Day 12: "Carl! I heard you gave all your beer away!"

20 December 2019

Day 12

Woke up and got out of bed...easier said than done believe me! Sleeping in a comfy bed seemed to have sent the wrong message to the muscles that it was time to seize up and repair. After hobbling off for a shower I set about rifling through my pack to turf excess weight due to the luggage restrictions on the plane.

My beloved trekking poles, who had been there for me through thick and thin, were bent beyond their usefulness so entered their well-earned retirement in the bin liner.

The hotel was happy to accept my unused gas cans and Back Country hut tickets, which they promised to give away to anyone who needed them. 

After a delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon, off I went to the DOC office to return my Personal Locator Beacon and register my survival. Birgit, the DOC woman who had joined my trivia team pre-hike, came out and gave me a big hug. "I heard you gave all your beer away!"...that story seemed to have spread all over the island! One of many things I like about Oban is it's such a small community and they make you feel like a part of it, and it will always be a part of me after this epic adventure.

Still walking pretty gingerly, I made it with my stuff to the check-in office for my flight to Invergiggle. I was a few kilos over but they let it slide thankfully!

Seeing the large industrial-sized scale, I couldn't resist asking if it could handle a person. On I hopped. I had lost 7.2kg in 11 days, but I don't know if I would recommend this hike as a weight-loss initiative!

A short 20-minute flight had me back on the mainland (shout-out to Mum who kindly drove down from Dunedin to pick me up), cloud obscured the view but I was back in civilisation and looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the whānau and hunting for a nice cheese roll!

So what did I learn from this quite frankly insane adventure? Here come the musings in no particular order!

1: My body is far more capable than I give it credit for. When turning back is not an option it is quite capable of walking for over 12 hours in a day with 30kg of pack weight. I was not expecting the days to end up being as long as that so I doubt I would have done it had I known!

2: I know quite a few naughty words, and under the right circumstance am very skilled at using them!

3: A rest day is not a sign of weakness. My extra day at Yankee River was everything, I wish I had planned for it as that recharge prepared me for the rest of the journey.

4: The people who design the itinerary generally know what they're talking about, unless you're super fit don't plan to skip a hut! Even if it does take you the prescribed time, chances are you'll have done plenty of exercise for that day so chill and enjoy the surroundings, meet your fellow hikers and commune with nature.

5: Hiking alone does pose some risks but honestly you learn a lot about yourself along the way, plus you can sing as loud as you like and only the birds can hear you!

6: Leave the wildlife alone! The birds are often pretty curious, let them come to you if they want to but otherwise let them be.

7: Take LOTS of photos, especially these days with digital you can always delete a few later on.

8: HAVE FUN! The odd tantrum does help release some pressure but you're there to experience the wilderness so don't forget to enjoy the surroundings, stop occasionally and listen to the birds/breeze and smell that fresh air. These days it's so rare to completely escape the hustle and bustle and disconnect from everything so make the most of it!

9: Do plenty of research! I used the DOC website and also perused blogs of other people who had done this one (tips and things that went wrong), blogs of hikers and what they ate etc. Also start planning early, I had over a year of work put into this so was able to take advantage of Boxing Day sales, EOFY sales etc by keeping an eye on websites and it spread the cost of buying stuff over a longer period.

10: Allow yourself to rest at the end. I wish I had booked two nights at the hotel and taken more time to relax.

Credit where credit's due:

South Sea Hotel: lovely classic hotel with super friendly staff and pub attached
Kathmandu: The free loyalty club earned me enough for a gift voucher to buy more stuff with, not only hiking gear but their NZ website also sells freeze-dried meals and DOC's Back Country hut tickets! You get points from both AU and NZ websites. The boots I got from their store were super comfy, they didn't even need breaking in, not one blister the whole time!
Back Country Cuisine: Delicious and light to carry, just add water!
Stewart Island Ferry: Easiest way to get there, before a hike you'll have too much pack weight for the flight
Stewart Island Flights: Not much more than the ferry price-wise, plus it cuts the time and you don't have to get to/from Bluff
Department of Conservation: Lots of information on their website, and their office in Oban can help with registering your trip, hiring a Personal Locator Beacon and anything else you may need to know such as tide times to plan for certain legs.
Cheryl Hamblyn: She doesn't run a transfer business but I'm still grateful for Mum giving me a ride down to Bluff and back again.

