I apologise for the lateness. I was distracted. Believe it or not but this has actually been written for about a month, uploading photos to the website though takes a lot of data/WiFi which I haven’t had much of recently!
Map
Here is the map:
https://onthegomap.com/s/scvm9rll
Summary
Sunday 15th January
Rob, Reid and I packed up at a leisurely pace. We made sure all of our electronics were fully charged and then put our packs on and walked out. This was the heaviest our packs had been (well, except me and when I lugged an extra 6kg up the Tararuas. Throwback), Reid’s pack had so much stuff hanging off the side of it since it didn’t all fit inside! We wanted one last taste of civilisation, so we headed to a café and sat and had some hot beverages until close on 09:00. After checking if Magnus had won (it’s a prestigious chess tournament on at the moment, he drew) and texting some friends and family, I wanted to get going (it wasn’t a long day though, 20ish kilometres), so when Rob ordered his second long black coffee, I bid them adieu, painted on some suncream and set off out of Havelock. Vamos!
I walked out along SH6, long stretches of silence (bar the crunch of my shoes) being my frequent accompaniment. I could immediately see how much less populated the South Island was it seems! The only vehicles passing were processions of touring motorbikes, the occasional painted campervan or caravan, and the rare local, distinct in their dusty 4x4s which were king here it seems. Especially Subarus. By the by, pronunciation of “Subaru” is said so different here than back home, I can’t really describe it. It’s more like “Soo-baaaa-roo” with the stress on the “-ba-“. Nevermind, idle thought.
I turned off, and made my dusty way along Te Hoiere Road. The sun was pounding down and sweat dripped down my neck. The road led over to the other side of Pelorus River and upon reaching the other side of the river, I turned west again and started walking along the undulating road.
I met with Emily halfway along and we ended up chatting for most of the rest of the morning. We chatted about plenty of stuff from sports and family to expectations on this trail to the future. I had actually expected to spend more of this trail alone but I kind of have found myself hiking with Rob and Reid most of the time which I’m not complaining about. We have had a proper crack up time so far, lots of laughs, lots of interesting conversations.
We left this dusty road and stepped over a stile and onto Dalton’s Track which led through a whole bunch of farmers fields. Emily and I stopped here in the shade of a large tree and ate lunch with some other hikers who I didn’t actually know (I later learned their names were Tess, Chris and Hein who were a couple and a father hiking together). I set off again before them all and walked alone along Dalton’s track. Stile followed stile as the trodden path led down the side of potato fields (maybe…?), corn fields (again, maybe…?) and cow fields (I know this one for sure). Walking through the corn fields, they were taller than me and I kept flinching everytime I walked face first into a bunch of leaves. The Sam Gamgee line of being the furthest from home also came to me, but I think this is pretty much the furthest I can get from home, unless I volunteered to go live on Mars or something.
Anyways, yeah, I plodded on and through all these fields, sweltering under the sun. There were forestry hills to both sides and the Pelorus River was never out of earshot to my left. I eventually came to a wood and through to Pelorus Bridge.
What I saw was now what I was expecting. This was meant to be the most remote section, yet there were heaps and heaps of tourists here! Pelorus Bridge was obviously a popular day trip place since the river was so welcoming to swim in! Also fun fact, this is where they filmed the Barrels out of Bond bit in the Hobbit (second one, I think. Though, it should have been one film total). You know, with the GoPros? However, I saw no dwarves or Hobbits floating downstream. Disappointed. I checked into the campsite and walked down to the special TA site where there were a bunch of us all pitching our small, one person tents.
I pitched up and then went for the longest swim I’ve had in about ten years. Like, it was more than five minutes of me treading water! Wow! I was very out of breath. We also chucked our frisbee (which we found on the QCT) about for a bit and did some wild, interpretive dancing to ward off the sandflies which were pesky. Much like midges! Dinner soon followed, and I was in bed before much longer.
Monday 16th January
OK, can it be more remote now? We left Pelorus Bridge before the tourists had arrived and cracked on down Maungatapu Road. I can sum this walk up in, like, two words. Dusty, and hot. The road ran alongside the Pelorus River and just stayed there, tracing it’s way further into the mountains and the park. This was actually called Mt. Richmond Forest Park by the way. Like, everyone calls this section the Richmond Ranges but in actual, it’s mainly a forest we’re walking through!
For the time being though, we just plodded along a road. I had Tomer’s hat on. I love it so much, very much is saving me from the sun for sure. Plus, wide brimmed hats are cool. My hair is quite long though at the moment, so sometimes it sits up a little bit, or my hair is stuck and plastered against the side of my face.
