Pt7 Day 11. Camp Stream Hut to Tekapo Village - 15/12/17.

Left just after 0700 and ended up doing 34km in 8 hours of walking. The GPS data is here.
​
We headed off first as Viggo was still asleep outside! We shot down the steep hill past the hut to the creek (dry foot). We then walked along Camp Stream for about 2km to the junction with Coal River, which was inevitably a wet foot crossing! We headed off down the true left of Coal River but after only 900m or so came to an orange pole pointing us up a steep climb. The initial steeper bit was about 500m long (160m vertical) but further climbing ensued until we started across more rolling tops. The notes say that you climb up to meet the road, but the road is actually quite some distance away! We carried on across rolling tussock until we reached the skifield road after 1h45 and 5.2km. We stopped here for a break and for B to rearrange her innersoles which were bunching up - not comfortable!

Sunrise from B's bed.

Nice spot for a dip - below the hut.

First creek at bottom of hill by hut.

This one was dry foot.

Heading up the steep climb not long after crossing Coal River.

Looking back after the steepest bit of the climb.

Stopped for break near the skifield access road.

We then headed off following what appeared to be a bike trail with a narrow little track that was near impossible to walk in. This was not the most exciting part of the day as we slowly descended towards Boundary Creek and then, parallel to this, down to the carpark at the road. Unfortunately as we were about a km away from the carpark I had a random stumble and twisted my ankle resulting in a bit of a sprain. We stopped at the carpark and I put some Voltaren cream on it and took some ibuprofen to try and ease it.

More views of Lake Tekapo as we cruised along rolling terrain.

This was typical of the narrow little ground path we followed - later we discovered it was because of regular use by mountain bikes.

Looking back up the Godley River valley.

Dropping down towards the road.

Local contractor was the first traffic we saw.

Reinforced with anti-inflammatories, we carried on and walked the remaining 17km into Tekapo, although it wasn't the most comfortable walk for me! This was pretty much all gravel road walking apart from the last bit into the township. The guys caught up with us while we were having lunch, sheltering from the wind behind a large rock. We arrived in Tekapo and noted the large number of tourists at the Church of the Good Shepherd - the photo below was actually taken by B on an early morning walk the next day, when tourist numbers were significantly less!! We walked to our lodgings and settled in to a 6-bed bunk room all to ourselves, with a rest day already planned for. This was handy as the ankle was quite swollen by now! Went out and had a lovely meal to top up our reserves! Caught up with the guys on our way out of the restaurant and joined them to chat and have a nightcap before heading back to the hostel and bed.

That shows part of what we had just completed.

Now walking alongside the lake.

This was our lunch rock - provided a little shelter against the wind.

Plenty of gravel road to walk into Tekapo!

B found another horse :-)

Perhaps surprisingly, we hadn't actually seen many sheep recently.

We got a bit of lakeside walking closer to town.

Wetland area beside the lake.

The dog .............

............ and it's plaque.

The famous Church of the Good Shepherd.