Well that's it from me, the end of the blog! It has inspired me to start planning the Rakiura Southern Circuit Track so stay tuned for the summer of 2022-23...it's harder but I'll be fitter, I learned that lesson!

Day 11: Halfway Down a Mountain to Oban (via North Arm Hut)

19 December 2019

Day 11

The Original Plan: North Arm Hut to Oban/Shower/Beer/Steak/Bed
The New Plan: Somewhere in the Bush to Oban/Shower/Microwaved Pie/Bed via North Arm Hut
Steps: 47,805
Floors Climbed: 151
Distance: 35.5km
Tantrums: 8
Mega Tantrums: 1

The end is nigh!!!!

After sleeping fairly crappily, I packed up and got moving as I was cold already so decided to just get moving down and have some tea and scroggin at the bottom of the hill. During this process the other gaiter vanished, I’m amazed they stuck with me this long to be honest!

I made it to the bottom of the mountain, DOC had removed the bridge over the river and replaced it with...a new one? No. A sign suggesting I turn back if the river was in flood. The river was fine to cross but I can assure you, if it was in flood nobody would turn back over that mountain! So they can stick their sign!

After this it was low undulating forest (my favourite...) and the worst maintained part of the track so far, which surprised me being close to a Great Walk section and easier than other parts to get people to. Many fallen trees to climb over and around, one requiring removal of pack to clamber over it! Fortunately the Rakiura Orchestra of tui, bellbirds and various others serenaded me along; it's very hard to be grumpy when they're performing!

I was fueled with the hope and knowledge that although it was a long walk ahead of me today, more than half of it would be part of the 3-day Great Walk and much better maintained.

The tide was low so I was able to cut across the mud flats and back to the track of doom. I was about 3 bays away from North Arm Hut, I’m not kidding when I say it was easier to wade through water than follow that track! I managed 3 more undulations and decided I was DONE undulating. "If I see one more blasted mud bank to climb up I will march down the river and wade the rest of the way", and sure enough that's what I did! I went downstream to the water and waded knee-deep to the hut. Two young hikers were meandering down the wooden stairs to the water below the hut, seeing me approaching through the water they turned and climbed back up again. I must have looked delightful.

Suddenly I was surrounded by people, as this is a more popular hut as part of the 3-day Great Walk so there were all ages around and clean-looking compared to Mr Swamp Thing here.

I had a snack and made fresh tea and chatted to the 3-day hikers, nice to see some kids around and some cheerful new faces! They tried to tell me about the crazy mud they had over from Port William. Cute. I recharged my phones for a wee bit and showed off my Kiwi videos and gave away the rest of my fire starters.

The snack of cheese and crackers at 3:30pm was, amazingly, my breakfast. I had actually forgotten to eat since my breakfast snack so no wonder I was in a cloudy stormy mood earlier! After an hour's break I was recharged and soldiered onwards.

I had paid to stay here last night so made sure to sign the book in case anyone worried about my absence. They recommend always to sign the hut books, even if you only pop in as they are super helpful to rescue parties should they be looking for you.

The sign said 5 hours to Oban, being a Great Walk Track this was probably accurate and I did get there about 9:30pm so 5.5 hours which was good given my physical state of exhaustion.

Unbelievable as it may seem, now Rakiura is a National Park, there was once a thriving saw mill with rail engines! At some stage, when the industry finished, someone had the bright idea of turfing some rail cars into the bay! Nowadays that would earn you a crazy fine, but since it happened a long time ago these engine pieces are apparently "heritage" and "historical artefacts"...so they're there to see, kind of ruining the tranquillity a wee bit. I reckon they should pull them out and put them in a museum for people to see. Oh well, today's litter is tomorrow's artefacts I suppose!

