24 Feb, hot, dry and sunny.

I left my room at 8:30 to walk the Whakatipu Track. The 70+ yo bikers were wiping the dew from their bikes and bade me farewell. They said ” fancy walking all that way with that on your back”. We exchanged a bit of banter about avoiding Queenstown and I headed off.

I had to collect my resupply box from Queenstown and so my plan was to buy a tight fitting mask and avoid crowds.

From the Holiday Park I walked a route set by Google. It took me through the back of the village down to Millbrook.

At this stage it was warm enough to shed a layer and remove gloves and swap my beany for my bucket sunhat.

The route took me through delightful retirement flash homes as well as through the golf course.

Couples were out walking the easy and well manicured tracks and many stopped to chat.

After the Millbrook village I walked the road to the Shotover bridge and shaved time off walking down and around Lake Hayes, this followed a cycle track. There were several cyclist out and about when I neared the Shotover River.

A short walk through trees brought me up and under the Highway.

As Iapproached The Five Mile Shopping centre I stopped to get supplies and had some lunch. A short time later I found Ginny and Nick eating their lunch so we stopped and did a little planning together.

They still had supplies to buy and so I left them to it and finished my shopping. The bus was 13 minutes to Queenstown and so I used my Bee card and travelled for free.

I found the Queenstown Black Sheep Backpackers and hiked up the other side of town to carry two resupply boxes back to sort and prepare to send on. I also made arrangements for the shuttle tomorrow for Ginny and Nick although I am not taking the Routeburn side trip.

Down the hill for the third time to get tape and arrange the couriers.

Ginny and Nick texted to say let’s meet and so we had a proper meal down at the pier. Not many people around and everyone wearing their masks. We had some selfie fun.

Back into the bush tomorrow starting at The Greenstone River.