Day 130: Wanaka to Fern Burn Hut (2585-2609)

Saturday, April 8

I woke up, made breakfast and left the hostel around 9. The YHA in Wanaka was really nice. The one in Lake Tekapo had been great too.

On my way out of town I stopped at New World to get ice cream I could walk with and ate it as I made my way around Lake Wanaka. It was an easy and flat trail.

After the trail around the lake, there was a road walk for a few kilometers to get to the Motatapu Track. On my way down the road I passed some cows. There were lots of adults and baby. As I walked by they crowded around the baby, guarding it, but then they seemed to decided I was more interesting than scary and relaxed. They seemed pretty curious and followed me until they reached their fence.

When I got to the start of the trail, I stopped for a snack break. A nice Kiwi couple from Christchurch walked out and stopped to talk to me. They said Shania Twain had bought this station (farm). As part of the agreement that allowed her to buy it she had to put a trail on it. Now they thought her ex-husband was the one living on the station.

After they went to their car and I finished snacking, I started the trail. It was really nice and easy to follow. The only thing that made it a bit difficult were the steep ups and downs before the hut. Luckily I have good knees.

When I got to the hut I saw Jeremy. There were also two French girls traveling and two American guys studying abroad. Everyone was nice.

The hut was a nice, clean and new. Similar to Top Timaru and Pakituhi huts.

We all talked for a bit and I made tea and set up my bed. Warm tea is nice when it's chilly out. When I was hungry I made dinner and read a few chapters of Reggie Love's book before falling asleep. I had downloaded it after finishing the other book last night.