Day 55 | Princester Road
8 December 2022 | 18°C | 22km
“Why walk in the forest again on the Te Araroa trail if there is another, seemingly more scenic trail along a river in the valley?” is one of the thoughts when looking at the map during breakfast. No sooner said than done! We roam through high dry grass and cross the river countless times as the river bank cannot decide if the right or left side is better. It is a very enjoyable walk.
Although we are not faster than the actual Te Araroa route through the bushes, we feel very motivated to push on fast and try to make it to the road that would allow us to hitch into Te Anau, our next resupply town. One of the rare occasions where I get my gas cooker out for lunch to have noodles that hopefully would give me enough energy and lighten my pack at the same time. The afternoon walk is a rather painful one for my legs with parts of the trail being overgrown with ferns that seem to have some kind of sharp stings. It hurts so much at some point that I stop to put on my rain pants.
Nevertheless, we make it to Princester hut at 4pm and then it’s just a few more kilometers to the road. The hitch is not an easy one but after roughly 30 minutes a lady and her son who are aiming to Te Anau to hike the Kepler Treck the next day give us a ride. After doing laundry in a lovely backpackers by the lakefront, at 8pm we head out to have dinner.
We literally visit ALL of the restaurants in town to find out that the kitchen is already closed everywhere. Shocking news for hungry hikers! We see big burgers and steaks being served but cannot order anymore.
Luckily, the Indian restaurant is still serving till 9pm. Phew!