From the beginning, to help us with the mindset of what we wanted to do, we had a couple of guidelines.
Number One:    We wanted to walk ‘every step of the way’ - the good, the bad, the whatever.  We only deviated from that once and that was a tandem bike ride from Lake Tekapo to Twizel and it was a very wise decision (apart from Anthony’s sprained ankle which was the catalyst for us choosing this option, I feel having done it, it’s the way to go.  It is also a suggested option in the TA notes.)
Number Two:  No grizzles…….it worked. : )​

Video of us walking in early morning cloud is below.

A video below to show us about 30 minutes before Shoulder Knob.

Below is a video from Shoulder Knob - note how the clouds come and go between the previous video and this one.

A short sharp climb up from the swingbridge on a well-formed track saw us on a plateau with only just over a km to go - we almost got lost here because of a plethora of tracks and even had to rely on the GPS to tell us which grassy path to take!!  We finally dropped down to the Waiotauru River onto the Arcus Loop Track and headed for our last swingbridge of the TA - across to the carpark and picnic area.  We got a rather large surprise when we saw a congratulatory banner hung on the eastern end of the bridge as we approached.  We stopped for a photo under it and crossed the bridge to find another banner and a finishing tape strung across the bridge :-)  Julia had excelled herself and had a small reception of family and friends to welcome us - a very nice surprise for us, especially as the surprise included bubbly, beer and a barbeque!!  It was a lovely thought that capped off what has been a mammoth journey for us over 2 years and 4 months.  So that was it DONE - I’m sure both Belinda and I will have some more thoughts to add “post the event”, when we have had some more time to reflect on what it all means.  But, that’s the end of the walking part of the TA blog!!  Bye to all, and a big thanks to those who have followed progress and provided moral and physical support:-) ​

From the saddle/sign it was about another 130m (40m vertical descent) down to the hut in a rocky little washed-out track.  At the time we arrived (1615), it was reasonably clear and we hung the socks and gaiters out to dry - but by 1715 or so the misty cloud had rolled back in, obscuring any view and ensuring that the socks would not get any drier.  Figuring we could stand the smell, we hung them up inside instead!!  B had wipe down of benches and general clean as I got the dinner ready.  Another BCC Cooked Breakfast for dinner tonight (we love those!) - followed by an apricot crumble for dessert.  Note that this is the first time on the whole TA journey we have taken a dehydrated dessert with us (it was only three days after all) - a rare “treat”.  To top it all off, B had a couple of mini peanut slabs that we consumed as well.  It was, after all, the last night we would be staying in a hut on our TA journey :-(
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We got to bed at a reasonable hour only to be woken by mice (I was actually woken by B scrabbling around after the mice who were, in turn, scrabbling around!!!  We had already hung up our food bags earlier but that didn't stop the little suckers checking everything out.  B then hung her pack up (which I hadn't realised) but I could still hear something near mine so I got up and picked it up, whereupon a mouse jumped out and headed for the door!  I then hung mine up as well.  Yet again we heard rusting coming from the direction of B's pack so she took it down and took out all the drybags etc inside.  One of the little suckers had got its way into the bag for the air mattress!!  So B let that one out.  This too-ing and fro-ing with the mice continued - B reckons she chased about 6 mice out of the hut.  I reckon it was at least two that kept coming back :-)  A mousetrap might be a good idea in future - although this was probably the most disturbed we had been by mice anytime on our whole TA trip.  They were having a great laugh at our expense I'm sure.  Eventually some sleep was had - but not the most restful night!

Sara (another of Belinda's sisters - the advantage of a large family!!) picked us up at 0630 and dropped us off by the bridge at Poads Rd / Gladstone Rd intersection, where we had finished the previous section on 29/11/16. We ended up walking 17km today, arriving at 1600 or thereabouts, after 7 hours of walking time. Today also involved 1630m of ascent and 840m of descent - lucky we are still fit from our recent 700km stint in the South Island high country!  The GPS track data for the day is here.  

We weren't sure how we would go against the suggested times in the TA notes for this section so the first day would be an interesting test. As noted above, it ended up taking us 9 hours including stops (7 hours walking) against the TA's suggested 8-9 hours, so that gave us a pointer as to expected progress over the next couple of days.

​The day started just after 0700 with a 1km walk up Poads Road to the carpark at the start of the track, followed by another 1km or so across private farmland, before arriving at the boundary of the Tararua Forest Park, and the beginning of our, mainly,  bush walking for the day. 

From Butcher's Saddle we followed another ridgeline up and down through the bush for about 1.7km, not getting above 900m, until we arrived at Te Matawai Hut (about 890m asl).

