Today- 18km from Taipo Hut to Careys hut

Total 2708km

Shortie but a goodie today. Had a great sleep last night, comfy in my warm sleeping bag ,the rain coming down pitter patter on my tent.

Had a good first few hours walking through the valley, which just got more and more beautiful as it went.

Definately still appreciating the good views. A few people around are definately ready to be finished with it all and are steam rolling to Bluff without much ado to the trail anymore.

I’m still having a blast, and every day something good happens, even if it is just having fun with my trail friends.

Although some of the track was a bit boggy and muddy, dry feet were the order of the day.

The few streams we had to cross could be boulderhopped.

Passed Les and Ron, two older kiwi guys, and then passed Marion and Francois a little later.

Saw some cute baby cows and their families, in a classic NZ setting .

We also passed the 2700km mark! Incredible. Although not actually an official mark so we made our own when we had lunch.

Met Christine and Julius at Boundary hut, having a morning snack and we had some cheese and a short rest before pressing on.

The next 6km were easy walking 4WD track , sometimes wet but really easy walking and we made quick time despite chilling out.

Descended down to Careys Hut, a old 6 bunker, really spacious and in a delightful setting right on Mavora lake. What a treat!

Arriving just after 1, it was a rest afternoon. Drinking tea, attempted lake swimming [it was a little chilly] and eating many snacks was the afternoons schedule. And napping of course .

Through the rest of the afternoon we saw familiar faces passing through, Wieke arrived and decided to stay, and Liv and Dan, and Jasper and Marte all passed through, looking to go a bit further to be able to short cut to the road for a hitch tommorrow.

Yerin, another kiwi showed up and shes staying so it was cool to catch up with her.

Awesome spot for a chill day. We should be in Te Anau on the 14th, so we will head to Kiwi Burn hut tommorrow, and enjoy another hut arvo.