Out of the Tākitimus

30km 8.75hrs

We knew that today was going to be a long one. It's across Linton station so they don't want you stopping anywhere until you are done. They also have a lot of signs saying "te aroroa walkers STOP if you go past this sign the police will be called" which makes you think they must have had some issues in the past. Unfortunately we did see some walkers who passed us ignoring those signs as well.

The station is really pretty, from the fenced off streams to the massive arboretum like plantings near a lake it was pretty much all lovely. We did have to walk through flocks of sheep and herds of cows and all the business they do but other than being a bit smelly they were all good.

It was quite obvious that the 2 groups of hikers we saw were not familiar with livestock. They didn't slow down for the sheep, causing them to panic and run away all over the place. One guy was waving his arms to scare them away which made me cringe a bit. When we got into a paddock with cows and calves he was out of his depth and waited for us to catch up to tell him how to get through.. the cows were pretty chill, they just big.

There was one interesting section where we came around a hill and there was thick fog, then we went around the next and the fog disappeared.

With about 1km to the end the trail went through a paddock that had been badly pugged, then dried with long grass which is just about the worst terrain for rolling ankles and hurting tired feet, then 300m from the end Karen rolled her ankle quite badly which really sucked, luckily no bruising and swelling immediately apparent so she was able to hobble to the end.

Phil had organized a little treat for us at the end of the tramp and booked the 3 of us into a motel in Winton... showers that are not shared and metered, toilet next to the bedrooms - what a treat!Read more