Day 21: Hanmer Springs zero day - the horse man conclusion

We had a zero day in Hanmer Springs today. We got in late last night after our hilarious hitchhiking experience which resulted with us a hundred dollars richer. We realized we were too late for the restaurants so we met Brent and David and Brent's sister for a few beers at the irish pub instead as we hadn't seen them for a week.

When you have hiked for four- five days and have done 75k in the last two days on very little food and water maybe having three beers was not the greatest of ideas in hindsight. The beers went straight to our head. But we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs catching up and letting them know of our crazy adventures that we'd had. So much so the bar tenders even came and sat with us when they closed the bar and we stayed there till 130am.

Today rather tired, we got up and we went out for breakfast. I had the most amazing banana and bacon pancakes with ice cream, fruit salad, and maple syrup. Twas incredible. I say it's a rest day but it isn't really. It's all about doing the washing, having a shower, washing your hair, buying any spare parts and most importantly going to the supermarket and re-supplying for the next section.

We hit the Hanmer Four Square early in the morning but all really wanting to just lay in bed and sleep. I was so busy doing things, i don't even think i ate lunch. But then it came time for dinner. I didn't even know what i felt like.

It was annoying because I'd been thinking about all these different types of foods on trail and you complain about the food but once you're off, you can't think of what you want to eat. We settled on Indian. Which was delicious because we haven't had that many flavorsome meals in a while. Sadly I could hardly even finish it or finish my butter naan. Normally that would be woofed down!

I went to the Hammer Springs hot pools in the afternoon to soothe my muscles. It was quite busy. The best part was actually the really nice shampoo and conditioner and body lotion provided in the changing rooms. That got me excited the most and almost worth the $35 entry fee alone.

We reunited with a few other hikers who were a day behind us and just getting into town. It was here I ran into Tim in the evening. Catching up on each other's last days as the last time I saw Tim, was when we left him in the clouds on Waiau pass with the German lady. Tim asked whether I ran into the man on the horse!

I gasped and laughed of course I saw the man on the horse. I told him of my strange interaction with him and said there has to be something not right with that man, it was so bizarre. Tim excitedly said he camped with them at Anne Hut and apparently he has been living in the bush for over three years. He lives off the land. He's in his mid-20s. And our two Dutch doctor friends think that he is either schizophrenic or seriously spaced out on some form of drug. Tim said at Anne Hut the guy started to cook up what the others thought smelt like meat but they didn't understand why he would have meat so many days from a town and so they went up to him to see what it was. He said it was a goose. He killed a goose!

He apparently knows how to sneak up on and catch Canadian geese with his hands, grabs it by the neck and he had killed this one with a tomahawk at Boyle flat hut, which made me shocked and laugh more because it puts everything into perspective, as to why there was an explosion of geese feathers that we had discovered at the hut a day earlier. It makes a lot of sense. It also makes me realize why i felt so un at ease when i passed him. He was also annoyed that this goose blunted the tomahawk.

But again the TA hiker goss provides much amusement and closure. We set off tomorrow to start a new section of the TA. Boyle village down to Arthur's Pass. It should take 6 days all going fine weather wise and the gnarly goat pass stretch is thrown in there too. I've heard so much about it being part of the Coast to Coast race that I'm really looking forward to doing it!

Ren x