Today- 24.4km from Lake Middleton campsite to camp at 2487.6km

Total -2487.6km

Woke up toasty warm, but it had been a cold clear night. After enjoying some bars for breke, went back to bed and read my book for a while.

View from the tent. Lazy mornings are the best! The sun cameup on my tent. Emerged from the tent about 10am, and decided to have a lazy day and leave after lunch, despite having a full day of hiking to do.

Ate lunch on the lake shore of Ohau, such a beautiful spot. Was warm and enjoyable. Saw Myriam hiking past, and then got going a bit later.

Was sluggish starting off, the sun was hot and starting late hadn’t done us any favours.

But the track was super nice and started gaining elevation on a 4WD track. Good views of Ohau were behind. Passed a group of hikers, Valeria, Fabrice and Sarah, and kept going another few kms to a viewpoint and picnic table.

I was feeling all good but Emeric was struggling this arvo. We had a big climb ahead of us. I headed off and was slow and steady to the top.

It was nicely forested and then broke out of the treeline a bit later with great views. Definately getting into Otago, the scenery is changing slightly. Still the classic alpine tussock present, and lots of streams on this part of the hike.

Followed the sparse marker poles up and down steeply to the stream down some scree slopes.

Stopped for a break when I could feel I was losing concentration. Lots of breaking your ankle territory today , so had to be alert at all times. Enjoyed some cheese and crackers and chocolate.

Had 11k to go to get to the camp area we had looked at for the night.

Kept on keeping on, and the terrain was favourable for going fairly fast, with only a few more tricky bits left.

Some people found it difficult to follow the trail markers in this area but I found it no worries, and Emeric and I joked it was because we were always off trail anyway.

Smashed the last few hours hiking and got to camp and popped the tent, had a nice dinner and enjoyed crawling back into my sleeping bag, hopefully it’s not too cold tonight. I’m super glad I brought my warm sleeping bag, a lot of people have been getting pretty chilly at night for the last week.