I tried to follow the map but when I found the side track to the historic sawmill I literally screamed “NOOOOOOO”, the loudest I had screamed so far (or ever) as I was certain I’d passed it and had pinned myself being a lot further ahead than I was. Devastating. So close to home but so far!

It was raining pretty hard by this point, I soldiered on in a cloud of expletives. At one point I tripped over a rock and couldn’t get up as my leg muscles were done cooperating. I’m 40 years too young for that! I crawled gingerly to a bank and hoisted my sorry ass up, and onwards we go.

I finally got to the end and onto the road, 2km from town. Please God no. Welcome to Rakiura, even the end isn't the end! 

By this point it was raining horizontally (am I on a TV show or something I mean COME ON) and blowing an icy gale as I staggered dramatically and purposefully through to the South Sea Hotel and inside at 9:30pm. Electricity! Heating! Was this heaven? I regret not having someone take a photo of me, I'm told I looked exhausted in the Facebook Live I made at 10pm but that was after a shower and change of clothes...I probably looked like the Missing Link before that!

I got my key and my bag and was asked if I’d eaten, if there are nicer hotel staff out there I’d like to meet them. I hope they didn’t curse my name the next day when they saw the large round muddy butt print I left on the other bed after sitting on it…oops.

My phone lit up with a text and voicemail from Dad last night warning me not to use gas in the tent...it's a parent's job to worry, and my job to give them things to worry about.

After a quick shower, when I couldn’t bend down to wash my glorious mud-caked legs, and donning clean clothes I was sitting in the bar with a cold Speight’s, a pie and a sausage roll. I crawled into bed, then got up to turn the heating and electric blanket off as apparently I was used to being cold now!

I’d pushed myself further than I knew was possible but you know what else? I’D BLOODY DONE IT!!!

Time for a cup of tea

The mountain I spent a couple of hours scrambling down

North Arm Hut just across the water somewhere, so close yet so far!

"Turn back if river is in flood"...how about "we're working on replacing the bridge as fast as we can"???

An old locomotive engine, apparently this is "heritage" which is a fancy way of saying "litter from a long time ago".

UP NEXT: Epilogue, Musings and Credits

Day 10: Mason Bay to Halfway Down a Mountain

18 December 2019

The Original Plan: Freshwater to North Arm
The New Plan: Mason Bay to Halfway Down a Mountain
Steps: 45,780
Floors Climbed: 90
Distance: 34km
Tantrums: 0 (no really!)

I’m planning to solider on, with a torch if need be, to make it to North Arm Hut. I am prepared and armed to use the tent though if I hit the proverbial wall. Rakiura WILL NOT BEAT ME. Not today!

A long 15km walk to Freshwater Hut but was easy peasy compared to yesterday which was the same distance! Some patches of mud were almost laughable in size, there were three sets of footprints in these patches:

Tourist Prints (edges): OMG mud, must creep around the outside so I don’t get dirty since I don’t have gaiters.

Hiker Prints (off to the sides): Oh more mud, OK I’ll kind of go around the outside but I have my gaiters on so all good.

NWC Hikers (right through the middle): Ha! Call that mud? You don’t scare me!

Intermittent rain spells with a cold breeze, nek minute it's sunny and warm. Alternating a bit due to the wide open space, I suppose! Sand dunes, swamps, bush scrub, varied scenery along the way.

The area was once farmed so there were some historic buildings and signs about the history, I read up on it afterwards as I needed to keep moving.

The best part? BOARDWALKS, BABY! A well-marked track and BOARDWALKS. This was epic! One more time....BOARDWALKS!!!! Oh what bliss to have a comparatively easy walk, though my body was beginning to complain about the recent days' activities.

They had flood signs that warned if the water was above the line it would be too deep to proceed, luckily that wasn't the case as I was very keen to get back to civilisation/steak/beer.

There is something very freeing about walking through such a wide open space, peaceful with a light breeze, intermittent drizzle and the odd curious fantail. I really enjoyed this section!

