2708 - Te Anau
The walk out to Mavora Lakes was beautiful. For some reason though I kept looking at every place and going,"that would be a good place to build". There was one place especially at the corner of two valleys looking down over the first lake.
The lakes are, if largely unpopulated by people, well populated by sandflies. I would really like to read a paper on sandflies, they don't bite at night, they like black, only the females bite, and they are prepared to take substantial casualties in order to get my blood. In the end all you can do is to keep on walking.
At the end of the first lake is a huge empty DOC campground which didn't give me much hope for catching a ride to Te Anau. But I was proved wrong when a car reversed up the road and provided a ride not only to Te Anau but to the pie shop.
That night I slept in one of the worst campgrounds I have ever slept in between the main road and a driveway with a helicopter flight path overhead. Not conducive to sleep.
Hindsight
- Hitchhiking in New Zealand is easier with a female.
- I found out later it was a helicopter medical flight. It was still a terrible campground.
- I liked Te Anau very much.
- The pies were good.
- In a lot of ways, this was the end of my Te Araroa journey. We continued down and did other walks but they were all off trail. I have added them to the end of this anyway. I also found I really didn't care about whether I was on the trail or not by this point. I was enjoying myself, walking and seeing New Zealand. I was happy.
Te Anau Map
