Day 2: Port William to Bungaree (via mud)

10 December 2019

The Original Plan: Bungaree to Christmas Village
The New Plan: Port William to Bungaree
Steps: 24,601
Floors Climbed: 39
Distance: 18.3km
Tantrums: 2.5

My inflatable pillow did the trick to an extent but tonight I reckon I’ll stuff my sleeping bag cover instead. Relaxed morning, repacked the pack to make things easier to find, including putting the bloody teapot inside which spent yesterday clang-ka-clanging along as I walked.

A few goodbyes and good lucks from those heading off on the Rakiura Great Walk to North Arm Hut. Sensible people. I hope they at least fell over...

Tom gave me strong advice to get moving, another sensible person. 4-5 hours they reckon 😂 Try 8 🤬

Heading off on my own, as soon as I left and entered the trail it was immediately silent, the fresh smells of the NZ bush and said silence only interrupted by the various birds flitting about. The first hour or two was muddy, the degrees of which I have never experienced before. Ankle deep. Knee deep. “Don’t bother” deep. I got through with a mix of grim determination and singing Flanders & Swan’s Hippopotamus Song. "Mud, mud, glorious mud"…*squealch..."nothing quite like it for cooling the"....DAMMIT...*grunt..."the blood".

Two main lessons learned.

Lesson 1: Be careful hanging stuff from your pack. Not sure which fall caused my 2L water jug to detach but it wasn’t there when I got to Bungaree! My other bottle will go inside tomorrow...

Lesson 2: Study the map! What fuelled my audible frustration in the last 3 hours was misreading the map and thinking I was closer than I thought. When a track has been laid out by an intoxicated person sitting in an office with a pen, like this one seems to have been, you need to expect the track to randomly head upstream so you can climb up and over a hill that wasn’t actually in the way. Windfall, it turns out, is not someone scattering $50 notes along the path. It’s actually what it says on the tin, the wind makes thing fall so you have exciting new and unplanned things to clamber over on an already muddy track. Yee-flippin-har.

Back to the story though, I almost saw two Kiwi!!! Running through the low fern undergrowth (the kiwi not me), I could hear the heavy footfall and saw the ferns moving as it raced through. One then gave me a fleeting glimpse of its tail (mooning me basically) as it dove over a log, the other was not visible. High hopes I’ll see one in the next 8 days. They're such teases! Some people do see them on the track if you're quiet, but with the packs on there was no way "walking quietly" was an option. 

The bird life was incredible, wee tomtits and fantails were pretty friendly. Lots of tui and fantails out today and bellbirds singing as well. I have learnt one of the tui’s calls and can now make them come, or rather appear and sit in a tree looking for the tui with a weird accent. This really is paradise, despite the choice words I was having the with route planners near the end. The air just smells fresh and clean, a pleasing blend of moss, lichen, clean air and mud.

It was mostly rolling forested hill country today, apart from two small dips onto Sawyers Beach and Little Bungaree Beach. Little Bungaree was named so hikers like me could think we were almost at Bungaree before surprising us with one last hilly treat. I'd like to rename it You Got This Bro Beach.

After leaving You Got This Bro Beach and sliding my way down another muddy bank, and feeling proud to have remained upright for the full performance, I heard footsteps. People! A young couple from Christchurch had walked from Oban (I can't even...) and asked if I thought the hut was far away. I did say I'd been wondering if it was in fact a work of fiction like the Fountain of Youth or Atlantis. They chuckled, bless them, they thought I was joking.

Arriving onto Big Bungaree Beach was just a sight for sore eyes. I could see the hut at the end and NO HILLS! Some people had arrived ahead of me, Jen & Tristan from a few minutes previous and a father/son duo doing the Mt Anglem/Hananui side trip and back. Not everyone does the full circuit, it’s flexible and water taxis run to some of the huts for people doing sections.

Bungaree Hut was smaller than Port William, being a Back Country Hut. It was right by the beach where I could watch seals frolicking in the surf and a large rock with a three-way cave inside. Like Port Wills, it also had a sweeping view down the beach. It rained in the evening after I arrived which always adds a little drama and makes the inside extra cosy.

The back country huts, one would expect to be rickety shacks and questionable mattresses...surprisingly all the huts were incredibly well kept! It's one of those rare places where they ask people to clean up after themselves and they ACTUALLY DO! Everywhere I stayed on the track, everyone pitched in sweeping it out gathering some firewood and leaving it nice for the next lot. I have never seen this happen anywhere else!

I decided to organise my bum bag in the evenings so the mornings were more organised. I put in two snacks and my lunch, changed the daily map clipping and set them among the permanent residents of the large waterproof map, phones in zip-lock bags and compass/whistle. I could then pack to go, leaving just my breakfast stuff and night clothes to pack away. 

The bum-bag was a genius last-minute idea I had at K-Mart, it meant if I stopped for a break my snacks were right there without opening the Pack of Doom. The map and phone (camera) could also be pulled out while walking if I needed guidance or saw an opportunity for a scenic shot or grumpy selfie.

After organising myself for tomorrow's adventures, I settled into bed to the sound of waves gently lapping outside. Noice.

This was just as awkward as it looks.
Note the blue bottle top-left, this was the last time we saw each other!

There's no "easing in", the mud begins immediately. This is tame.

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood

Still hammering onwards!

Friendly fantail, one of many that followed me along hoping I'd kick up some grubs.

An aesthetically-pleasing fluffy tuft

Big Bungaree Beach, almost there! Hut just visible down the end

Bungaree Hut

Typical hut interior. Tidy and cosy.

UP NEXT: Bungaree to Christmas Village