By Ruth

Distance: 22 km

We woke up with the sun this morning – 7 am. A much later sunrise than what we had back at the start of the South Island, when we were getting up before 6 every day.

Today’s walk was a lot tougher than yesterday’s. While yesterday we were walking on a 4WD track the whole time, today, from the get-go, we were on a fairly rough tramping track. It was quite overgrown with grasses, and where it wasn’t overgrown, it was very boggy. It was slow going to the first hut where we stopped for lunch. It was overcast and there was a strong headwind, so at least we didn’t get as overheated as yesterday. Also, the mountain valley we were walking in was stunning.

After lunch was more of the same type of terrain. At one point we deviated a bit from the marked trail and began walking on what seemed to be a cow trail. For some reason there have been a lot of cows up in this mountain pasture, and they seem to have trampled a clear path alongside the river. Unfortunately this path was extremely muddy and boggy, and smelled strongly of cow poo! It was hard work to avoid getting covered in poopy mud from the knees down.

Finally we rejoined the marked trail and it was much easier going from there; through a bit of forest down to the hut. Once there, we headed down to the swimming hole for our requisite dip (felt amazing of course). It was overall an exhausting and very TA-esque day, but at least tonight’s hut is as luxe as they come.

At the hut we encountered a few other TAs, including someone we hadn’t seen since New Year’s Eve at Te Matawai hut! Tomorrow we are heading up the Greenstone Track, which should be a bit better maintained than what we tackled today. Which is good because we are expecting a pretty rainy and miserable day tomorrow, so hopefully it all balances out.