A guy called Lukas walked with us for a while. Some really interesting chats with him for sure. He only had a certain amount of time off of work though so he was hustling through the trail. I don’t think I would like to feel that time pressure… Having said that, I have a flight home for the end of March, but I’m not too worried about that pressure. Buckets of time. We were also offered a lift on the back of a ute at one moment, but we declined. It may be dull and hot, but we’d prefer to be walking.
The road finally ended and we entered the park proper and the path changed from a dusty road to my favourite type of track. Narrow track with steep banks. Roots criss-crossed it and rocks stuck up whilst leaves, branches and vines clutched at us as we passed. I love this sorta thing, watching where you step at all times, your brain actually working rather than just a monotonous plod.
We emerged out to the Emerald Pools. The Pelorus had shifted from a deep, clear blue in the morning, to a wonderful mix of emerald and blue, still clear as anything. We could see right through the water so easily. If we had wanted, we could have counted the rocks at the bottom of the riverbed! The Emerald Pools were a particularly green and deep area with limestone (?) rock cliffs on each side, allowing us to strip off and dive into the river! So fresh! I definitely surfaced gasping and floundering. Yes, there is a video of me swimming. No, it won’t ever see the light of day.
Soon it was lunchtime though! Emily (who was also hanging out at the Emerald Pools) joined us and we munched away. But my goodness, the sandflies! So bad! I think Rob got super hacked off at them, he was truly learning how bad they might be! Eek! They weren’t quite at the cloud level that the midges are like in Scotland. Still, I felt I had been taken down a couple pegs. I thought I’d be fine having dealt with midges my entire life but no no, I should invest in some midge spray for sure. Silly me. Whoops.
We bumped on down to Captain Creeks Hut where we met a whole bunch of people who were at Pelorus the day before and had either left before us or had hitched that horrible dusty road earlier. Erik was there, but not moving around very quickly! He had slipped and fallen on the track to Captain’s and his ankle had swollen right up! At that moment in time, he wasn’t sure if he could go on, and had decided to stay there at Captain’s for the night. We later learned that he had walked limped back out, his ankle being immobile the next morning! Such a shame, I feel really bad for him. We also learnt that two other people had been helicoptered out from Captain’s for broken ankles in the past week as well! Crazy! If I had known that, I wouldn’t have bombed down that narrow, steep track!!
Anyways, for time being, we didn’t know that and as a result, the time being still early, we cranked on down to Middy Creek Hut along the same type of track where we arrived and pitched up on the most uneven ground you could find. The sun was still roasting and so I was stuck for that afternoon. My tent was a cooker, the hut was a sauna and the sandflies were out in force. Misery. Three choices of hell to choose from (well, OK, I am being a little dramatic).
I ate dinner with Rob and Reid, every piece of skin covered up and my midge net on. They laughed at that to start with (I looked like I was about to rob a bank allegedly. Don’t know where I would find a bank in these mountains though) but came to envy my midge net as the sandflies kept coming at us. A South Island robin hung out around us helping us out though, eating the sandflies around us. It was easily within arm’s reach at points! These birds are so courageous!
But yeah, I was feeling kinda down that evening. The heat and sandflies were getting to my usual good mood and it wasn’t helped by the fact that my meals weren’t as I had planned them since my resupply box never arrived and I had bought stuff in a rush at the Four Square in Havelock. Just… A bit of a snotty evening really on my behalf. It’ll be better the next couple days, I’m sure.
Tuesday 17th January
After packing up and leaving, we headed out from Middy Creek Hut and pretty immediately set off uphill towards Rocks Hut. We crossed a couple swing bridges in the cool early morning mist and then started the hard work, climbing up. I was in the a funk the previous night but after a hot breakfast and a promise of a new day, things were looking up.
The sun burnt the mist away before long and the sky revealed itself to be a classic summer blue. Oh yeah, it was gonna be a scorcher of a day! We were sweating buckets before long. I believe climbing hills is better done in the morning when you’re fresh, rather than, like, halfway through the afternoon or something. Near the top, we heard a helicopter and we were immediately worried. Like, that was a helicopter at Rocks Hut clearly, does that mean someone had been injured!?
As it turns out, no. It was the other way around, the helicopter was dropping off a work party at Rocks. There were five or six workers there who were going to be weeding the place and were going to be based at Rocks. Fancy. Also, speaking of fanciness, Rocks Hut was amazing! It had a flushing toilet! It was amazing! We sat on the deck, shirtless (they were drying out from sweat), eating some snacks, appreciating this wonderful hut and the scenery.