Arriving at the hut about 1600h meant we had time to clean up and relax a bit after a reasonably physical day.   We cleaned ourselves off a little first - it had been a slightly muddy day - before I made a cuppa while B gave the hut a bit of a clean. The place was a bit of a tip with the floor not swept and benches covered in crumbs etc - a bit disappointing as it seems that only TA walkers have been in here in the last couple of days.  It’s so easy to give the huts a quick tidy up before you leave and a bit sad that people can’t think of others - maybe they have mothers or partners to run round and clean up after them at home?

B decided this was another opportunity to sleep outside as there was a nice covered deck outside the front door - and we were the only two occupants in an 18-bunk hut!  I, on the other hand, kept to the creature comforts of the inside bunks!  Despite the earlier low cloud, B did get to see a few stars :-)​

We had done most of our packing last night so had a relaxed rise in the motel, with plenty of cups of tea.  We left the motel about 0845 to walk up to the family, where Sam was duly cooking bacon and eggs (and mushrooms for B!) which was a nice change from muesli for us :-)  Had another nice catch up with the family before we headed off at around 1100 with Sam to go to Invercargill airport.  Stopped in at the supermarket on the way to get a roll of cling-film (see below!).

Our flight didn't go until 1330 so we had plenty of time to wrap our packs in the cling-film.  We have discovered that this is an easy way to prepare the packs for travel - beats buying cheap stow-bags or getting them commercially wrapped (a service available at some larger airports like Chch).  A few times around with the roll is enough to bind all the loose straps together, and is enough to last a short plane journey :-)

We had time for a snack and a drink for lunch and gave the remaining cling-film to the ladies behind the counter to avoid it being wasted!  The plane was on time so no travel issues today.  Julia, B's sister, had again kindly come in to pick us up from Wellington so we were soon heading home, arriving about 1630.  After all the relatively good weather we had had (and indeed it had been very hot and dry on the coast as well), we, of course, arrived home to a somewhat murky day.  The only photo for today shows the "view" (or not) of where Kapiti Island usually is as you come down the Pukerua Bay hill!!  Anyway - nice to be home after another 5 weeks and about 700km of tramping the hills of the South Island.  Now its just a matter of waiting for the weather to play ball so we can tackle our last three day stint in the Tararuas.  I will update again when that is finally completed :-)

A brief stint on a gravelled 4wd track saw us at Scotts Gap-Feldwick Rd, whereupon it was then gravel roads for about 3.6km until we entered Island Bush at the top of Hewitt Rd.  This was about a 3 km stretch that involved a gentle climb, ascending about 130m to the top before descending, eventually out onto Otautau-Tuatapere Rd.  We stopped for lunch in a more open glade amongst the trees just before leaving the 4wd track to start the descent. ​​

Then it was a short 2.5km stroll down the asphalt road to the junction with Merrivale Rd, which represents the completion of the South Island portion of TA for us!!  Maybe a slight anticlimax finishing where we did (and also considering that we only have 48km of the Tararuas to walk in order to complete the WHOLE TA) but still a major achievement for a couple of “oldies”.  So we were happy :-)

We arrived at Merrivale Rd junction about 1415 and about 5 minutes later Sam turned up to pick us up - so fantastic timing :-)  We set off for the almost 1.5 hour journey to Gore, stopping at Winton for food and drinks for all of us to top up the reserves!!  Sam dropped us at our motel (Esplanade Motels) where we have enjoyed staying before - nice establishment with very helpful hosts, and not too far from Sam’s place so we can walk to visit the family.

Had kebabs for dinner with the family tonight before heading back to the motel for a good night’s sleep.  The promise of Sam cooking us bacon and eggs in the morning, before taking us down to Invercargill airport, awaits :-)​

At around 17km on our GPS data we followed the TA GPS track ( a farm track) as we couldn’t see any poles.  Heading around the top of a plantation at about 17.8km we discovered a stile and marker that meant we had missed a poled route up the face!  As we were doing this little detour, we came across a shepherd trying to muster in a lone calf with his dogs.  The dogs were fantastic but it is always a challenge dealing with a lone calf - it was not being cooperative!!  We tried to keep out the way and then later tried to block an escape path (at the request of the shepherd) but the calf basically ran B over on the way through - so we headed on, being of no more use!!  We met a young couple going nobo and they also had missed the stile at the top coming the other way, so followed our (TA GPS) route here rather than the poled route as well.

Soon after, as we were skirting the eastern end of this plantation (22.6km on our Suunto GPS track), I was very lucky to spot another pole down to the right off the farm track we were following at the time.  This took us down a line of young gum trees that could have easily been missed.  In fact we later found that Javed had missed this entirely and got off-trail.  He had tried to go back and find where he had gone wrong but ran into a local farmer who told him to take the old route to get out onto Struan Flat Rd instead!!  So we weren’t the only ones with navigational issues on the new route through Mt Linton!!​