Made it to Freshwater Hut via an awkward wonky swing bridge and stopped for a lunch break and to refill my thermos for the journey ahead so I had replenished water and caffeine. Tristan and Jen arrived ahead of me, for once I did get most of the way before being passed by them so...progress!

It's a very serene little spot so it was a shame I didn't have the time to stay and do the side trip up Rocky Mountain. I shall go back and do it one day as part of the Southern Circuit, but I'll have to be fitter and better prepared.

After saying goodbye and exchanging best wishes, I carried on through the forest for a couple of hours including a tricky stream crossing with steep banks...then started climbing! I met two German hikers who said I wouldn’t get to North Arm by dark so I knew I’d be camping, to be honest by then I knew that might be the case and so I had time to prepare mentally rather than hike to breaking point and pitch a tent mid-tantrum.

So I had a wee reshuffle to put my sleeping bag and bed roll at the top of my pack, this made it so much better to walk with as the swing was reduced significantly. I wish I'd done that on the first day!

The hill was partly climbing a stream until the water stopped at the top, so that was pretty cool to follow a stream right to where it began! After this it was up and over the summit through alpine scrub, a quick break when I found some reception to text parents and assure them I was alive. I decided not to tell my Mum about the camping plans (smart) but I did let my Dad know. Then it began to hail. Joy. I put my parka on and headed down the other side to where the foliage was more sheltered and set up the tent about 9:30pm as the clouds made it darker. At some point I had lost one gaiter, I don’t litter deliberately but I was also not climbing back up to look for it in the rain. 

I pitched the tent and got my camping stove out for a late dinner, now it is very dangerous to use gas in a tent so to be clear I cooked with the door flap open and the cooker on a level surface.

What I did here was actually not smart, in retrospect I should have kept moving as my sleeping bag got wet through the ground so it was hard to get warm even with thermals. At the very least I should have slowed down and got myself to the bottom of the mountain to find a camping spot. I don't know if I had hypothermia but it is known to be a silent killer, I did have a survival blanket on hand but didn't need it.

A very cold, wet and shivery night! I had a dream I was back in the office and telling my colleagues that I couldn't remember how I got back, so that was lovely to wake up and find out I was still in the bush and it was still cold!

Historic homestead

Some people think this is "muddy", bless them

Boardwalks, baby!!!

Something very serene being in such an open space

Danger, Will Robinson!

Quick break for tea and selfies

Time for the climb

UP NEXT: Halfway Down a Mountain to Oban via North Arm

Day 9: Big Hellfire to Mason Bay

 17 December 2019

The Original Plan: Mason Bay to Freshwater
The New Plan: Big Hellfire to Mason Bay
Steps: 44,515
Floors Climbed: 77
Distance: 33.1km
Tantrums: 11

From the hut, the view looked out across to Benson peak and down across Ruggedy Flat, an inland marshy area I was due to trudge through the next day. My companions left early, while this morgenmuffel organised breakfast and packing up.

It started innocently enough along the ridge of the mountain chain as I was mainly enjoying the fruits of my tantrums labours hiking along the ridge and taking in the sweeping views down the coast on one side and inland towards Hananui /Mt Anglem on the other. It wasn't too windy either.

The descent down to Little Hellfire Beach took a while. Several hours of hobbling, 16 falls, 200 slips, 572 swear words and one rolled ankle. A doddle really! The map, even in retrospect, makes it look much more straight forward. Nope.

The beach was nice, I’ll give it that. The sand just right for walking on without sinking too much and that refreshing sea breeze with no sealions. Now I just had to go up and over the next hill to Mason Bay. Easy. Ha.

3 more rolled ankles, another dozen total falls and double the swear words I was over it (over everything actually). One fall I slid my way down, ploughed through a bunch of ferns and there was an old whale rib! How it got up the hill we'll never know, maybe someone took it as a souvenir on Mason Bay (naughty) and this is where they turfed the bloody thing because WHY. I left it there.

