Day one (written contemporaneously but published on return to civilization – sorry for the spoiler).
Woke at 5 am with a bladder infection. Perfect timing. However, luckily I had the requisite antibiotics on hand and a little bit of googling told me that the effect of nitrofurantoin on gut flora isn’t as bad as I feared so I tried not to lose heart. I was a little upset to discover from my GP husband that the new recommendations are for one tablet four times a day for five days instead of three times a day for three days. Hooray to the medical authorities for the extra burden! However luckily I don’t get nausea as a side effect which pleases me greatly. I imagine either feeling sick or having a raging UTI doing one of the Great Walks would be a downer.
There’s rain forecast in the next week but today has been hot and sunny. A tedious bus drive to Te Anau was followed by a brisk and invigorating (=windy) hour long boat trip to the starting point of our trip.
The first night is spent only 20 minutes walk in, at Glade Hut. We went for an hour long nature walk loop, though, shortly after our arrival, where we learnt a new word: rooty, meaning full of roots (to trip over). We finished that walk, which was in beautiful beech forest, at 5pm, but it was still hot, so I joined some of the group for a swim in the Clinton river. It was very refreshing. I swam in my bra and tramping shorts which I really hope will be dry by the morning.
I wore my new tramping sandals today which were very comfortable so I was very disappointed to discover a blister on my toe when I took them off. Tomorrow is a big day but mostly flat and hot and dry so I’ll try the same sandals with tape over my toe – not that you would care particularly and why should you? It’s not very interesting. it’s just that I’ve spent months agonizing over my footwear for this trip, to the exclusion of any other aspect, so it would be very disheartening to get it wrong.
Delicious three course meal with wine followed, and all would have been lovely except they made us stand up and introduce ourselves to everyone which was awful. I was the second person to speak and was completely unable to say anything amusing at such short notice. Mortifying. Everyone else in the group seems very pleasant – there are 44 of us, with four guides. Only two participants are under 50, but most look very fit. We are all hoping the weather holds out. The bush is looking very dry at the moment I must say.
No cell phone coverage, and there won’t be any for several days. An unusual experience in this day and age. Most upsetting is that my duolingo (language learning app) is going to keep trying to nag me to do my French practice, and I will lose my 35 day streak.