tramping new zealand

It turned out mosquitoes and mice were issues at Thisbe Biv.

I dealt with the mice by getting rid of the bodies and draining the tank. The mozzies could get through the ventilation panel in the door, and I had eight more to dispatch in the morning.

And that was the Catlins.

Highlights were the flowering southern rata on the way to Tautuku Biv and the first section going up to Maclennan Biv with the silver beech trees, the largest I’d ever come across. Kakariki were heard but not seen in a number of places.

Now it was something different: the Eyre Mountains just south of Lake Wakatipu, so strangely almost back to the same area as last week.

I’ve been through the Mavora Lakes route on the way north on Te Araroa ten years ago, and it looked interesting. It was part of large sheep runs in the past, but DOC has taken over, and the sheep have gone.

I suppose Mount Nicholas station generates the majority of its revenue from the Queenstown tourists who arrive from the north by boat, rather than having a long, dusty drive.

I saw a few cyclists on the Around the Mountain Bike Trail chewing some dust, but it seems to me they were going to enjoy it more in retrospect.

They weren’t smiling despite my slowing to a crawl as they pedalled towards me.

I had to sort out the food and my pack for another two nights once again, but didn’t feel in any hurry.

Those mosquitoes had woken me up around 3 30 am, and I found it impossible to get back to sleep.

No sandflies at the new hut that I had noticed, so hopefully I’d get a better/longer sleep in the following morning.

It was a lot hotter and drier than the Catlins, and it didn’t look like people had left ice cream containers hidden in the long grass for the mozzie larvae to breed in. I assumed mice would be around, so like any sensible tramper, I’d be packing my food away overnight, deep in a closed-up pack.