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.