Day 83 - Hope Kiwi Lodge

I spent a half day in the morning getting organized and doing some paperwork. My friends already left to hitch back to where we left off the trail. I tried to get a coffee in the morning but every where had a 20min wait. Get me out of this town. 

As usual I kept running into other hikers I knew in the town either coming in from hiking or taking a zero. Always nice to see where all my hiker friends are at. Eventually I started my hitch out of town, another easy hitch and 2hrs later I was hiking again.  

It was a fairly simple walk, 26km but over simple enough terrain; treeless valley bottoms. During this section my right ankle started acting up. It got to the point of being painful. Not a good sign. 

I reached Hope Kiwi Lodge where some of my friends were staying around 7:30. I think this hut used to be a ranch farm house but has since been converted by DOC into a functioning backcountry hut.