Te Araroa 02/02/26

Day 134, Queenstown 

A day off in the rain. It wasn't as heavy as forecast but steady all day.

Plenty of traffic 

Queenstown isn't very exciting unless you like made in New Zealand tourist shopping or expensive trips in a cable car to an even more expensive restaurant at the top of the hill.

A rather damp lakeshore 

As an indicator of the type of visitors here there was a sign on the window of one shop looking for staff "must be fluent in English and Mandarin".

Giant Kiwi 

I did healthy eating, washing and restocked for the next five days but apart from buying a new hat very little else.

Can't remember who he was but the seagull has the right opinion 

Still wet 

Cable car and roadworks 

A relaxing day, all geared up for the dwindling distance to Bluff.

Te Araroa 01/02/26

Day 133, Arrowtown to Queenstown (2735)

It was a grey morning when I started out but the sky cleared and it became hot and humid fairly quickly.

Arrowtown in the morning 

A straightforward route today following a mostly gravel footpath/cycle route all the way to Queenstown.

Golf resort deluxe apartments 

Arrowtown was better in the morning with no people about. The center is a re-creation of the old mining town, rather like a museum with modern shops behind the facade.

Lake Hayes 

I had tea and a breakfast roll and at the bakery, sitting outside with the sandflies starting to bite. Sandflies seem to love feet and if they can't get at them work upwards from there, the opposite of midges that gather round your head and work downwards.

Lake Hayes again 

Once clear of the town the path went through a very smart looking golf resort, home of the New Zealand Open. It was all beautifully manicured with strategically placed ponds and trees to make the, no doubt very expensive, apartments look like an English village.

Above the River Kawarau 

Down then to Lake Hayes where the path follows the lakeshore to Shotover Country.

Shotover River from the old bridge 

A group of cyclists gathered as I was waiting to cross the main road and told me they were heading for a nearby cafe and would I like to join them. As you know it doesn't take much encouragement for me to stop at a café and they were a great bunch of similar aged people. A good way to spend some time.

New Shotover road bridge 

Down to the River Kawarau then and up to the old Shotover Bridge past Queenstown airport and sports center to Frankton by Lake Wakatipu.

Queenstown airport and recreation area 

I found a nice restaurant/café for lunch near the marina and was looking forward to the shaded walk in the trees beside the lake.

Lake Wakatipu

Lake Wakatipu

Oh dear!

Unfortunately the path was closed as they were putting in a pipeline and I had to walk the pavement beside the main road exposed to the sun.

Looking to Lake Wakatipu from the road

Approaching Queenstown 

I was happy to get to the Holiday Park and into the shower.

Te Araroa 31/01/26

Day 132, Roses Hut to Arrowtown (2706)

A cold morning but a clear blue sky promised a hot day.

Morning light 

I left the hut for the steep climb to Roses Saddle at 1270 meters, the sun was just coming up and there were even some zigzags towards the top so the ascent wasn't too painful!

Leaving Roses Hut

What a beautiful morning 

Once over the saddle there was the usual steep descent to the Arrow River. When I got to the river I had to decide wether to take the high route or walk the river.

El Tejido pretending he got here on his own 

Ridge down to the Arrow River

 I took the high route for a while with some lovely views but when the path descended to the river again and I was faced with a big climb I thought I would take the river route.

The Arrow River 

No path just the river

I'm not sure if it was the correct decision as the first kilometre was actually walking in the river, not that deep but slow and very cold on the feet.

The track with lupins

The track keep crossing the river as well

I did enjoy it though after the steep ascents and descents of the last few days. Eventually the river banks relented and allowed me to walk some sections but with numerous crossings to connect them.

Butterflies by the path

Eventually I reached Macetown which is an abandoned mining town with almost nothing left to see, I think there were a few more remains but not on my route.

A final river crossing 

The track rises above the river

There are two routes that I could take from Macetown and I chose the longer, lower route that follows the Arrow River via a 4WD track.

Through some interesting rock formations 

There were numerous river crossings but my feet were wet anyway and none of them were difficult.

I really enjoyed the route which went through a spectacular gorge and there were tide lines on the hillside presumably from an ice age lake as in Glen Roy.

The river was much bigger as I approached Arrowtown 

Arrowtown is a real tourist town trading on the gold rush era but it has a decent campsite even if it was overpriced, high season has another week to go.

The center of historic Arrowtown 

According to the weather forecast I have another good day tomorrow for the walk to Queenstown but it looks bad for Monday so I have booked two nights at the holiday park for a rest day to wait it out.

Arrowtown campsite 

Te Araroa 30/01/26

Day 131, Highland Creek Hut to Roses Hut (2682)

It was yet another perfectly clear morning (it can't last) when I dropped down from the hut to start the first climb.

Morning light on distant peaks

I had decided on another short day as there was a lot of climbing involved, 900 meters up with 1000 meters down and a hot sunny afternoon.

Difficult terrain 

There were two saddles to cross, the first had several false starts over the hills before the main climb and then a very steep ridge down to cross a stream and some remnant beech forest.

But beautiful 

There was brutal climb up through some landslips then, the path actually zig-zagged up, something that doesn't often happen in New Zealand.

Looking back to the high hills 

Coming down from the first saddle 

A slightly more gentle ridge followed to the top and there were some amazing views looking back to Lake Wānaka.

A bit of forest to negotiate 

Looking back, Lake Wanaka in the distance 

The final ridge down

Another steep descent on a ridge to the Motatapu River which I managed to cross with dry feet before a short walk to the Hut.

Roses Hut

Only the young German girl went further, everyone else going this way stopped here.

Plenty of people here tonight 

It was a busy tonight, 18 people in a 12 bed hut (6 camping)