“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened”
Dr Seuss
Day 105 to 110
- Day 105 – Princhester Road to Aparima Hut ; 22 km
- Day 106- Aparima Hut to Telford Campsite ; 22 km
- Day 107 – Telford Campsite to Birchwood Station ; 30 km
- Day 108 – Birchwood Station to Melville Hut ; 28 km
- Day 109 – Melville Hut to Martins Hut ; 30 km
- Day 110 – Martins Hut to Invercargill ; 44 km
Total hiked: 2973 km
Starting Southland; the last section of Te Araroa. Trotting this felt like I had gone back in a time machine but in reverse… I’ll explain that more.
Southland started with the Tākitimu Track from Lower Princhester Hut through the Tākitimu Ranges to Linton Station. The track consisted of time spent lost in tussock, scrambling around rocks, crossing streams and traversing many, many undulating parts of forest. Having been pre-warned in the trail app of the tracks poor maintenance we packed heaps of snacks, allowed extra time and played some bangin’ tunes. It was great fun! The trail reminded me of my time trotting in the Northland Forests, I even remember starting one morning with a beanie on because it was windy, now I start with thermals, gloves, beanie and rain pants on every morning.
The nostalgia continued as we made our way through Linton Station; New Zealand’s largest working farm, giving me flashbacks to my time trotting through Northland and Waikato farms.
From Telford Campsite we sidled Telford Burn, crossed multiple livestock paddocks, swede’s and swampy mixed with run-off and uneven terrain goodness. 😉 That night we stayed at Birchwood Station in the old shearers quarters and were treated with a hot shower.
The trail to Merrivale entailed Woodlaw and Island Bush Tracks, both containing pine forest and hills. Whether it was the pine smell, same named roads (why do all pine forests have a road named Skyline) or that I was trotting through it with N.D but they felt airily similar to Waitangi Forest. It was during this day that I started to realise this adventure was shortly coming to an end. Truth be told I spent majority of the early morning upset or crying that something I had spent over 100 days trotting, 4-5 months planning and 6 years hoping for would be over in less that a week. Whilst I am over the moon about the thought of reaching Bluff and having accomplished this physical (and mental) feat, it is bittersweet to say goodbye to the dream of it.
The tears were happily replaced by smiles though when I saw our hut companions for the evening, 2 lovely horses!
The following day bought with it mud, mud and more mud; Longwood Forest to be precise. Most hikers compare this forests levels of mud to that of Raetea Forest in… you guessed it Northland. But I had a relatively dry Ratea experience so I’d say this was more similar to Pirongia. Not Hihikiwi Track level mud though so that’s a relief!!!
While N.D and I trotted, leaped, swung from tree branches and only occasionally slipped into the mud we actually had a great time in the forest and the views of the Fiordlands, Bluff and Stewart Island were stunning.
At this point I started to see similarities in all of Southlands trail to Northlands. But what better comparison than the Tīhaka and Oreti Beach trot stretching from Colac Bay/Ōraka to Riverton/Aparima Invercargill. Fortunately, unlike it’s Northland counterpart this section wasn’t over 100 kilometres long and didn’t take 4 days. But it did remind me that I still don’t like walking on beaches and only people who have never walked on a beach would say they like ‘long walks on a beach’.
Now that we have washed the mud, sand and sweat from ourselves in Invercargill there’s only 1 more day to go!
Next stop Bluff… just got to keep trotting. 🙂
GC Chronicles 
Cows look scary, lucky they are on the other side of the paddock, very friendly horses and once again a great read and wonderful scenery/pictures
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