By Ruth

Distance: 24 km

Today was cold. We woke up and it was barely above freezing in Arrowtown. So we put on all our thermals before heading out from our cabin at the holiday park. Our first stop was a cute cafe in town for a flat white before getting on the trail proper.

It wasn’t long before we had warmed up enough to take off our long johns, since the trail immediately began going up a steep hill. Taking off and putting on layers turned out to be a bit of a theme of the day because there were lots of ups and downs, and the weather changed a lot too as we went.

After a couple hours we reached the first of two saddles and got a great view of the next valley over before we started dropping down towards the river. At this point it started hailing! When we reached the valley floor we had to ford the river a few times. The water was freezing on our poor feet. Then we stopped for lunch in “historic” Macetown, an abandoned gold rush village. Luckily the weather had cleared up a bit by then and we even had some sun on us. It was still very cold though.

After lunch we had the option of walking through the river for a few kilometres, or taking the high route which sidled up and down along the bank. Even though it looked like the more energy-intensive route, we decided to go up the bank to preserve the little remaining circulation in our toes. The drawback was that trail was very overgrown with lots of prickly plants, and our legs got scratched raw. The plus was we stayed warm.

After that it was a long climb from the river up to saddle #2. The trail improved and we cruised up it, with great views to keep us motivated. A lot of the surrounding mountains had snow on them, which made the view all the prettier.

Once over the last saddle it wasn’t long to the hut. It’s a nice newish hut, but unfortunately full of a big group of SOBOs. So we are camping next to the hut. It is very cold out, but not supposed to rain, which is a plus. Now we are in our tent, cuddled up and getting cozy for the night ahead.