We got going before long. There was a potential lookout, but the FarOut comments weren’t all that positive, so we skipped it. FarOut is one of the navigation apps we were using by the way. It allowed people to comment on huts, water sources, paths etc.. It was useful for things like finding out how much water there was at a hut or whatever.
We walked along this broad ridge, and Rob slowly fell behind after we’d had a bit of a chat, putting in music and walking at his own pace. The path was through a forest, undulating up and down, wavering side to side. Reid and I had set our eyes on the peak of this ridge for a lunch spot which also happened to be a bit above 1000m above sea level!
We got there and sat on this large fallen down, moss covered tree with our bags between our legs as we fished through them for our lunch ingredients. I had bought Nutella by the way, best decision yet. Everything was having Nutella in it. Breakfast, of course. Lunch, why not? Dinner, no comment. Was I also eating it out the jar. I plead the fifth. Anyways, we were waiting for Rob at lunch, but instead Justin showed up and ate with us. Real nice guy, has a PhD! And the same bag as me! He’s only doing the South Island. There were bunches of people like him who were just doing the South Island, kinda interesting that.
I finished my lunch and still no Rob. Reid told me he was happy to wait around for him and so I set off again, a little bit worried but not overly concerned. I crossed a bare plateau with no trees before plunging back into a beech wood and downhill. It dropped all the way to Tōtara Saddle and then turned sharply to the west and down even further to Browning Hut. There were stupid washed out sections of track that were proper sketchy to do. Like, infinite square well sorta ditches. Climbing out of them was more of a puzzle than anything. Still, I got there where I met Emily and Magdellan. A quick snack break and apply some more suncream and I was on my way again.
Hackett Hut was just down the road, metaphorically, from Browning so we had settled on heading there for the night. The track was nice and criss-crossing over the same river for a bit. I got there in good time. Looking behind me though, there were really big and dark looking storm clouds. Odd, weather forecast hadn’t mentioned anything like these!
I grabbed myself a spot in the hut, being the first to arrive. The sandflies were not fun here, there were heaps of them. Tonnes! Buckets! A million billion it seemed (though 10^15 sandflies may be, like, a slight exaggeration. Slight)! Emily arrived soon after me and a slow trickle of other hikers too. Eventually, Rob and Reid arrived, bringing a spot of rain with them. They were just a little damp though but unfortunately were too late to grab a bunk in the hut. Turns out, we didn’t see Rob at lunch because his bag broke! Reid had set off back downhill, looking for him at 13:30 and had found him stitching up his bag. One of the clips controlling the positioning of the shoulder straps had broken and so Rob couldn’t wear it comfortably anymore. Rob and Reid rigged a temporary fix which held for the time being, but Rob was well worried. Fingers crossed it’ll hold.
We had our dinner with a tonne more hikers arriving. American Kevin, Dr. Justin, Emily, Gianna and Ryan also turned up… There were more. There was a Swiss couple called Elise and Sevi that also turned up and gave us the news on Erik having to walk out. They were cool people. A Chilean day walker also arrived, out for a cheeky midweek tramp. However, he hadn’t brought a tent or a sleeping mat with him! What!? So he camped out on the floor of the hut and was just going to sleep on the hard wood, but someone generously gave him their bed. I must confess though, I missed this entire interaction, I was fast asleep.
Wednesday 18th January
I got up early and ate my overnight oats. I didn’t have much packing to do since, you know, I was sleeping in the hut and as result, didn’t have to pack my tent up. As a result, I got going around 06:30, before anyone. The start of the day was a nice, cheeky 1000m climb all the way to Starveall Hut.
Let’s go. Metaphorically cracking my neck and quite literally gritting my teeth, I pushed on up. I engaged the trusty “don’t stop” mentality. Step followed step, pushing myself up the hill, poles coming in handy to help me. Pffff, quite an effort. I think, retrospectively, I actually rocketed up this hill but at times I felt like I was dragging my feet and my legs felt heavy.
I got to Pyramid Rocks (didn’t see any pyramids though) halfway up and had myself a small break, before pushing on. It was slowly levelling out but don’t get me wrong, it was still well steep. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, my panting breath breaking the stillness of the forest. The odd bird also joined me in breaking the silence, but apart from that, it felt very much like I was alone.
I eventually got up to Starveall Hut and it was a mighty relief. What a view as well! I demolished an OSM bar, caked on some suncream and checked my phone, seeing that I had reception. Checked the chess, naturally (Magnus lost!), texted a couple friends, before turning aeroplane mode back on and checking out the views all around me once again. Mountains. Mountains stretching in every direction I looked. Beautiful.
