Day 91 - Geraldine

 

I continued on the trail between the two river plains today. There’s yet another cyclone coming through NZ, it’s hitting the North Island hard but it is petering out around my area. Not sure what an accurate forecast is but this morning was misty. 

This next section is the area used to film Rohan in lord of the rings. Very exciting. Dramatic golden mountains. 

11 am photo

It was a cruisey day on the old farmer tracks. Time went quick and I cranked 25km before lunch. Rohan is pretty. 

There’s another massive river plain ahead of me, the Rangitata. Once again most go around but this one can be crossed in good conditions. I passed a NOBO today who said he just crossed it and it was tame. With this in mind I decided I’d go for it too. However he said it would take me 4 days, and that bad weather is coming. 

Potts river leading into mighty Rangitata valley in the distance. 

I reached the end of the trail where I would start the 2hrs journey across Rangitata river. It was here, however, I ran into a group of walkers waiting for a shuttle they booked to take them around. They warned me of bad weather coming in. I’m not concerned about bad weather but the next section is suppose to be beautiful and I’d like to get some nice views. So I figured I’d join their group and pay for the shuttle too. Hitching is difficult here, only 2 cars an hour come down this backcountry road. 

I resigned myself to not continuing hiking, and take the shuttle to town. Just then a bus came 

 down the road. Chelsea and me ran out with our thumbs out to try our luck. The bus pulled over and offered us a lift. Not only was this a nice comfy bus, but it was a tour bus going around to show off Lord of The Rings filming locations. I couldn’t believe my luck, a miraculous hitch and it was a lord of the rings bus to boot. I spent the next hour listening to cool lotr facts and getting pointed out filming locations. Perfect. The next two hitches to get to town were my easiest yet. It’s because I’m hitching with a Chelsea, girls have it so easy. We reached town early without paying a thing. A weird turn of events.  It looks like I’m taking a zero tomorrow here for now.