...I wake up and conclude it's good I still have some dry clothes for the last day.
...I run out of gas because I had thought mistakenly huts were equipped with cookers (other national parks sometimes do have cookers in huts) so only lukewarm tea and no warm breakfast
...I set out, trying to use my ziplock bags to protect everything fragile inside my pack as I have no rain cover anymore
...weather is not too bad and drizzle is light while the wind is not very strong. After 4 hours I meet two other parties heading toward the hut. First human presence since two days.
...I follow the river Young to its mouth where it falls into the Makarora. The village is on the other bank but the bridge is about 7 km away through a forest trail. I decide to follow the trail as the river looks deep.
...but after 20 mins through a gap in foliage I see the river (as I walk along it) has a shallow and slower spot. So i decide to ford it. Spontaneously. Never done that. I open my poles. And in I wade. At the deepest spot it's hip deep. Current is quite strong, water icy cold and the river about 20 m wide. I fight, stumble and almost fall one time but make it to the other bank safely. I'm wet through and through, My heart is pounding and in the distance I see cows watching the whole scene with a certain detachment, chewing grass like they always do.
...I walk to the village another 3 km and drive on to Wanaka, where I have possibly the best Indian meal ever, I treat myself to a chocolate naan too, hell I deserve a dessert!
...I find a dead deer in bushes on the side of the road when I stop to pee...
...I drive on to Queenstown, intent on making the Routeburn track two days later. All huts are full for a long time now as it's a busy season there and it's a very famous trek. But I figure it's only 32 km in easy terrain so what others do in 3 days I can do in 1. So I make some transport arrangements and buy bus tickets (the trek is not a loop so I have to get back to my car afterwards somehow)
...I fall asleep so tired I don't even realize my hotel is not called Beavers Lodge, as I had thought when I booked it, but Reavers Lodge...