Emily soon reached the hut just as I was thinking about setting off, and so I had a small chat with her. Rob and Reid also showed up and laid out their tents to dry in the bright sunshine, pinned down with rocks to stop them flying away in the fresh mountain breeze.
Emily and I set off before anyone else arrived and we climbed up Mt. Starveall together. The path actually took us by the side of the summit of Mt. Starveall, but we weren’t having any of that so we dropped our packs right in the middle of the path and walked the fifty or so metres to the summit. Easy. It was a plateau though so, like, not actually that good views. Just a blue dome of sky and the spotlight sun.
We then proceeded down the other side of Mt. Starveall and we entered a beautiful beech forest, little leaves damping our sounds and footsteps so that we passed through this forest silently. We rounded Slaty Peak and arrived at Slaty Hut, still in stunning sunshine. We had lunch at a shady picnic table. Sevi and Elise arrived and soon joined us, before Rob and Reid also did the same.
I hung around, chatting to Rob and Reid, in not much of a hurry to continue on whilst Emily, Sevi and Elise all headed out. We got going too before long and we had the most wonderful after-lunch hike. We passed along a couple of sketchy slips, through scrub grass and up onto the ridgeline which ran in a big curve from Slaty Peak to Old Man. Stunning views. That is such a memorable experience, walking this ridgeline with two good mates, drinking in the views as we chatted absolute nonsense, laughing aloud.
We walked across Ada flats (imagine, like, Yorkshire) and made our way up to the top of Old Man. At one point we got lost and I climbed down a cliff. My decision making was a bit skew-if at that point, should definitely not have done that. Still, it turned out OK. The clamber up Old Man left us breathless at the top. You may be wondering why it’s called Old Man? It’s because of the sounds your knees make when you get to the top.
We were standing there, enjoying the views, when Marius just showed up. This guy just pops up out of nowhere, he is absolute rapid on mountainous terrain and we never see him coming. He was doing a couple of extra side trips and set off immediately from Old Man down towards Lake Chalice. Hardcore. Big respect. We turned the other way and made our way down off Old Man, heading along the ridge towards Old Man Hut.
The climb down the side of the ridge to Old Man Hut was a completely different type of struggle. I’m talking, like, the end of the day, knees are dead, kinda struggle. Groans accompanied every heavy movement or step down. But we made it to the hut and collapsed onto the picnic bench.
Reid and Rob spied a beautiful looking meadow down below the hut and went and pitched there. I wasn’t really wanting condensation on my tent, so I went and pitched in the forest. Cheeky tenting tip for you, always camp under trees to reduce the chance of condensation! I joined them for dinner and a campfire and we chucked a disc about between us. Who could have imagined that I would be on the other side of the world, in the deep dark depths of a mountain range, playing frisbee with a Kiwi and a German beside a campfire, as the mountains above us were lit aflame by the setting sun? Not a bad way to be living.
However, I did cut my foot playing frisbee (fool me, mucking about in bare feet!) and so I limped back to my tent, hoping it wouldn’t hinder me too badly. Disinfectant, and then I was asleep inside of two minutes, straight up.
Thursday 19th January
One of the most amazing things so far about New Zealand has been the birdlife. Just amazing amounts of song birds, cheeky birds and just plain old birds. In fact, once upon a time on an expedition at some point in history, some adventurer of some ship had described New Zealand as a “Land of all birds”. Specific I know, but I can’t find the real quote whilst in the mountains. Sorry.
Anyways, this rang true this morning since I woke to the sound of the Korimako, the bell bird. Imagine just a whole bunch of people people whistling softly, or soft chimes going off in the dawn chorus from about 05:00 until 06:00 where it abruptly stops. Yeah, just crazy beautiful. This is maybe my favourite bird of New Zealand. That, or the Tui.
I had (wisely) pitched my tent under some trees and therefore, as a result, it was well dry. Comparatively, everyone else camping around Old Man Hut had condensation soaked tents, both from the long grass and from… You know… Breathing at night. The Swiss couple, Elise and Sevi, said that they would only pitch under trees from then on.
Breakfast followed and then we got going. That uphill back to the path was just… horrible. A steep forest climb in the cool, morning light. We got back to the path, breathing hard, and then turned left and continued uphill towards Mt. Little Rintoul. A long, hard rocky scramble up shifting scree and craggy boulders, but we got to the top eventually.
