We enjoyed another nice hike on the 34km Motatupu Track (Fern Burn Hut Track). This is a challenging multi-day hiking track with huts (both track building and huts gifted by singer Shania Twain). Since we were meeting some friends at their condo at 4pm, we had to cut the hike short and get back to town. We missed out on the challenging part!
We did meet 2 young Americans who were returning from an overnight stay at one of the huts. They said that it was very challenging both in the route-finding and in the steepness.
We liked the easy travel along the Fern Burn (Scottish word for valley) and then up and through the beech/tawai forest.
Speaking of Shania Twain. We had dinner the other night with the man who built her house in Wanaka. He is a close friend of my Kiwi friend Lisa. It took 2 years to build the house and then she and her husband split, so she has never lived in it. As far as building/funding the huts/tracks on her private land, it's a common thing to do in NZ.
Many sections of tracks in NZ are on private land, usually on Sheep Stations (HUGE farms). In today's paper, there was an article about the new 13km track opening not far from our apt. by the Clutha River. Now you can ride your bike/hike all the way to the town of Luggate. Building it and the bridge over the river involved 3 local Trusts, individual donations, Dept. Of Conservation, and supportive neighbors who allow people to trek on their private land.
Whenever you are tramping along on tracks, you'll see signs that say to please be respectful of the land that you are walking on and not to hurt the livestock. I've never seen any litter anywhere on a track. There are over 45 tracks not far from where we live. It's wonderful to be able to explore and enjoy the out-of-doors on a wide-range of tracks in many different kind of terrain.
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