Hot hills and a huge pizza

My cold is cured, I’m back on track and the countdown to Bluff has begun. 

Walking out from Wanaka along Lake Wanaka was amazingly beautiful, although hot…I’ve really experienced the Otago sun by now. I’ve said it before, but the sun in this country is nothing like what I’ve been experienced before!

 

 
I caught up with Chris from NZ and Petr from Czech Rebublic and we ended up doing the Motatapu Alpine Track together. Oh well, they’re a bit too fast for me (Petr has the longest legs on trail!) but at least I had great company in all the huts at night.
The first section wasn’t too hard, it started out flat and beautiful, continued a little bit uphill but even if it wasn’t the hardest day, I ended up pretty exhausted in Camp Stream Hut in the afternoon. The heat is getting me all the time.

 

 
  
The second day was harder. Way harder. We climbed up from 700-800 meters to 1200 meters and steep down aaaaaall the way back again. 

 

 
After a lunch in the only shade we could find, we climbed over another 1200 meter saddle before once again coming all the way down again…down to Roses Hut where we stayed the night. 

The third day started with a climb over Roses Saddle and all the way down to Arrow River. My pole broke and the sun almost killed me, so I was happy to walk IN the river for a couple of hours.

 

 
Stayed the night in Arrowtown and the next day after an easy and not too hot and sunny walk I finally reached Queenstown!

 

 
We went to have the biggest pizza (20 inches!) on trail at Fat Badgers Pizza and I haven’t been so full since we made huge burgers at a holiday park in Kerikeri in November. 

 

 
The city is crazy busy and fully booked so I tried to look for a place to stay by posting on Facebook. It turned out that my friend Erika back home in Sweden knows a girl who once met an Australian guy in Thailand…who now lives in Queenstown. I ended up on the couch in his and his flat mates place. Thankful!

After a day off in rainy Queenstown I’m ready to hit the trail again tomorrow. It’s only 321 kilometers to go and I can’t believe it! Thanks for your support so far – let’s finish this!