Wow. The views. This is (one of the many reasons) why we came. The Richmonds were delivering for us. I cannot express how beautiful the views from the top were. The hard work was well worth it for sure. There were layers upon layers of craggy mountains in every direction we looked. We couldn’t make out much of their details, but their outlines promised all sorts of adventures. The air was crisp and cool, but the sun warmed our backs. The summit of Little Rintoul was quite small, so for a while it was just Rob, Reid and myself standing there. Blue sky, with blue shades of mountains. Everywhere we looked. Wow. Wow wow wow.
We all stayed up there for a while. Reid took four (!) photos on his film camera, the mountains spreading out behind him. But mainly we sat, our butts going numb on the hard rock, enjoying the calm elation we were feeling, chatting to each other. Gosh I love mountains.
Finally, we decided to keep moving. The day wasn’t getting any younger. We hefted our bags back onto our backs and made our way down from Little Rintoul, across to proper (big) Rintoul. Issue is, the way coming down from Little Rintoul was sketchy as a drunk artist. That is to say, there were sections where serious injury could have happened. There was a steep, slippery scree slope that morphed into a sort of boulder/rock climb sideways across and down, crabbing our way along ledges with steep drops below us. Thank goodness I don’t get shaky legs or vertigo! Yeah, I can understand why the trail notes were screaming at us to not try this in treacherous conditions.
But thing is, once we had made it down this sketchy section, we then had to go up a similar section back up to big Rintoul. Up some scree slopes, dig the poles in, balance carefully… Yeah, not so great. It was exhilarating in a kind of “don’t fall” way. To be fair though, no serious injury could have happened, but injury enough to force you off trail could have happened. Don’t worry mum, I was careful and in no serious danger. Promise.
We got to the top of Mt. (big) Rintoul, ninety meters taller than Little Rintoul but the top was a plateau, not giving us as good views as before. Sevi and Elise were on top already, as was Emily and we all sat around the orange pole, bags off, enjoying the sunshine on top of the mountain. There are worse places to be for sure. Snacks were consumed, energy regained and we were eager to press on.
From the top of Mt. Rintoul, we then walked along the ridge, following some cairns and the poles until we came to (yet another) steep scree slope. My first introduction to scree slopes was climbing up one on Sgùrr Alasdair on Skye but this one was steeper and longer than that one (named the Great Stone Chute). We tumbled down, heels digging in, gliding and scraping our way down the slope, leaning back. Little stones tumbled down with us and we were careful not to upset any big boulders to come down with us. Before long, the scree slope met a beech forest and it turned into a dirt path down the mountain at the same gradient. Half running, half falling, half hiking (figure that maths out), we finally all came to Mt. Rintoul Hut. Lunch stop. Mmmmm, food. I was sure hungry. Also gotta empty the shoes of pebbles.
Whilst we were there, Gijs appeared and disappeared, continuing on, and then a mad Kiwi showed up. This mad Kiwi had gotten up at 02:00 that morning and was running this entire route through the mountains which is both extremely cool and extremely hardcore and also, why!? If I did that, I would have no knees or ankles left at the end! He had to be back home in Nelson for 19:00 to put the kids to bed apparently. He had stashed his mountain bike somewhere at the end of the trail for him to bike 40km to his car and then make it home on time. He was very much buzzing on some sugar/caffeine/something for sure and he only stayed long enough to eat some food and drink some water and speak at highway-speed levels at us. Crazy levels of fitness for sure!
After lunch, we all got going again and it was uphill once more, all the way to Purple Top. Whilst we were climbing this, we looked behind us and saw to our astonishment, there was one cloud in the sky, and it had enveloped Mt. Rintoul, where we had been only an hour or so beforehand! Crazy!
The descent from Purple Top was the signal of the beginning of the end of the day. We were headed to Tarn Hut for the night and we made our way through the beech forests, silent except for the crackling of twigs underfoot and the buzzing of wasps until we reached the tarn at which the hut was based and named after. We got there early enough to grab bunks in the hut, awesome! There was no water in the tank at the hut (it had been hot and dry for a long time, so no rain water collection) so we had to get our water from the tarn which seemed a bit dodgy potentially. There were tadpoles in the tarn though, so apparently that showed that it was super clean at least…
Dinner came and we were all squeezed onto the bench outside of the hut. I had a really great conversation with Gianna about piano and classical music – she had majored in piano at college I believe. That was nice though, I miss the piano. I love playing it when I get the chance! But yes, I was asleep before long. What a great day.
