Day 61 - The Tararuas

I woke up to kids screaming. A new way of coming into consciousness. After joining the kids for breakfast I threw my pack on my back and said my fairwells. I was sent off into the most dangerous part of my journey sourounded by 10 year olds. The most heart warming fairwell yet.

Unfortunately, Sally left to Wellington early and I missed her. I gave John a big hug for everything they provided for me, and he left me with clear instructions. "The weathers looking great until the day you climb Crawford. Make sure you leave early from Nichols hut. A storm is coming".

I made the hour walk down the road to the trail head before starting the 4-5 hour climb to Waiopahu hut. The accent was over 1000 meters, which is a challenge no matter how fit you are. The track was about as steep as it could get. I reached the hut in 3 hours, and was extremely happy with the time I made. I took a short 10 minute break for a snack and water refill, and continued to climb toward Twin peak, my first Tararua mountain. The weather was quite nice. A few clouds passing through my visibility, but no wind and no rain. I'm happy with no wind and no rain.

The track took a steep decent/accent over Richards knob, Then all the way down to Butchers saddle. Saddles are not my favourite. They take away all the metres you just climbed and make you do them all over again. So after climbing 1000 metres I made a decent to 690 metres, and then climbed all the way back up to over 900 meters to make it to Te Matawai hut. My shelter for the evening. I did around 18km today and I was more exhausted than a 40km road walk. 

From the hut there was a view to Pekematawai - the 1450 metre peak I'll accend first thing in the morning - but it was engulfed In clouds. Hopefully that will change by tomorrow morning.

I was happy to see Te Matawai hut had a fireplace, but unfortunately no axe. I did find a miners pick and managed to smash a few pieces of wood. The thought of someone carrying a miners pick up here made me slightly light headed. I managed to get a fire going, but the wood was pretty wet. I could keep the flames strong if I kept a close eye, but as soon as I focused on something else the flames would easily fade. I curled up into my sleeping bag as close as I could to the fire and held what warmth I could until morning.