Start slow and taper off

We're not rushing into things. We spend two days in Christchurch catching up with old friends, buying gear and food. Plotting routes and mistakes.
I'm reluctant to make a big deal of our plans, there are so many things that could stop us before we start. My foot is injured and healing (plantar fasciitis) and I worry it will stop me.

Steve, bless him, dropped us off at Hanmer Springs and the Meetup. The Meetup was cool. Paddlers from all over the world. It was great being in a crowd where you weren't the only weird one.

We got sage advice from Jeremy Platt who two years ago magnificently converted his paddle into a scooter and scooted and packrafted the length of the South Island. (No really, he did. Google Titter Platt Traverse if you don't believe me).

We paddled the great Waiau, Acheron and hurunui Rivers and learned some new skills.

The original plan was to  start in ship cove and finish in Bluff following approximately the The Araroa (TA) route.  But a realistic assessment of days available and my plantar fasciitis foot injury and the desire not to be rushed and to allow time in Fiordland and save days hitching to Picton we decide to start where we are at Lewis Pass. Among the cool packrafters we meet at the Meetup is Karen an Alaskan. She joins us for the first section through to Lake Brunner.  She is a tough old retired Alaskan rafting guide.

Martin and Emma kindly drop us at Windy point and with heavy packs maybe 17 kg we follow the orange triangles through beautiful open beech forest. I drink straight from the pretty creeks running over mossy rocks. We walk in silence. Then we walk telling our stories.

It is nearly five months since I last tramped. I move slow and steady. My foot hurts a little and the pack feels heavy. I am happy to be here. So happy. We breeze past the haunted Hope Halfway hut. The rain starts soon after and we have regrets. We camp between showers beside the river.