Te Anau! A day of personal hygiene, food that hasn't been made by tipping hot water into a bag, and a chance to replenish stocks of dinners, snacks and clean clothes.
Our nice wee crib has two bedrooms inside, and a sleepout bedroom attached to the garage that Mike and I are in.
First task for the day - an iced latte at a café. That's always the first task.
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| Civilisation means iced lattes |
Second task - walk to the DoC Office to check in for Routeburn and get our briefing. A small amount of fun and games changing Iona's name from "A" to "Iona". In theory it is vital that your name matches your ID for every hut you come to, and that you have a stamped paper copy of your booking sheet. In practice, nobody cares and any last minute updates you do don't get sent to the Hut Wardens anyway.
Third task - buy a clothes horse. We have a lot of pungent tramping clothing to wash, and the house didn't come with a clothes horse.
It does now.
The day wasn't super warm or super dry, so we converted our bedroom into a drying room, with fans and heaters ensuring a speedy dry.
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| Iona gets close and personal with Takahe |
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| Washing means drying and drying means a clothes horse |
With our tasks mostly complete, it was time for late lunch at a place called Ditto. It was absolutely delicious - so much so that I was obliged to leave a five star Google review. Bizarrely, our waiter was the same bloke as had been running the pub (underhanded and stressed) on the Tuesday afternoon when we were in town before Milford. Yes, that's me he said. He'd got sick of the grief at the pub of trying to run the whole front of house and bar by himself so he'd quit and moved here instead. He looked much happier and much more relaxed as a café waiter.
Back home for more takeaways and Aussie Ninja on the TV. Routeburn, bring it on.
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