From Manuka Hut to Geraldine
Hiking time: 07:00a.m.-03:45p.m.
Daily/Total distance: 33km /617km (215.5 hitched/skipped)
Steps: 45360
Weather: cloudy all day with a fee rays of the sun peeking through

The morning started out early. With the alarm at 6am the two Canadians and me were up and getting ready. The American decided to lie in a bit longer. I got ready and set out at 7am. The weather was nice and clear and the track continued on the 4W track from the previous day.

There were some hills to conquer, and after one there was a low cloud over lake Emily.

Coming down into the valley, we had to walk right into the cloud, just as the sun was moving over the mountains into the valley.

Then the track continued on the 4W track and was easy to walk on. The backdrop with he Southern Alps was great to look at

Soon though the trail moved onto a gravel road which one has to walk on for 4.4km. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Especially with close to no traffic coming and going. At some point a dog came in my direction. She approached the Canadian a few hundred metres in front of me, then also stopped next to me, wanting some pats. Of course I couldn’t resist. Then she continued on towards the farm station that I had passed when turning onto the street.

After the road walk the trail continued on through flats of tussock with some hills.

This now looked very familiar as the lands of Rohan from the Lord of the Rings.

This scenery made the walk even more enjoyable. Especially as I was also listening to the Lord of the Rings Complete Recordings. There was a final bigger ascent after which a view of the glaciers in the Southern Alps became visible. This was just phenomenal to look at. It also soon turned into the general direction the trail was heading to.

Then it went down steeply before continuing over hilly grounds. All the while with the glaciers in view. Towards the end there was one last very steep downhill into the riverbed before the trail continued through the Potts river bed until reaching the Rangitata river.

Here was the car park where the shuttle would pick us up. I got there at 3:45pm. The canadians were already there, as well as a guy from the netherlands. We still had about 1.5h to wait for the shuttle and I settled down to further diminish my bag of snacks. As I’m going into town I can get new snacks there.

The shuttle came at 5pm just as we were seeing the American guy form the previous hut in the distance. The driver was nice enough to wait for him as well and 15 min later he was there. He also told us, that the hill we can see further up the Rangitata river is actually the location where they build the city of Edoras for the Lord of the Rings. Further back is also the place where they find Helms deep. I took a picture of the hill where Edoras was and off we went.

We got to Geraldine at 6:30pm and he told us, where we would be picked up the next morning. The Dutch guy went to a backpackers while the 2 Canadians decided to wild camp in town again. They see no reason to pay for a tent space even when in town. Saying that you don’t have to on the long distance trails in the US. While they might think it is fine, they will end up destroying the hospitality for future hikers coming through by disregarding the no freedom camping rules placed over different areas. I understand their frustration with paying so much for pitching a tent, but those are the rules.

The American and I went to the holiday park where we were told a tent site would be 39$. At least we arrived together and were able to split the price between us. The tent site was big enough that there would have been space for 4 more tents. At least this park has unlimited hot showers. I guess ill take a long shower then.

Then I pitched my tent and went to the supermarket to buy more snacks for the next 3 days to Lake Tekapo. I also got fish and chips and called up Wayne from A2O for the shuttle the next morning. Afterwards I had my looong shower. It wasn’t exactly unlimited. You had to press a button to get 6 min of water. Then it turned off. But I just stuck my arm out if the cubicle and pushed the button again for a further 6min. Then I spent the rest of the night downloading a new audio book using the free unlimited WiFi of the park and went to bed after midnight with my alarm set to 7am for the 8am shuttle.