Day 143: Telford Campsite to Merrivale Road Hut (2815-2835, 2861)

Friday, April 21

The sky was beautiful and clear last night. I woke up around 7:30. It was cold all night, but I had a warm sleeping bag and clothes. I'm just glad I had a puffy.

I left around 9, a little before Jen and Jeremy, but they quickly caught up to me. After the first few kilometers, the trail was essentially on a farm road the whole way to Straun Flat Road. It was cool when I left, but it really warmed up once the sun came up.

The farm was huge. It was really busy and had amazing views of the surrounding mountains for most of the day. The skies remained clear and we even got to see farmers move sheep and bulls. That's always so neat to see.

Jen and Jeremy were ahead of me by now, following the TA. I made it to Straun Flat Road and then to Ohai-Clifden Highway. After a few hundred meters on the highway, hikers are supposed to turn left to follow the TA. But that leads to the daylight only farm sections. By following the highway, I'd meet back up with the trail in 20 kilometers, after the daylight only sections. I figured I could make it to a new hut on Merrivale Road just after dark if I walked all day, and if I could get a ride I'd take it. By now I'm pretty sick of road walking.

It didn't seem like a busy road, so I never stopped walking unless I heard a car going in the same direction as me. I'd pause and put my thumb up. After an hour, only a few cars had gone by, but the third to fifth car going my direction stopped.

They were a really nice beekeeping couple who harvest manuka honey. The husband got into it as a hobby and now does it for a living. I told them where I was headed. They happen to live down the road I was headed to. Since they drive past the new cabin every day, they had been wondering what it was.

They dropped me off at the hut around 3:30. It was a new hut on private land that was finished a few months ago. I saw a post about it on the TA Facebook group. The post said it was $10 to sleep in the hut and $8 to camp, so I made sure to have $10 of cash.

There were cows, sheep and chickens behind fences by the hut. They were all rather curious and I think the chickens really wanted me to feed them. They kept waddling over to the fence closest to the cabin.

Since I was by houses, I checked to see if I had phone service. I did! Marjolein is biking to Bluff tomorrow and will repeat the trip from Invercargill to Bluff with me a few days later. She's the best!

Once I got my bunk set up, I went out to the drop toilet. It had toilet paper. What a luxury! I didn't need to use up my supply.

I napped for an hour and woke up around 6. The owner came over to add snacks to the food "store" he keeps there for hikers. He added cheese puffs, which sounded delicious, so I put money in the box for them and ate every last cheese crumb.

Then I made some dinner and signed the calendar serving as a log book. I think I accidentally signed it on the wrong day. I saw Karolina, the sisters (Sara and Sonya), Noemi and Simon had been there. Since I was reading it, I think I just signed the next box in the calendar. Oh well.

It was dark now. Jen and Jeremy were going to try to make it here, but they must have camped. It would have been a crazy long day to get here from the campsite we stayed at last night.

I got ready for bed and read over trail notes. Now I was less than 150 trail kilometers from Bluff. That seems like nothing now. When I started the trail, reaching 100 kilometers was so exciting.

A nice view from the trail.  

The trai.  

What a view! I think this would be on my top list of farms to work at.  

A sea of sheep.  

The cows by the hut.  

The hut off 2 Merrivale Road.