By Ruth
Distance: 15 km
After the feeling of utter slog we had yesterday, I started off walking today with some trepidation. Sure enough, it was 3 km of uphill on a gravel road right off the bat, and it was tough. My calves were sore from yesterday, and my feet were still adjusting to my new shoes which is never fun. Also, it was raining. Finally we reached the turn-off to the bush track. It was immediately a huge improvement. Yes, there was a massive mud puddle within five metres of the track beginning. But just being in a forest on a real trail was an immediate mood booster for me.
We hiked along for a while in a dense forest before reaching the first of two big-ish stream crossings today. When we arrived at the stream, we were surprised to see that the rain was coming down really hard. In the bush, we had trees protecting us so we couldn’t even tell.
Like I mentioned there were two large stream crossings today. There were also a whole lot of small stream crossings. The difference between the two (according to Ruth’s Official Definition) is that large stream crossings require taking your shoes off if you want to keep them dry, whereas small ones can be crossed by careful rock hopping.
So, not wanting wet feet the rest of the day, at the first large stream I took off my shoes. Then, before crossing I was fiddling around with my pack, and proceeded to accidentally drop one of my shoes into the stream! Horror. So, at the second stream, with one foot soaked and the other pretty damp too from all the mud puddles on trail, I just walked straight through.
Despite these trials, I really enjoyed the hiking today. When I’m in a forest surrounded by trees and ferns, I can really get into the zone where my mind is simply occupied with finding the next good foothold, and the time can fly by. It also helped that by lunchtime the sun had come out, and it was a shorter day today, so we were at our hut by mid-afternoon. Once again, we have the place to ourselves tonight.
Getting here early gave us time to have a wash in the stream, clean some clothes, and even have a read through one of the hiking magazines in the hut. For some reason all the huts here have outdoor-themed magazines in them, but usually we don’t have time to read any. This one issue we looked at this evening had stories of crazy people who quit their jobs to walk the TA! Can you imagine! Overall a big improvement over yesterday and a great day back on the trail.
