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Our final adventure in New Zealand was a visit to Mount Cook. We had organised to spend a night in the mountains at Muller Hut however mother nature had other plans and we had to take a rain check when severe rains hit the West Coast. A few days after the storm cleared, we ventured to Aoraki/ Mount Cook National Park and as a day trip, hiked the Muller Hut Route. Although our original plans fell through we were extremely grateful for the Mount Cook experience we had. It was a spectacular day out in the mountains, we even caught sight of a couple of glacial avalanches in action.
In New Zealand, going for a 'walk' can sometimes mean using both your hands and feet to move along the track. After finishing the Kepler Track, we headed across to Gertrude Saddle in Fiordland National Park to try our hand at what DOC classes an "expert" route. The climb was a steep in parts, but the views were amazing!
More Kepler magic🌳😍
When we finished hiking the TA many people were surprised to hear that we would be spending our final couple of weeks in New Zealand doing some more hiking. A common response was 'why don't you just relax for a while?'. With so many spectacular trails to hike, how could we?! The Kepler Track was a stunner, 2 days of lush green rainforest and picturesque mountain views, not to mention the footpath-like trail 😆
The walk to Tunnel Beach is short but rewarding. The coast line remined us of stretches along The Great Ocean Road back home with ornate rock sculpted by the pounding waves. A mini adventure down an intriguing tunnel leads to this secluded beach. A little cold and rough for swimming but beautiful to look at 🌊❤️
Enjoying a couple of weeks playing tourist before we head home, we picked up a set of wheels in Invercargill and cruised up the Catlins Coast. Nugget Point was one of favourite stops, watching seals play in the pounding sea whilst their pups hung out in the rock pool nurseries near by.
Continuing our NZ adventure, we headed over to Stewart Island to hike the Rakiura Track and spend a few days enjoying the tranquility and birdsong. While we heard plenty of Kiwi's calls during our stay, we didn't have any luck spotting one in person. While we were unlucky with the Kiwi's, we had an incredible encouter with a Kaka on nearby Ulva Island and even spotted some Little Blue Penguins on the ferry out to the island.
Day: 148, Km: 2,996
Today we reached the end of our (almost) 3,000km journey on the Te Araroa trail!
Leaving Cape Reinga almost 5 months ago as complete newbies both to long distance hiking and New Zealand, we never could have imagined the full extent of the beauty and the challenges we would encounter along the way on this epic journey to Bluff. It hasn't really sunk in yet that this crazy adventure has come to an end, but we're looking forward to being able to reflect on our achievement over the coming weeks (and also eating ice cream... lots and lots of ice cream). This journey would have been a very different one without all of the support we have received along the way, from family and friends who probably still think we are a little crazy but support us anyway to the trail angels who hosted and fed us, the drivers who picked us up off the side of the road when we needed a hitch, the other drivers who didn't offer us a lift but still were thoughtful enough to give us a wide berth while we were walking down highways like absolute fools, friendly locals who have offered their words of encouragement and our fellow hikers from all corners of the globe who we have shared many snacks, laughs and trail stories with. We thank you all.
Our NZ journey doesn't end here, we have some spare time before we fly home and are looking forward to seeing more of this incredible country whilst we have the chance. Tomorrow we head across to Stewart Island in search of New Zealand's iconic bird, the endangered Kiwi.
Adam, Leigh and the Trees
