Thursday March 2, 2023 - Arthur's Pass

Deb here, as the guest blogger for the day. Usually I just do editing, but poor John has a nasty cold and ended up spending all day in our Air BnB, asleep for much of it. We'd both hoped that he might sleep it off and feel better today, but no such luck.

I took my time in the morning, since this was the first day that we didn't need to get up at the "butt crack" of dawn to catch a flight, which was lovely. Arthur's Pass Village is in the heart of the mountains, with views every way you look. The morning started out a bit cloudy, but the weather turned sunny as the day wore on. 

I wandered over to the store/cafe mid-morning, in search of some soup for John, but no such luck. I did score a yogurt, apple, chicken sandwich for later, and some chips, along with a free packet of "lemsip" (apparently a must for cold relief, according to the clerk). Back at the cabin, John continued to sleep and I looked into my options for the day. There's all kinds of short walks and hiking here, called tramping in NZ. 

When I was here in 2020 with Hannah and Erick we'd planned a 2 night backpacking adventure, following the Edwards Hawdon route. The plan was for a hike to the Edwards Hut the first day, stay there, and then climb a mountain pass the second day, staying in the Hawdon Hut, and then back down to Arthur's Pass. All was going beautifully, including the weather, until an hour away from the Edwards Hut on the second day Erick slipped and broke his ankle. This resulted in a helicopter rescue for Erick and a very long day of hiking and driving for Hannah and me, but that's a story for another day.

So... back to today. Yesterday at Castle Hill we'd run into a Backroads group, and I'd had a chance to chat with one of their guides. Backroads is a competitor of Country Walkers, and I've had the opportunity to run into their groups at other times. I talked with their guide a bit and asked her for their South Island itinerary, and she mentioned that the group was based in Arthur's Pass for 2 nights, and that tomorrow they'd be hiking the Bealey Spur Track. I figured that if Backroads was hiking that trail it must be a good one.

At about noon I woke John up (briefly) and told him of my plan to hike the Bealey Spur Track. I put my pack together, grabbed the car keys, and headed the few miles to the trailhead. This was my first time driving on the left side of the road and it wasn't bad. Fortunately the traffic was light and I didn't have any roundabouts to contend with, so I made it to my destination incident free. By this time it was a gorgeous day, with lots of sun and puffy clouds.

I parked and walked up to the trailhead and part of the Backroads group was there, with the same guide I'd met yesterday. I chatted with the group and had a total flashback to my time guiding Country Walkers groups. The group there had been the ones to turn around early, but they'd loved the hike. One man said twice "this was the most technical hike I've ever done", which made me wonder what was up ahead!

Anyway, a great hike that started through a beech forest, and was very reminiscent of hiking on the Long Trail in Vermont. Lots of moss, lush greenness, and many exposed roots to walk around/over (guessing the roots were what the Backroads guest had referred to as "technical"?). I felt as though I was back hiking in New England.

As I got higher the landscape changed. I popped out of the woods and into brown grass (called "tussocks" here). The views just kept getting more spectacular, with the trail occasionally going back into the woods before opening up into the tussocks once again. I think the best word to use to describe the landscape here is "expansive", with everything so grand. Simply wonderful.

The trail went up to the Bealey Spur Hut, but I stopped a bit before then since I didn't want to be gone too long. Along the way I ran into two more clusters of Backroads guests and their guides, and they wer
e all super happy with the walk. I turned around and headed down, figuring I hiked maybe 6-7 miles total, but I didn't have any way of tracking my route since my phone is in airplane mode. We'd hoped to get a SIM card for my phone but that hasn't happened yet.

I returned back to the Air BnB around 4:15 and John was still sleeping, poor guy. After a shower and cold drink, I wandered over to the Wobbly Kea Restaurant to see about takeout for dinner. They're as understaffed and overworked as the folks at the store/cafe, so by 5:30 they weren't allowing any more dine-in business, only takeout. I put in an order for a Wobbly pizza, and walked toward the other end of the town while I was waiting. Picked up the pizza, walked back to our place, and spent the rest of the evening thinking about plans for what comes next. We're supposed to start our walking trek on the Banks Track tomorrow, but our plans might change. Stay tuned!