Friday 20th January
We woke up early since we had a long day ahead of us. Huts are interesting, this was maybe one of my first good sleeps in one of them, in the Tararuas I hadn’t slept so well. We awoke up though to find that Emily had already disappeared! Turns out she had done a dawn hike up to the top of the closest hill top along the track to have breakfast there.
Making our way out of the hut at 07:00, before long, we had a knee-crunching descent down to Mid Wairoa Hut through yet more forest. Along the way, there were old wasp traps that people had scrawled cheesy messages on, as seen below. Including, of course, lyrics from the Te Araroa song. Look it up on YouTube, it’s a bop.
We had coffee at Mid Wairoa, hiding in the hut from the clouds of sandflies ready to devour us when we stepped outside. Sevi and Elise arrived, as did Justin.
From Mid Wairoa, the track followed the Wairoa river up, along the most awesome track. You know how I’ve mentioned that my favourite tracks are the ones where you have to think all the time? Yeah, it was this. A narrow track leading up the side of the river, crossing it multiple times, hopping up and over boulders and pushing through undergrowth. Exhausting for sure, but such an enjoyable experience for sure. Proper backcountry, wilderness tramping for sure. Very little used path by the seems of it, except for the annual TA season.
There were so many beautiful, turquoise pools in the Wairoa, I came up and over a large rock to see the most a deep on, begging to be swam in. Reid came up after me and a quick look at each other confirmed our thoughts. Refreshing for sure. “Swim” is a generous word, maybe a “dive and then get out as quick as possible” would be a more accurate way of describing what happened.
After towelling ourselves down, we got going again and within five minutes, disaster struck! I slipped and fell on a wet rock, falling butt first into the river! It wasn’t the fact that I got wet that was bad. I wasn’t even hurt since I mainly landed on my pack. It was the fact that my hip pocket with my phone in it filled with water! Ahhhhhh
Well, it still worked when I stood up again. I turned it off and wrapped it up like a swaddling child in my dry buff, and tucked it safely away in the top of my pack. Nothing to do about it now. Reid then got stung by a bee and the day was threatening to turn into a bad one…
However, antihistamine tablets and cream fixed Reid’s sting, and my phone was dry and working when we got to lunch! So not too bad really. Lunch was had at traffic cone orange Top Wairoa Hut (which, you guessed it, was at the top of the Wairoa river) and we met Sevi and Elise there, as well as Stephano and Ondine! Amazing! We hadn’t seen them since Dome Forest. Cool people, they told me I should move to Swiss-Land.
From Top Wairoa, we had a decision to make. To push on, up and over Mt. Ellis to Hunters Hut, or stay put for the day. We decided to push, and shouldered our packs and started out for the afternoon.
The first stretch of track was unconvincing to say the least, it was the most horrible, scratchy, rough red sandstone boulder field we had to climb up and through, but we soon made it to the windy saddle (because my hat blew off) and were awarded with a nice hike across the face of Mt. Ellis. That was fun and we could see Hunters Hut from there, teasing us, making us realise how much further we had to go.
The descent from Mt. Ellis was down this horrible, red, sandy dirt slopes which I had to practically jog down since my shoes were losing all their grip. So were Reid’s Hokas by the way. Don’t get Hokas for thru-hiking kids. The sole is a softer sole which cannot stand up to the hours and demand thru-hiking puts on them. Get Altras. Or Brooks.
We got to the bottom of Mt. Ellis and worked our way to Hunters Hut, Reid sprinting the last 300m because he was so done with the day. Uphill too. Hunters was stacked out and there weren’t many camp spots but we found the odd space here and there. I pitched beside Elise and Sevi. Fun fact, they had a Zpacks Duplex but had opted to get Hilleberg pegs since they’re the best pegs they have ever had. Winning.
Daphne and Johanna were also there, as was Emily, so it was nice to see everyone once more and catch up, exhausted as we were. I think Rob, Reid and I went to bed that night, completely spent for sure. Long day. When’s our next zero?
Saturday 21st January
Spoiler alert, today may be the hottest day on trail. Or at least, it felt it. We were headed to Red Hill Hut and for the entire way, we were under a blue dome, the red valley acting as an oven. Yay!
The start of the day was great. I mean, when you put on a shirt which was stiff with dried sweat, you know it’s gonna be a great day, right? We did have coffee and tea though, feeling super luxurious and set off past 08:00, later than most everyone else.
It was a slow morning and we walked in a line, listening to our own music. Rob had promised that today was “basically flat” but I can tell you with absolute certainty that that was complete balogne! Up, down, up, down… The ups and downs were just not of the same size as the previous several days!