I arrived at Mason Bay, though how anyone gets to it down the mountain after it’s been raining is anyone’s guess! Almost impossible!

I got there after high tide had retreated so didn’t have to take the High Tide Route. Lots of rocks and stones to clamber over and one seal to avoid, sand was a blessing! Ambled along about 4km and followed the signs inland to the hut. 4km is a loooooong way on sand, not as long as mud but long in terms of monotony and things seeming closer than they are. Also, I couldn't tell exactly where my "there" was!

I was so caught up in my Cloud of Urgh, I forgot to take any photos after Little Hellfire Beach. I was immensely over it and frustrated with pretty much everything. The mud, the sand, the pack weight, the sandflies and the me. All equally annoying at times!

I finally found Duck Creek which flowed nicely across the beach and wasn't even ankle-deep, however as I found later I didn't have to cross it at all. So up and over some difficult sand dunes I finally saw a marker...on the other side of the creek. Yes, there was a nice wee track to the hut that I missed due to abysmal signage and Duck Creek was knee-deep when I crossed back over again 500m inland. What's that? Voices? OMG people!!! 

Dinner was welcomed and I heated water to soak my feet, what a treat. A foot spa in the middle of BFN! At least this time I had some daylight hours to play with, and chat to some newbies as people often fly into Mason Bay (beach landing), "hike" to Freshwater and get the water taxi from there. I was tempted to arrange that water taxi from Freshwater but I know I would have regretted that decision.

Now my plan had been to make it here by dinnertime and thrash it out to Freshwater, but arriving at 9pm I had nothing left to give. As I said wearily to one day-hiker, "I have nothing nice to say about that day!"

So here's the problem, I'm still a day behind! I can't afford to risk walking North Arm to Oban on my last day as I could miss my flight if it takes longer than the brochure says..and let's be honest, it will! I also doubt I could pack in Freshwater to Oban in one day as that's a very un-Carlesque scenario based on recent experience. Mason Bay to Freshwater is easy-going (no it actually is) so I also don't want to waste time relaxing there for half a day.

So I sat there with my feet soaking in the makeshift Spa, studying my map, eating my freeze-dried amazingness and working on a plan. I came up with what seemed the best one, to walk to Freshwater and have lunch, then solider on as far as I could and camp out if I couldn't make it to North Arm...I knew North Arm was an impossible goal but if I could just get the mountain out of the way and get over the ridge I had a shot of getting to Oban in time. What's a night in a tent when there's a bed waiting for you the next night?

Matter settled, I hobbled bedwards to prepare for one crazy day (and that's saying a lot this hike).

A glorious view to start the day

Big Hellfire Hut

View down to Little Hellfire Bay and on to Mason Bay

This took longer than expected to find a cooperative tree for my iPhone to balance on

The view inland towards the end of the Ruggedy Mountains and the marshy Rugged Flat 

Another peek inland towards tomorrow's route

Squelchy but pretty

Walking the ridge was a relief from the bush

Clambering down

UP NEXT: Mason Bay to Halfway Down a Mountain

Day 8: East Ruggedy to Big Hellfire

16 December 2019

The Original Plan: Big Hellfire to Mason Bay
The New Plan: East Ruggedy to Big Hellfire
Steps: 45,216
Floors Climbed: 161 (bloody hell)
Distance: 33.6km
Tantrums: 6

I’m going to be real honest here. The fluffy descriptions in the DOC brochure are deceptive, vague and sometimes just wrong. Dead waste of $1 when it tells you “after Waituna Bay it climbs steadily up to Hellfire Pass and Big Hellfire Hut”. Let me assure you, it is NOT a steady climb. Steady means up up up at varying degrees; there are downs, there are seemingly endless corridors of mud when the last landmark you saw half an hour ago meant the hut was almost around the corner. It’s not. Maps lie.

My advice: get a decent actual map, scrap the DOC version and research the days using blogs by people who have done it. Like this one 😊 #ShamelessPlug

So today was fun. I’m writing this at 10:45pm waiting for the freeze-dried roast lamb to finish cooking after I staggered into a hut full of sleeping people at 10:15pm. FML I am not cut out for this.

