By Ruth

We spent the last 3 days relaxing and enjoying the perks of civilization in Hanmer Springs. We treated ourselves to a nice motel across the street from the hot springs (where we visited twice). We ate out and cooked ourselves lots of vegetable-loaded meals at the motel kitchen.

The one thing that kept our minds occupied while we were here was, what are we going to do next? The next section of TA involves a lot of river crossings, which become impassable after heavy rain, and heavy rain is predicted for Friday. Normally we would have just headed out anyway, being ready to wait out bad weather and river conditions in a hut. But this time, we have a time limit: a flight back to Canada on Wednesday, from Christchurch. We are flying back for about a week, to attend a good friend’s wedding. The last thing we want is to be stuck in the mountains as the flight gets closer and closer. But, we do want to keep hiking rather than spend a week in Christchurch looking for things to fill the time. What would we do?

In the end we decided not to continue on the TA route, and instead plan our own tramping route in the area around Boyle Village. By picking a route that has fewer river crossings, we can still head out into the mountains and know that we can get out if need be.

So we are hitching back to just beyond Boyle village tomorrow to start our own self-directed hike. It feels exciting to be leaving the TA for a bit, but still do what we came here to do (i.e. walk!)