We clattered on down to Porters Hut and tragedy struck. I slipped, fell. No harm, no foul. Except when I stood back up again, my pole was bent! No! Ah! My beautiful pole! Sadness. It was a nice 10-15° angle, shaped perfectly like the trajectory of an electron passing another negatively charged source… Actually, now I wonder if that trajectory is similar to an isochronic curve. I’ll have a think on that (no, it won’t be).
Still, a break at Porters and I tried rebending my pole. It kinda worked, I got it straight again except with a really big jink in it where the bend was. Like, a kink, the metal folded over, making a weak spot. Not ideal. Ah well, let’s see how long it lasts.
From Porters, we headed along some big river cliffs and over some more hills (“This is not flat Rob!”) and then started climbing up the absolute oven that is the red soil valley in which Maitland Creek wound it’s way down. There was some serious cliff climbing at points and I think I must have left behind a trail of sweat, it was that hot and I was that sweaty. Gross, I know.
I caught up to Emily and Elise and Sevi and we all gathered some water from Maitland Creek right before Red Hill Hut – we had been warned by some NoBos that the hut tank was dry. Rob and Reid arrived also and we all started up to the hut together. The last part of the day was definitely the easiest, through a flat (genuinely this time) meadow towards the hut, gleaming in the distance.
When we got there though, the hut was not empty like we had hoped it was but instead there were four local Kiwi women celebrating one of their birthdays, partying and drinking. Gonna be a loud night. We found places in the bush behind the hut to pitch up and then headed further uphill to get signal and call St Arnaud. We booked ourselves a room for two nights (we needed a rest day) at the Alpine Lodge. Last room. We felt super lucky! And then, after a bit of food, the inevitable deep sleep followed. Dreamy.
Sunday 22nd January
Well then, time to leave the Richmond Ranges behind. After packing up and eating breakfast (quietly!) on the porch of the hut, we set off down the mountain bike route. The sun had just risen and it had lit up the valley below us. Magical. Majestical (my new favourite word). We did pick up signal though and I received about a million messages. We each trouped down the dusty brown-red hill, twisting and winding our way closer to the valley floor, on our phones. Modern day, innit? I exaggerate of course, but there was a solid ten minutes of absolutely no conversation and just the sound of thumbs on phone screens and the crunch of our feet.
We got to the forest and made our way towards the road that would lead us back to civilisation (read: a shower). Wasps were everywhere and Rob got stung. Whoopsie daisies. But we otherwise got to the road OK and turned and bumbled down 10km of road. Sounds long. It was. But we got there finally. First there were the signs saying to slow down and then the welcome signs to the township, and then finally the town made, fancy welcome signs. Winning. Reid and I re-enacted the scene from the Office (US, not UK), sprinting past the speed gun. Neither of us registered a speed though. Sad.
Well we had a room booked at the Alpine Lodge, but we were early for check-in so we headed to the general store where we proceeded to gorge ourselves on food. It would have been a scene Dante’s Inferno. From the Gluttony circle of hell. No kidding. Straight up.
We hung around there, slowly buying more food before realising the time and crossing the road and checking in to the Alpine Lodge. Best service ever honestly. Big kudos. They were catering to pretty much everyone. Motor bike gangs. Holidaying people with hired campervans. Hikers coming from the Richmonds. Hikers coming from the Nelson Lakes. We picked up our boxes (mine had arrived this time, along with my third pair of shoes!), chatted to the masses of TAers (Emily, Sevi and Elise, Kevin, Jo, Gregan, Justin, Linde and Maxime… The list is as long as my arm), and then headed to our room. Showers and laundry were the priorities before we lay on our beds and just… Collapsed.
Close to dinner, we headed to the lake which was very nice. Very serene. But also, the mountains beyond beckoned. The Nelson Lakes, the next section. Saw some eels though, hiding beneath the pier.
Our table for dinner was booked for 18:45 so we got there for then and had a wonderful dinner with just the three of us. Some fancy bread and fancy butter for starter since we were being fancy. Rumour had it, this bread had made someone cry it was *that* good. It was OK, nothing mind blowing though in my opinion! And then pizza and then an avocado mousse. They obviously had some good chefs on hand, it was very delicious! I phoned some friends and the parental figures before bed. That was really nice.
Monday 23rd January
A zero day, and well deserved. I was up late-ish, but not too late since I was phoning Flora. Good chat that. We’re kinda similar, some people may suspect we’re related.
