We both had a great night’s sleep back in the tent again. The last time we’d used it was right after our nearly 50km day and it felt nice to be back inside and on the air mattresses. We also had the luxury of grits with eggs and cheese for breakfast. We’d packed some grits in our bounce box and they’re now distributed over the top half of the South island and we also bought some Backcountry style eggs to rehydrate and cook, which when mixed with grits and two hungry hikers turned out to be pretty good. The day warmed up pretty quickly and by the time we got going I was comfortably in my usual shorts and t-shirt. The hike climbed quite quickly and we immediately started to get some stunning views.

The trail easily followed a ridgeline that climbed up to a high point. We were on private track at this point and there were an amusing number if signs about who’s land it was and interestingly a lot of directional signs with distances to international cities.

It was quite easy tramping with the track really just continuing on like this for most of the day. Several steep but reasonable up and down sections and tons of stunning views. Definitely some of the easiest hiking for the level of views we were getting. Everytime we did stop we would quickly have a few Weka snooping around trying to steal some food. Thankfully none of them got anything and we’re so hungry there certainly aren’t any crumbs.

We eventually hit a good spot for lunch and stopped at a nice picnic bench. We were joined by a couple other sheeple who decided to stop and have lunch as well since we were. One couple was brave enough to share the bench with us (maybe we don’t smell to bad yet) and we chatted with them for a bit. They were glamping the Queen Charlotte Track and only carrying their lunch. The guy commented that he wasn’t really hungry and didn’t want his sandwich, which I obviously quickly responded that we were always hungry. Unfortunately he didn’t take my hint so we continued on with a small sandwich shape hole in our stomachs. We passed a memorial that marked the turnoff for most peoples campsite but kept on going for another few hours to get to our campsite. Turns out people who don’t hike everyday actually hike pretty slow so we’ve been doing two days in one for what you’re supposed to do on the track.

We came down off the trail slightly to a private campsite we’d heard about. It’s nothing special but has a shelter, flat grass, and a stove. It also has a store but it was closed by the time we got here (before 6pm) and apparently doesn’t open until 10am. Two missed food opportunities in one day.