Day 51 - Breast Hill track Camp to Top Timaru Hut

It rained again last night. Its nice falling asleep to droplets of rain falling on my tent above me, knowing I'm sheltered, but I've been wet, damp and cold for 4 days now and I'm quite ready for the sun to come out. I was in no rush to get going this morning as I knew the 25km day over Martha saddle would only take me about 6 hours to reach Top Timaru hut. I was very much looking forward to sleeping in a hut again.

I packed up my wet cold tent yet again, and slipped into my wet socks and shoes before starting my day. None of this really mattered as I was crossing a knee deep stream within 20 minutes of leaving camp. The trail was easy to follow once I reached the 4WD track that led me into the mountains. I had a big climb of around 1000 meters to tackle today over Martha's Saddle, and I was quite expecting to be hiking through snow again.

I've been nursing my camera like a sick child ever since the shutter stopped working. The condinsation Inside went down as I hiked with it attached to my shoulder strap, and at around noon I decided to try and get it working again. To my luck I was able to capture some shots, but my camera was doing all sorts of worrisome things. My shutter would only work half the time, and half the buttons on the back wouldn't respond as normal. I did my best not to overuse it, but the views from the saddle were so beautiful I couldn't help but capture what I could, while I could.

By 4pm I reached Top Timaru Hut, and just as I walked in the front door a shower of rain started. Two hunters were inside when I arrived, and they didn't leave the place tidy at all. It reeked of cigarette smoke inside the hut since they left the door open, and because the door was open there was a horde of sand flies inside. Part of me thought about carrying on and camping along the river, but me and my camera needed a night under a sheltered roof off the ground. I passed another 3 hikers(none TA) who were planning on staying here tonight as well, which meant the 6 bunk hut would be full. A full hut is never fun, but that's why I have earplugs.

After feeling so gloomy over the past several days I was extremely happy to see a familiar friend show up to the hut. Lurking in late in the evening was the 6 foot 8 giant, Wietse. We split ways at Tekapo when he decided to bike and I took a ride from Ryan, but now that we're back on path again. We caught up on our travels over the past week, and shared stories of our crossings over the the snow covered mountains and the Ahuriki River. We already talked about our plan for tomorrow to Camp somewhere before Breast Hill. Wietse had to Camp since the hut was full, so I'm sure he'll be having a late start tomorrow.