Anyways, I won’t bore you with the minute details of my day doing nothing. I found a computer and wrote the previous blog entries, and read a lot. Spoke to a lot of people. Sorted my stuff. Yeah.
Big thing to happen though was for Tomer to arrive! He had skipped ahead of Niv and was waiting for him there! We had a lovely reunion and sat and chatted with him for ages. He had bought a new hat and therefore I guess I have a new hat now, he refused to take it back from me! What a kind, kind man. We learnt about their adventures since we had last seen them in Pipiriki, running to go get their stolen phones and wallets. Seems like they’ve had the most immense of times.
When dinner came, we decided to be social (queue the gasps. Also, “queue” is just the letter q followed by four silent, useless letters) and got a table with three other hikers (Maarten from the Tararuas and then two Germans called Julian and Arnie) and Tomer. I had the weirdest dinner which needs to be written down. Buckle up. I had a vegan pizza with a humous base (surprisingly good) with extra cheese on top (very vegan), a pint of orange juice (because I fancied it) and two puddings (because I couldn’t decide between the options). This meal put me in a comatose state and I was soon spelling some zzzz’s out.
New People
- Kevin: US guy who has thru-hiked the PCT, AT and now doing this. Does business. His trail name is All You Can Eat. His town name is All You Can Drink.
- Linde: Dutch girl who ran out of money on the North Island and had to borrow from her parents to complete the hike.
- Justin: American guy from Connecticut who’s just finished his PhD in San Francisco. Has the same bag as me. Woo! Gave me a spare gas canister at Tarn Hut, legend.
- Heidi: Aussie lady who doesn’t like Durston’s.
- Olivia: Swedish lady who sounds like a Kiwi
- Jamie and Corey: two guys who were walking with Heidi and Olivia… One of them has new Altras I’m jealous about. Know nothing else about them though…
- Tess, Chris and Hein: a couple and Tess’ father who had to bungle out from Middy Creek to go to Nelson since their tent gave out on them!
- René: Old Dutch guy from Amsterdam who just motors on. Unit.
- Elise and Sevi: Swiss couple. They’ve done the PCT and are both electrical engineers from somewhere near Zürich. Real cool folk.
- Lukas: German guy who works in (the business of) shipping containers
- JD: American guy with a Durston and who has done the PCT.
- Cathy: Lady from Canadia who told us stories of hikers who had to be evacuated from the mountains
- Angus and Alex: Couple from Welly
- Billy and Anne: Older couple who were going one hut at a time since Anne had a swollen knee from a fall
- Christelle and Noah: Swiss couple from near Geneva, NoBo. They left their cooking pot at the previous hut they stayed at! Eek!
- Carl and Megan: Kiwi couple who quizzed me about my Scottish name and Scotland in general whilst I tried to eat my pasta
- Andre and Ester: German couple who may be trail runners. Andre is a teacher who’s students struggle to pronounce “Edinburgh”
- Sarah: English lady from somewhere near Bristol. Was trying to be vegetarian for the hike.
- Jo: Aussie lady who we passed on Mt. Ellis. One of her shoe soles has nearly come off and disappeared. Has done a whole bunch of tramping around the world.
- Greg and Megan: Canadian couple who just started the TA, doing only the South Island. Have found the Richmonds tough. “Gregan”
Status
- Physical: 8/10 – scratch on the bottom of my foot hindering my comfort levels
- Mental: 10/10 – Richmonds done. Motivation is through the roof, hardest section done!
- Distance covered: 1967km – good year that
- Most memorable moment: Top of Mt. Little Rintoul
- Toughest moment: Coming down off of Mt. Ellis. And Middy Creek Hut where I lacked energy
- Burnt-o-meter: 4/10 – not too bad honestly!
- Random Thoughts that I remember to write down: I wonder where the exact opposite place on Earth is from home (Edinburgh/St Andrews/Alnwick). If I put a piece of bread on the floor, and someone (Flora) does the same, we make an Earth sandwich.
- Jars of peanut butter finished: 12
- Oatly bars: 73
- Number of times I have fallen: 17 – including the fall where my pole got bent!
- Song suggestion: Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy, Dinah Shore
What’s Next?
After the Richmonds is the Nelson Lakes, another of the highlights of the TA. We will head out from St Arnaud, taking a detour to Angelus Hut and Sunset Saddle, before heading on down, over the Waiau Pass, and then towards Hanmer Springs where we will resupply. We are planning on a secret detour along the St. James cycleway to avoid the TA route which seems to be getting real crowded at the moment!
Ishbel
Al
Ian
Al
Niv
Niv again
Reidso
Al