A Dangerous Business

Date: 19th February 2024

Start: Arrowtown (km 2680.4)

End: Queenstown (km 2709.1)

Distance Travelled: 28.7 km

Total Distance Completed: 2555.6 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: the sweet sound of turbofan engines roaring overhead

Approach into Queenstown Airport: one of the best in the world

As expected I didn’t sleep well, although I have had worse nights on trail. On the plus side, we weren’t leaving early and the weather was better than anticipated. You might be thinking we’re a bit silly for leaving late on a day where we have to walk over 28 km, but we had a secret weapon: a rented Toyota Corolla driven by none other than my dad. Yes, my parents had agreed to transport everyone’s packs into Queenstown, leaving us with a full day of slack packing.

Not before breakfast, however, which today was a plate of French toast, cream, and bacon (a combination that doesn’t deserve to work but does excellently). Eli joined our gang for the day as we set off from Arrowtown and walked through Millbrook Resort’s golf course, home of the New Zealand Open.

Descending down to Lake Hayes, I laid eyes on something horrific. Eli was talking with Oli. “That seems fine to me” you might say, but it wasn’t. See, one thing you ought to know about Oli is that he’s a bit of a goofball. At times he can say the most ridiculous things (e.g.: calling pine cones “kiwi eggs”), most of the time directed at me. And now he was bringing all these things up to my younger sibling. Who kept enabling him. Because what are siblings good at if not roasting and clowning on their counterpart. I fear for what is going to come out of Oli’s mouth in these last couple of weeks.

In all seriousness, it’s all in good fun and I was glad my trail family was so willing to temporarily adopt Eli into the fold. However, as fun as these first couple of hours were, Eli was struggling physically with the dreaded blisters. We soon fell back and I made the call to break for an early lunch, thinking we could catch up with them later on. We found a cafe in a new housing development where I went for a couple of fish tacos and a cold brew coffee, Eli opting for a smoothie and some potato skins. Lunch now digesting, we resume our journey, now following the Kawarau River. Do you know what else follows the Kawarau River? Planes coming into land at Queenstown Airport.

If you aren’t aware of Queenstown or its geography, it’s very hilly. Some might even say it’s mountainous. The city has, however, shoehorned an airport on a flat bit of land in Frankton. To get the planes to the runway, they have to descend through the Kawarau Valley in between The Remarkables and the unnamed hills on the other side. It’s an incredibly complex approach that I find immensely exciting as a passenger as we twist and turn through the valley. And now I could see several jets doing just that right over my head, including one Qantas fight that had to execute a missed approach. If you’re wondering why they don’t come over Lake Wakatipu (lakes typically being much wider than rivers), the prevailing winds don’t allow for it, especially today where we’d been given a strong wind warning by Metservice that was blasting us right in the face.

Back to walking, Eli’s feet continued getting worse. They’d already decided to call it a day at Frankton, but now it was looking like they might need to end even earlier. Our pace slowed to a crawl as we made our way underneath the highway and towards the old bridge over the Shotover River, watching a jet boat scream underneath carrying a bunch of tourists.

Mum and dad met us on the other side to take Eli back to our accommodation in Arrowtown. Good news for them and good news for me, because now I could open the taps and catch up with the rest of the squad. It didn’t take long as they’d taken a lengthy break outside a servo in Frankton.

Our path then took us past the 2700 km mark, Queenstown Events Centre, and the airport where sadly I could not catch any take-offs in what would’ve been a spectacular spot to watch them.

Heading away from the airport, we reached the shore of the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu. Remember how I mentioned the wind earlier? Yeah, well now without any infrastructure in the way – natural or man-made – we were greeted by gust upon gust of headwind coming off the water.

It didn’t abate as we started down a pathway by the lakefront that would take us all the way into Queenstown. A handful of trees did their best, but they could only provide so much protection. Despite this I was in a good mood, likely helped by not having to carry my pack all this way. It meant I had more energy to discuss important matters with Oli, such as the inconsistencies with English grammar. For example, normally if I want to say that I entered a vehicle, I say I got in it (“in a car”), but for planes I’d say, I got on a plane. Our conclusion was that English is a silly language and left it at that.

Our journey took us round the Queenstown Gardens, catching a glimpse of the many disc golf baskets contained within it. Oh, and all the trees too, I guess they’re also cool. Around the other side, the path goes past a playground, the path itself having been covered in this soft, spongey material that made all six of us collectively go “ooh” when we stepped on it. Walking around the corner, we finished the last few metres by passing underneath a war memorial archway, commemorating the end of this section of Te Araroa.

The trail resumes over by the Greenstone River on the far northern bank of the Wakatipu where the only access is via a very narrow and busy highway. As such, the lake marks another break in the continuum of the trail, akin to the Cook Strait or the two major braided rivers we went around further north. Tomorrow we’ll take a rest day and the day after we will take a shuttle around the lake.

For now, Matt, Oli, Paul, and Maria had a quick walk up to the holiday park (who were charging over $80 per night to camp there) where they met the Southward Courier Service who returned their packs to them. In the meantime, Melly and I had joined the hallowed queue outside Fergburger, a time-honoured Queenstown tradition. Through a mixture of it being the off-season and just them being more efficient since I was last here, it only took 13 minutes to place my order and another 10 to receive my falafel burger. Once the rest of the party joined us, I remembered why so many people choose to wait in line for this place. The burgers slap hard (translation for anyone outside Gen Z: they’re really good burgers). Capping the night off with an ice cream from Patagonia, I said goodbye to Paul and Maria who would leave early to retrieve their car from Glendhu Bay and left for Arrowtown to stay in a nice, comfy farmstay. I can definitely feel the end of the trail approaching quickly which I’m very much in two minds about. I’m excited to go home, but also saddened about the idea of separating from my trail family. I’m sure we’ll stay in contact, but it’s gonna be hard to meet a German, a Swiss, and a Melbournian in person again (well, the latter is a bit easier). As long as the company is true, I’ll aim to enjoy the time I have with them.