Day 106-107 Queenstown

A light rain as I started walking today. Cooler weather was appreciated after the last hot few days. I’ll make my way through the Reese Valley today and if all goes well hitch my way into Queenstown. 

Little tunnel

11am photo. Walking through the middle of a wide valley. The warden at Dart Hut gave me the tip of not walking on the official track but walking in the middle on an old ATV track. Good tip because the official track was very up and down. 

The rainy weather made the mountains beside me covered in low lying clouds. The glaciers on the mountains were just visible. 

After a wet morning in the rain and crossing I reached the parking lot for the Reese Valley. I intended to hitch hike out of here but it turned out to be a very small parking lot. Only 3 cars in it, looks like a long walk down the road. As I was walking the road a truck passed and I got lucky enough to get a hitch. It was a horse guiding vehicle. My lucky day. From here it was a simple hour and 2 hitches to get to Queenstown. I was in the town by 3pm. 

I ended up taking yet another zero in Queenstown. Queenstown is a lively place. Tourist central of New Zealand, imagine Banff but about 5x bigger. Self proclaimed title of “Adventure capital of the world”. Lots of things to do here, an excellent place to spend a lot of money very quickly. 

Here’s a steam powered ship running on the this lake since before the Titanic. The only and oldest coal powered vessel in the southern hemisphere. 

Joren and Florian caught up from the normal TA route from Wanaka, and Leas in Queenstown who I haven’t seen since the Tararuas, a whole Island away. We went to the infamous Ferg Burger, a place so popular that there’s a line from dawn till dusk to get a burger. It’s a thing I guess, so I had to get one myself. 20$ burger, but I’ll be dammed it might be worth the hype. NZ puts eggs and beets on their burgers and I’m a fan. 

I bought a new foam mattress here. The days of sleeping on the cold bumpy ground are over. Also a foam mat won’t leak on me. 

Tomorrow I’ll head onwards to the start of the next section, another detour. The Routeburn. My journey south continues.