The first half was great, the leg through the peaceful forest and down to West Ruggedy Beach was timed at 1 hour, I did it in 1:10 so the closest yet to the DOC times. Lots of kiwi prints in the sand dunes but the cheeky birds eluded me today.

There's something pretty special about walking down a long beach and being the only person on it, the rugged windswept scrub, waves crashing...it was pretty cool, even with the sandflies treating my appendages as a buffet.

After ambling along West Ruggedy Beach (on the West of the island, same as East Ruggedy...go figure) it was time to be snacked-up and caffeinated at the campsite (patch of grass wth an orange buoy) before being reunited with my old nemesis Mud. Yep, it's back and it missed me terribly. I trudged on up the Ruggedy Mountains and down the other side, easier to write than do! I had a small rest at the top for lunch (my pre-Waituna tuna) and listened to the serenity hoping to see a Kiwi since I was sitting quietly and not thundering along practising my "French", I heard some rustles but evidently word had spread I was to be avoided. 

The views were amazing too, the Ruggedy Mountains were well-named and look spectacular. There is a Lookout on the way down to Waituna Bay, someone had written “worth it” on the sign so I dumped my pack to check it out and was speechless. I stopped swearing for a whole 5 minutes! Codfish Island, the rugged peaks of the Ruggedy Range, Waituna Bay where the final leg to the hut begins.

I stopped at Waituna Bay for a quick tea break (Earl Grey has a lot to do with my coping with this adventure) and here began DOC's "steady climb" up to Big Hellfire Hut. Steady. My. Ass. Up, up up, down, down, up, up, along, down...the heck??? After about a year I made it to the ridge for some more trudging and according to the map I was evidently misreading, the hut was almost coming up. Finally I saw sand and crossed the sand dune to the hut. Yes you read it correctly, there was a sand dune that went all the way up the mountain (200m) and over the other side...so it gets a little windy here sometimes!

I crept in "quietly" (i.e. clang bang crash rustle thud) and got my dinner happening and organised my bed in the dark. It was night so I'll have to check out the view tomorrow!

Getting warm was a mission so I had to get up at 1:00am and get the thermals on with hat and mittens, then I slept like a log! Note: this is important, if in doubt always go for the worst case scenario and rug up if you’re cold and shivering. It might not be hypothermia but better to err on the side of caution when youre in the middle of BFN, yes? Got that class? Good. And goodnight.

East Ruggedy Hut

East Ruggedy Hut, aka "The Ritz"

A simpler time when I thought yesterday was the toughest. It wasn't.

Kiwi prints!!

That coastline though...wow!

I was so alone and free, it was spectacular!

My picturesque lunch stop

The Ruggedy Mountains

Occasionally the track broke into small patches of decent terrain

Waituna Bay, where the "steady climb" begins

This is when I realised why the track ambled around rather than up/over

UP NEXT: Big Hellfire to Mason Bay

Day 7: Long Harry to East Ruggedy

15 December 2019

The Original Plan: East Ruggedy to Big Hellfire
The New Plan: Long Harry to East Ruggedy
Steps: 33,871
Floors Climbed: 88
Distance: 25.2km
Tantrums: 4
Near-Death Experiences: 1

So what was meant to be an uneventful 7am pee became the highlight so far! I came out of the Portaloo and there was a KIWI!! It was just wandering and poking through the grass for bugs. I crept past quietly to get my phone and tell the others before it ran away; the Kiwi didn’t actually give a sh*t and was waiting happily as if to say "I'm ready for my close-up Mr DeMille."

So there. The number 1 reason I’ve wanted to do this hike for about 15 years was to see a kiwi in the wild. I’m beyond stoked! We discreetly followed it around for a few minutes, keeping our distance of course, watching our national icon going about its business. What an amazing start to the day!

Carl: “Nothing can wipe my smile off my face today!”
Track Planner: “Hold my beer.”

