Day 25 – Highlands Hut to Wanaka

The youngest two guys in the tramping club were heading out early this morning, since they were planning to skip Fern Burn, the next hut, and walk all the way out today.  The older group was staying another night, and Fern Burn Hut was only four hours away, so they lingered over breakfast while I set out after the front two.

I had a great day of hiking - really fun and easy.  Reached Fern Burn Hut for an early lunch, then set out down the Fern Burn itself.  As I descended, the tussocky station highlands gave way to a beautiful red beech forest, with a creek running below the trail.  It was oddly hot compared to the last two days, so I took a quick break to splash around in the stream.

When I came out of the woods I noticed the sunlight had turned reddish, and there was a strange haze over the sun.  It looked similar to when smoke from wildfires blows across California.  Indeed, when I came out to Glendhu Bay, I would learn from the manager of the campground there that massive fires were burning in Victoria, Australia, and the smoke was blowing across the 3,500 kilometers of ocean into New Zealand’s skies.  Evidently New Zealand always gets the smoke from these fires, since the prevailing winds blow from the northwest.

Between the trail end and Glendhu Bay, I had to walk a few kilometers down Motatapu Road, an unmetalled road providing access to Motatapu Station.  Ahead of me a farm hand was moving sheep from one paddock to another.  He had a truck with a cage in back, and several dogs.  The dogs would run back and forth at the back of the herd, barking constantly to encourage the stragglers to get a move on.  The farm hand, in turn, would bang on his truck and shout at the dogs when they got tired and lagged in their duties.

At Glendhu Bay I considered camping, but there was a strong wind coming in from the northwest, and though rain wasn’t forecast, I can’t help but feel like rain is coming when the wind changes.  So I chose to hoof it an extra fourteen kilometers into Wanaka to sleep under a roof that doesn’t flap in the breeze.  The distance went fast, much of it spent on a bike/ped walkway hugging the shore of Lake Wanaka - a beautiful view.  As I rolled into town, the willow trees were whipping and at least one windsurfer was having a great time.

The battery on my cell phone was dead, but I had a listing of BBH hostels in town, so I chose the highest-rated on the list, Wanaka Bakpaka, and walked up to see if they had any space.  They were booked solid, but having gotten a look at the place, I wanted to stay there all the more.  They had a large, comfortable looking lounge with picture windows overlooking Lake Wanaka, and no TV.  Everyone staying there looked so comfortable and happy.  Oh well, on to the next hostel, where I found a bed available.

BBH is the hostel network in New Zealand, and it’s great – certainly much more useful than YHA has ever been.  They publish a well-organized booklet listing all the member hostels, and in this book they have a manifesto on bookings that exactly matches my own feelings. In an ideal world no bookings would be necessary. As BBH says, “shortly before closing time, the last traveller would arrive to occupy the last remaining bed.”  Surprisingly things actually work that way much of the time.  This is great news for me as I typically can’t be sure exactly when I’ll arrive in the next town, so I generally find someplace on arrival. I’ve never found a town completely booked up, but sometimes even spending the night at a good, decent hostel can seem like a disappointment after being turned away from a really excellent one.