The end is nigh, I lay in my sleeping bag to write this it’s been a few days since I’ve been in the tent, sleeping in relative luxury in the campervan instead. Tonight might be the first night where I need the full insulation of this sleeping bag normally I struggle, changing from feet in to feet out which is difficult in a mummy shaped sleeping bag,there’s always a moment you fight with a zipper half asleep not wanting to exert more energy than needed and wake up whilst trying to maintain a comfortable temperature. I lay on a borrowed sleeping mat which has already travelled NZ by foot, I’m so impressed it basically deflates to flat but you inflate it with a bag as if you were playing the bag pipes and it becomes 50mm thick. I will return it to Ryan my bro and will be getting my own for future trips. My head lays on a small inflatable pillow another luxury I wouldn’t usually take, instead just laying my head on some clothes, however I don’t have many thick clothes on this trip and the state of them after a couple of days en route I’m glad to have a pillow.
We are about 400m up between the towering rocky hills where only the toughest plants manage to hold on and survive the flats are just tussock, but there’s a few beach trees between our tents and the Mavora Lake next to us. The night was as clear as can be and the silence bewildering making me wonder if the silence is because of our elevation or because of the impact humans have had on the local wildlife. Occasionally though a Ruru calls way in the distance.
We got into this camp before dark it’s a couple of kms off our route, Chris started a fire in the pit, a luxury and setting the scene for what is most likely our last night in tents. Unbeknownst to Chris I’d snuck a couple of cheeky ciders into my pantry and we lay these on the lakes edge to cool a little. Dinner tonight was to be couscous, chickpeas and chilli beans a change from the meals we had become accustom too thanks to Kate, but you know what I’ve really enjoyed the simplicity of our dinners cooked in one pot couscous or rice with a random can of something and they’ve filled me up.
We took the day relatively easy catching the Earnslaw at 2 to ferry us across to Walter Peak Station, it was great just to slow this trip down as I suppose it’s supposed to be a holiday and we’d had some punishing rides down the West Coast. The sun was out and lake Whakatipu looked very inviting, Kate had come out for the boat ride and would return to Queenstown whilst we would undertake our last real climb of the trip.
30km of Gravel roads lay ahead for us to climb from 300 to 750m the sun shone in this dry valley and a reasonable head wind blew at us making the 50km we needed to cover feel like 100km.
We’d travelled on the boat with a few others including the Kings who had just given there all to get across from Wanaka this morning, what an effort… it was great to talk to the other travellers as we all cycled on each deciding how far would be enough for today.
After putting the fire out we’d both turned in aiming for an early start and thinking of the experience and simplicity we have lived the last couple of weeks. It’s difficult to comprehend everything we have experienced and I’m sure it will unpack as we return to our normal lives.
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