Plenty more mud out there today, the heavy rain during the night helped to illustrate the famous Stewart Island Mud: yesterday’s footprints were still there!

I clambered straight up the steep grassy hill, dumped my pack and went back down the hill to get my trekking poles (facepalm) then back up again. Like I need extra steps! It was a fairly easy track to begin with, a few undulations and a whopping great tree fallen over which required hurling my pack over and slithering underneath. A slimy start to a slimy day!

After the first couple of hours I got a sweeping view back towards to hut which did not look a couple of hours away. So if you do the track clockwise please don't get excited when you see the hut, it might ruin your day!

It’s been the most physically enduring day so far, every type of terrain there is! Forest, scrub, mud, sand, boulders and a river at the end to wade through and rinse the mud off.

The unnamed boulder beach is a mission to cross as you need to watch every step when the rocks move around under your feet, this adventure was interrupted by a large seal sunbathing; with no 30-metre route to go around [DOC recommendation] I had to scramble up through the scrub. After tripping over a tree root and landing face first for a slide down the hill, I almost tumbled down a 5-metre cliff face, I managed to unclip and crawl out from under the pack and lug it up and over. Sheesh. I bet the seal found this all highly amusing, the little bastard. I thought of a few ideas for naming this beach but I doubt they'd be accepted! Finding where the track went into the Bush was tricky, there was no sign at that end and not enough markers.

A sign directing me to a lookout had been “adjusted for accuracy” by a previous hiker, it was officially “50 mud” away from the track. This was accurate but I took my pack off which made for a comparitively blissful stroll/squelch along to a pretty incredible view of East Ruggedy Beach. It was legit one of the best views so I was glad I checked it out!

It was a pretty even downward walk/waddle/skid to the bottom of the hill, further than it looked from the lookout but by now I was getting used to the view bearing little resemblance to reality. The end was nigh though.

I crossed the river and ambled through the scrub up to the hut, it was quite a way up from the beach so on one hand it was easy going but it was also at the end of the day and I was already exhausted. Hopefully the hikers at the hut didn't hear me screaming "Where the **** are you taking me" as the track kept going and going and going. You will not beat me today, Rakiura baby, not today.

Another “silent” dinner session, I think I make more noise when I’m trying to be quiet. It turned out others were out Kiwi spotting anyway so we had a good chat when they returned. I was reunited with the couples who I had met at Christmas Village, fresh from their beach landing and surprised to see me again. Tristan and Jen had their rest day here so I had caught up with them too which was cool. 

My kiwi friend werking that camera

A nice steep clamber

The same clamber from the top

The view back to the hut, it felt like I'd come a lot further.

These tanin-stained streams are so peaceful to listen to, even when I'm mid-tantrum

Are we there yet? Nope...

That rugged south coast of the island

The track isn't as steep as the sign suggests

A pensive moment during lunch

Perfect weather

The seal that I almost died trying to avoid, next time I'll just risk the bite

The cliff I almost fell down. Eek.

A sneak peak inland

Some good advice from hikers past

It was worth the "50 Mud" to see this view!

UP NEXT: East Ruggedy to Big Hellfire

Day 6: Yankee River to Long Harry

14 December 2019

The Original Plan: Long Harry to East Ruggedy
The New Plan: Yankee River to Long Harry
Steps: 30,394
Floors Climbed: 40
Distance: 22.6km
Tantrums: 0.5

Time to soldier on!

Awoke to the sound of Yuval stoking the fire, we gathered and said our goodbyes as he’s packing 2 days in and heading to East Ruggedy. He did it too, according to the log books. Fit people…

José and Tiphaine, the French couple, were also carrying on to Long Harry as they wanted their rest day where there was decent fishing and Yankee River didn't cut 'la moutarde'. I left first, crossing the three-wire swing bridge and they passed me halfway up the hill. The area was quite lush with lots of birdsong going on so it made for a lovely morning.

No rain today so the mud was less sticky and the walk more pleasurable. The flora changed to be less dense and rainforesty, presumably due to the wind around the north side which wasn’t major today but the trees certainly showed it could blow when it wanted to!

