Stage 2 is in the bag!

Well, I've just rocked in Arthur's Pass in the rain, and have shacked up at Mountainhouse Backpackers for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Stage two of my trip has just flown past. It doesn't seem like 12 days has past since I left Lake Rotoroa!

A quick rundown on what I 've been up to since my last blog.

9 January - After a good nights sleep and a shower at the East Gowan Holiday Camp, I headed around the side of Lake Rotoroa in the first of the bad weather that started to come through on this leg. I had lunch at Sabine hut, at the head of the lake and trudged up to West Sabine hut, arriving at about 6pm. A long day with a freshly stocked pack. I was thinking I'd be needing a rest day some time soon, as I didn't take one at Rotoroa like I'd initially planned. Some good company in the form of Jost from Rotorua, Patrick a wayward Aussie in search of trout, and a German couple from Nelson who's names escape me.

10 January - A short day swelching up to Blue Lake Hut in the rain. There was no point in going any further that day, as the weather was foul. Blue Lake itself is stunning - definitely one of the highlights so far! Had some nice company that day in the form of John and Hanne, and a French dude, Benjamin, who arrived later in the day.

11 January - I got my rest day! It was raining cats and dogs, then eased back to showers, but lots of fog and general clag. There was no way I was going over the Pass today! Got invaded by Paul and Rebecca later in the day, a father and daughter who HAD come across the pass in the filth and rain. They didn't recommend it though, so I was glad to be sitting around in a nice cosy hut!

12 January - The day dawned brilliantly clear, and i was off out the door with a grin on my face : ) What a great day to be doing Waiau Pass! I rocked up to Lake Constance, which was magically clear and still, charged around the side and huffed and puffed up the tussock lead that comes down from the bench just below the pass. I had a snack and a photo shoot on the bench, which I followed until I came to the last scree slope leading to the pass. I was on the pass by 11.30 - exactly 3 hours after I had left the hut. Pretty good going I thought.

The route down from the Pass proved more straight forward than I originally thought, and i followed old bent over warratahs down though the slabby section at the top to the steeper tussock slopes below. Again, the views over to Lake Thompson and Thompson Pass were stunning. I bashed down through the scrub (actually there is a pretty good foot trail through it) to the campsite in the first lot of trees and had lunch, then spent the afternoon following the Waiau down through boulder fields and regenerating beech forest. I reached Caroline Biv about 3.30, and after a snack and a quick look at the map, decided to head on downstream a bit further to shorten my day the next day. I walked on until about 5.30, moving through open grassy flats and a bit of bush until I found a good flat spot with a good water supply close by and set up camp. The rest of the evening was spent fending off the sandflies, who were swarming due to the fact it was probably going to rain the following day.

13 January - The day was drizzly and heavily overcast. I spent most of my time wandering down open flats, avoiding cow pats. I must admit, I didn't really enjoy this bit - not a big fan of cattle country. The place feels spoiled somehow. I skirted Ada Homestead, crossed over the Ada River and got on to the St James Walkway. More of the same cattle country passed by as I headed up to Anne Hut, which I reached mid-afternoon. I decided to stop and dry stuff out, as the day had turned for the better. Anne Hut is is quite a nice forested spot just on the edge of the more open farmland I had just crossed. I met two Americans, John and Annemarie Brittan, who were over here on a tramping holiday, and loving it. They had coming over here without much experience, but have been quick to learn the ins and outs of tramping Kiwi style. They plan to come back soon, and do more in the southern part of the Island, now the kids have all moved out and gone to collage.

14 January - After it raining steadily overnight, it cleared rapidly as I got underway in the morning. I followed the track up more pleasant cow country than the day before. The Anne Valley is a pretty valley rimmed with forest, and the River quickly turns to an enchanting mountain stream. I got to Anne Saddle about 10.30, and quickly descended into the Boyle River, then followed the series of open, tussocky river flats until I reached Boyle Flats Hut, where I had lunch. After lunch the river became more gorged, and I was in the bush much more. The weather had turned again, and it became drizzly again. I crossed the swingbridge and trudged the last three hours down to Boyle settlement with blinkers on, thinking only of the food box i was going to pick up.

I got to Boyle settlement, and went to see Bill, the caretaker of the Outdoor Pursuits Centre there. He made me feel right at home when I knocked on his door, and sat me down in front of the fire and gave me a cuppa. He also runs a backpackers at his place, so I managed to sort out a bed for the night too. We went down and got my food box, and spent some time restocking the pack, before sitting down to a hearty feed of steak, spud, peas and fried onion - Mmm, good stuff! The beer I was handed went down a treat too. After that we sat around and yarned before a knock on the door summoned Bill away. Apparently there had been an accident up the road, and as Bill is the last house before the Pass, he often has to help out in dealing with the tidy up. I had a hot shower and went to bed, as the hot meal and beer had made me sleepy.

15 January - I hit the road (literally) at about 8.30 and walked from Boyle settlement through to Windy Point in about two hours. I was glad to get off the road and into the forest, as the day had shaped up to be another stunner. I followed the forest terraces above the hope river through to the shelter, stopping for lunch on the way. I ran into a mother and son team who were planning on going over Harper Pass as well along the way. The forest eventually abated and I came out on large flats, littered with matagouri. I crossed the swingbridge, and half an later arrived at Hope Kiwi Lodge, which is a pretty flash establishment. My feet were killing me, so I was glad to get the boots off. It had been a long hard day with a full pack.

