Day 25 - Anne's hut to Boyle Flat hut

I slept in today, as did Wietse, Justin and Dylan. The wind was howling and the rain was fierce, giving us no motivation to make the 33km walk to Boyle Village. Instead, we all decided to hike 17.km(6hr) to Boyle Flat hut, giving us an easy day to Boyle Village tomorrow.

This was the first time in three days that I was able to put dry socks and shoes on in the morning before starting the trail. The long grass was still wet from the rain so within 5 minutes of walking I could feel the uncomfortable squishyness of water in my socks.

It took me about an hour and a half of walking before my body started to loosen up and find its flow. Like starting an old vehicle on a cold winter day. You turn the key and the engine sputters at an odd timing. It might even scare you at first, giving thoughts that something might be off. But after some time the engine begins to warm up the oil, the gears start to churn at a steady rhythm, and you finally start to feel the purr you know best. Then you can ride. If you don't warm up you can cause all sorts of problems. So the morning for me is always slow, and thoughtful. But once I'm ready I tend to move fast.

The walk was flat, but wet. It rained for most of the day, but not the heavy type of rain. It was more a light coat of moisture the clung onto everything. Even though I was hiking in my rain jacket I hardly broke a bead of sweat. The estimated six hour walk took me only four, and by early afternoon I was already at my hut. There were 3 ladies at the hut when I arrived along with their horses. They were on a 4 day trip through the valley on horseback and were incredibly friendly. They told me the rivers were too high for the horses so they had to spend the day at the hut.

Not long after I arrived so did Wietse, and we enjoyed some fresh ground coffee on the steps outside beside the horses. Justin and Dylan showed up a few hours later. There was also a north bounder spending the night here and he gave us a tip that their was some bad water in the Arthur's pass section, and to make sure we filtered everything. At one point in the evening one of the ladies showed us a fish looking bug that come out of the water tank into the sink. Goes to show you should always filter the hut water...