A lot of up before the down but it was easy to work out where I was and estimate timing, I was treated to a rather magnificent view down over Smokey Beach. The hard part was Smoky Beach with the sand dunes, which started with having to scramble up a 10-metre high one! Sand walking is difficult and painful with a pack but WOW what a spot! I saw a Dotterel running along away from me, she kept looking back. Meeting some DOC volunteers at the next hut, they explained she was trying to distract me and lead me away from her eggs, if I continued to follow she would have started limping or feigned a broken wing so I would eat her instead of her eggs. Aren’t mother’s amazing? I didn’t know it was a rare bird at the time, missed that photo op.

Stopped for lunch at the Hunters’ Hut and carried on. At this point I misread the “high tide route” sign, I thought you could get to the swing bridge two ways depending on the sign. No. The bridge is PART OF the high tide route, so I could have crossed the river on foot in less than 2 minutes but instead I went over a bridge and up/over a hill just to arrive back on the beach across the stream. 45 minutes of clambering. Like I need extra exercise this trip!

After a hard slog up, along and over the hills I got to Long Harry Hut. The track, for some reason, headed on down to the sea instead of over to the hut which was clearly less than 100 metres in front of me. Why not go straight there? My guess at the time was the track planner was drunk, tripped over and rolled down the hill and clambered up to the hut after staggering along the rocks, not thinking to perhaps adjust the map route to suite sober people such as myself who had been walking for a while and wanted to lie down.

José and Tiphaine arrived hours before me and they went down to look for paua (New Zealand abalone), he returned with 6 huge ones! So after dinner I was being served pieces of plain paua fried in rice oil, paua with rosemary and garlic, paua with curry. They didn't just cook it either, they warmed it gently on the wood-burner then fried it. The thing with French people, you never know when they'll just whip up a degustation restaurant in the middle of nowhere!

Callum and Lizzy, who were volunteering with DOC on a working holiday from the UK and walking the opposite way, came out with marshmallows to toast in the fire and chocolate. I shared my freeze-dried apple pie, surprisingly delicious. You can’t plan perfect evenings like this 😊

With comic timing, just as one of them asked what I do for a job (cruising industry) one of my ships happened to sail past! I know my colleagues were worried about me but that was an extreme way of checking up on me...I tried to not think of all the people dining in the fancy restaurants and burning the dance floor. The fun is wherever I am so it sucks to be them!

We had a nice view across the Foveaux Strait to the South Island and I had just enough reception to text my Dad and one or two others whose messages dropped in after the eruption on Whakaari/White Island. It's great being the wilderness and getting a message "Hey I just saw the news, are your family OK?"...what news? Why wouldn't they be OK? What's happened? Sheesh. Wrong part of the country thank God.

I heard some kiwi chattering nearby but out of sight making some quite prehistoric noises, which I would never have known was a Kiwi if it weren’t for Callum and Lizzy’s expertise. Super cool. I will see that elusive bird eventually! It sounded like there were quite a few out there.

Tomorrow is another big one. Knees are a bit sore but they’ll just have to get over it! I'm over halfway so it's easier to keep going than go back, or so my innocent mind thought at the time.

Israeli coffee, great start to the day!

Finally an honest sign. "We don't know how long this will take you but good luck!

Just as awkward to cross as it looks!

I couldn't capture the bushy smells and birdsong in a photo

Break time!

Smoky Beach comes into view, flora now looking more windswept

The climb up to the sand dunes. Sheesh.

Halfway selfie

Sneak peak at the South Island in the distance.

I made it to the hut! Oh wait...no...no I haven't...

Long Harry Bay

Settling in to our slice of paradise

A quick pose for my Dad (Harry). And they're warm and comfortable so shut up!

A wooden spoon whittled by Tiphaine while her boyfriend went fishing. Note it's shaped to scrape around the bottom of a pot. They've got skills!

The m.s. Noordam sent to spy on me.

UP NEXT: Long Harry to East Ruggedy