16 January - I head over Kiwi Saddle and around the head of Lake Sumner into the Hurunui River. It was another clear hot day, and the travel was again both in forest, and open cattle flats littered with cows and matagouri. I had lunch at Hurunui Hut and then pushed on up to the hot pool for a soak (God, that was good!). The problem was it was hard to get going again once I got out, and I was a bit sluggish for the rest of the walk up to No. 3 Hut, which I reached at about 6.30. Another longish day distance wise, but worth it in the fine weather.

17 January - It started out all rainy and cloudy, so the walk up the rest of the Hurunui was a bit wet. The river wasn't a problem though, and as I reached Harper Pass things cleared. The descent into the Taramakau is a lot steeper than the gentle approach on the Hurunui side, and the track a lot rougher. I dropped down through Dracophyllum scrub and sidled a stream through scrubby forest before crossing the swingbridge at the head of the valley to the true left where I had lunch, then I followed the track down washed out river banks and scrubby bush until I reached Locke Stream Hut. I spent the rest of the day basking in the sun and drying all my wet kit out and giving my feet a rest.

18 January - Again, the day dawned cloudy and damp. I put my rain jacket on to get through the wet forest, and kept it on for most of the morning as it was a bit drizzly and colder than it had been for a while. I crossed the Taramakau quite early on and walked down grassy flats for some time before reaching the Kiwi Hut turnoff, where I had a snack. After Kiwi Hut I started crossing a series of gravel flats. I quickly passed the Otehake, where i ran into a couple of DOC guys bouncing up the riverbed in a 4WD, and headed down valley, passing a chopper full of fishermen before crossing back to the true left and finally reaching the shelter on the corner of the Otira where I had lunch. After lunch I crossed the Otira and trudged up the road to the Deception brigde. I headed about 20 minutes up valley before I found a good spot to camp, then set about lounging about until I had to cook tea and do the radio sched to let people know I was almost at Arthur's Pass. I had a couple of visitors in the form of a guy popping up from the road to see what the Deception was like, as his brother had done the Coast to Coast a few times, and he was interested to see some of the country his bro ran through. The other was a French-Canadian girl who wandered out of the Deception some time after 7pm. She had fallen over and gashed her head, but was fine and just wanted to get to the road end so she could get the gash checked to see whether she needed stitches. She told me to be careful in there!

19 January - Deception Day! It started off with me being woken up by three runners going past the tent at 7 in the morning, They were obviously training for the Coast to Coast, which is coming up in a few weeks time. What can I say about the Deception? Well, its wet, wild and woolly, and I'd hate to get stuck in there in heavy rain. The way up the valley is definitely a route, not a track, and is reasonably hard yakka. I was lucky, I had another fine day on my hands, so the trip up was almost pleasant : ) I had lunch at Deception Hut and made Goat Pass hut by about 3pm. I spent the afternoon wandering around Goat Pass soaking up the views and taking the odd snap.

20 January - The weather had gone bad overnight, and I walked down the Mingha in the rain. I passed a few people heading up to Goat Pass to go climbing, and a couple of day trippers and Coast to Coasters out for some training on the way downstream. I made it out to the Bealy confluence in just over 3 hours, then walked up the Bealy riverbed into Arthur's Pass Village, where I got myself a bed at the Mountainhouse Backpackers, and proceeded to pig out on junk food, email a few people and call others. Roy arrived late afternoon with my next food dump and a new pack, as my trusty old purple Torre was starting to fall apart on me, then we headed down to the Wobbly Kea for a steak and a couple of beers before I headed off to bed.

Well it looks like I'm about a week ahead of schedule at the moment, though once I start heading south, I doubt that I'll be doing such good time. I'm heading into the hard part of the trip now, and things will be getting a lot more challenging. I'm taking the day off today (21 January) and plan to head out to Carrington Hut in the Waimakariri tomorrow. With a bit of luck and good weather, I'll be in the head of the Rakaia in six or seven days, then it'll probably be another ten days to Mount Cook where I'll try and update this again. Here's hoping stage three goes as well as stages 1 and 2!

STAGE 2 BREAKDOWN

Day 12: Lake Rotoroa - Sabine Hut - Sabine River - West Sabine Hut
Day 13: West Sabine Hut - Blue Lake Hut
Day 14: Pit day due to bad weather, Blue Lake Hut
Day 15: Blue Lake Hut - Lake Constance - Waiau Pass - Waiau Valley - Caroline Biv - Campsite in Waiau Valley
Day 16: Waiau Valley - Ada River - Anne Hut
Day 17: Anne Hut - Anne River - Anne Saddle - Boyle River - Boyle River Outdoor Pursuits Centre (Lewis Pass)
Day 18: Boyle River Outdoor Pursuits Centre - Windy Point - Hope River - Kiwi River - Hope Kiwi Lodge
Day 19: Hope Kiwi Lodge - Kiwi Saddle - Lake Coleridge - Hurunui River - Hurunui Hut - No. 3 Hut
Day 20: No. 3 Hut - Harper Pass - Locke Stream Hut
Day 21: Locke Stream Hut - Taramakau River - Otira River - Deception River campsite
Day 22: Deception River - Goat Pass Hut
Day 23: Goat Pass Hut - Mingha River - Bealy River - Arthur's Pass Village
Day 24: Rest Day, Arthur's Pass Village