Living off the Land and our Biggest River Crossing

As we head north we are tramping towards the more remote parts of the south island. For the next month, we will be sending food via maildrops to ourselves for resupply in the more logistically challenging sections.

Our first night out of Tekapo, our stove, the MSP Whisper Lite Inter., malfunctioned. Fortunately, we knew that most of the huts in this section are older and will definately have wood burning stoves or a fireplace to cook on. And if we have to camp, we can simply cook over an open fire. Not anything to really worry about but it is more of a major inconvinience since we sometimes cook 3 times a day and love an afternoon coffee break.

Our 3rd day out, after not seeing a soul the whole time, things got really interesting. First we met a group of 8 men all over 70, doing their yearly tramp. We were excited to see them and chatted for a while (we found out later that two had to be aided by helicopter). A few hours later, we met Julian, a tramper also doing the Te Araroa but he was going south. He is English and lives in Germany. He is a musician and decided to take a year off to travel. This is his first long hike. After about an hour trading info. he decided to camp with us so we could go over maps more thoroughly.

About an hour later, a hunter and his female companion walked by our camp site. Parker had heard the shot and asked if he "got it". He said yes, it was a thar (a goat that is popular to hunt, originally from the Himalayas). As he was leaving, he told Parker that he left the thar leg hanging on a tree off the track and that we could have it if we wanted it. The hunter was certain that he would get a better shot at another thar or deer.

None of us had ever been given a leg of anything before while tramping but we gave it a go! The boys found the leg and skinned it.They cut steaks to roast over the fire. Julian made us a huge pot of rice, lentils, dried eggplant and dried green beans with garlic and hot curry. While Julian and I were cooking, Parker caught three rainbow trouts! We feasted, went over maps and talked well into the night about our crazy day and our journey through NZ.

We parted ways with Julian in the morning. The boys had split the remainder of the thar leg the night before. We had already planned on going to Mesopotamia Station(Ranch). They were holding a resupply package for us and we reserved a cottage for the night. The cottage had three bedrooms and a fully stocked kitchen. The cottages are popular with hunters and fisherman. We made stew, steaks, burgers and Parker made some beef jerky. We ate the whole leg in two days. We were a couple of hungry trampers! We still talk about that thar leg that was gifted to us by the Kiwi hunters.

Rangitata River Crossing

The next day was a big day for us since we were crossing New Zealand's second biggest River, the Rangitata. It is a braided river so it required over 20 crossings, just to get from one side to the other. We were told that it was pretty low and that it was doable. We just had take our time and choose our route carefully. Most of the channels were narrow and shallow but we had two wider and deeper sections. The last one was the longer one and the water was moving much faster. Parker is always up stream so he can block the flow for me. Halfway through our crossing, I was almost swept away. Parker had a death grip on me and I righted back up. We took a few second to recover and compose ourselves but had to keep going. The water was freezing cold and it hit me below my chest. It was extremely difficult to lift our legs due to the force of the water and our legs were tiring. I almost had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the crossing but made it through. I was shaken the rest of the day.

This section was through the incredible Mesopotamia Station Valley and the Rangitata River Valley. It offered our favorite views so far, our first thar leg, a shaky river crossing and overall a very eventful nine days.