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.