that an organic hitch was not going to happen. We called the iSite in Twizel for advice, and one of the employees ended up calling her sister, who drove us all the way to the trailhead by Lake Ohau. The sun – ever present in the Mackenzie region – disappeared the moment we set foot on the trail.

I wasn’t feeling particularly talkative or energetic, so I plugged in the Savage Lovecast for some seriously raunchy entertainment. The well-formed trail climbed through the beech forest, up above the treeline, and into familiar tussock-coated terrain. There the sun re-emerged, and we were treated to splendid vistas of mountains, streams, and faraway hills. Lunch was the perfect hiker meal, I didn’t think I would ever cease to love peanut butter and Nutella tortillas (spoiler alert: wrong) in a great location.

We decided to hike the Ahuriri Track in two days instead of one, as we had enough food but not enough oomph. Today’s 15 km felt ridiculously short, as we pitched camp in a grassy flat spot near the river just 3 km down from the hilltop where we’d eaten lunch. Being over halfway on the Te Araroa felt so odd, I felt like it had taken no time at all to get here. We had the loveliest, laziest afternoon. Against our better judgement, we tanned in the afternoon sun (always dangerous in New Zealand where the ozone layer has a big hole over it and the radiation is several times higher than Europe). I read 100 pages of my newly resupplied book; Toby, ever the generous, massaged my feet; Patrick had a dip in the nearby river, and we munched cookies until dinnertime.

It’s always a good day when spaghetti Bolognese is on the menu – the only tolerable pack of Backcountry Cuisine freeze-dried meals. We talked of trails we wanted to do and sports we’d done. I recalled with considerable resentment, days in secondary school when I’d literally hid in the school locker rooms to escape PE gymnastics. In reference to previous blog entries, I gotta say that overcoming my aversion towards big miles, hard days, and general exhaustion, had been a big personal victory for me, a create of comfort.

Thru-hikes change our perceptions of so many preferences and challenges, they are truly the ultimate catalyst of desire to improve oneself. Some things don’t even require conscious effort, they are simply overcome over time as you adapt to this lifestyle. Also, by hiking in the way that we do; not rushing, but having long lunches and wild swims, and plenty of rest days, leaves us motivated to pursue hiking passionately even when we finish the TA. Going hard until you get injured and sick of walking is not the way to go. After having lived so many years feeling terribly out of place, it was pure heaven to live each day out here where everything felt so right. I was right out here. Hiking is the epitome of active mindfulness, you can zone out and ponder your thoughts, enjoy some Savage Love, and daydream about all the comforts you will enjoy once the hike is over.

Just living these days was all I wanted. Life out here felt so complete, and I was in no hurry to get back to the world. This land of dreams was more than enough.