Te Araroa day 114 – Lord of the Rings
March 26th 2017
Fern Burn hut - highland creek hut
3.8 miles
Total distance: 1640 miles
I was sparko before 9pm. With so many unknown people in the hut I was a bit concerned about getting enough sleep but these are hikers which are a different breed of people, and everyone was quiet and settled down before it got dark, and there was hardly any noise in the night.
The hut is a really nice one, new and well sealed so there was no worry of mice or anything creepy or crawly. I didn't even realise it was pouring with rain until I opened the door and stepped outside in the morning. Our original plan may have changed a bit because of the rain. I don't mind walking in the rain but it's certainly more enjoyable when it's nice weather. Given that this is our last mountainous section of the TA we are keen to have some nice views, so we decided to do a really short day and just get to the next hut in anticipation of the weather clearing up tomorrow. We have enough food so we can afford to take our time. Plus we don't really want the trail to end so it's nice to prolong it a bit.
We hung out in the hut for a while and had a lazy morning. The girl I met on the Queen Charlotte track was playing music and I couldn't tolerate it. I've lost my noise filter again and it just seemed so loud. I busied myself by sweeping the floor and the sleeping platforms of the hut. The huts get really gross of no one cleans up.
It had stopped raining by the time I left and it was just cloudy and humid. There was a big climb which wasn't too bad and a big descent which hurt my knees and a little ascent and a little descent to the hut. The views were awesome, made more atmospheric by the clouds, real Lord of the Rings stuff. I arrived at the hut at 12:50 and Colin and Sandy arrived shortly after followed by Hugo. No one was keen to go any further. It wasn't actually raining but we thought – how often are you able to hang out in a hut with friends with amazing views all around?
We had the hut to ourselves so after eating lunch we settled into our sleeping bags and watched the Return Of The King. The extended version is about 4.5 hours long so we had to take a break in the middle because we were all starting to fall asleep. We ate more food and Will (young Kiwi, dislikes female body hair), who we thought was in front of us, arrived. The sun had set by the time we had finished the movie and then it was time to go to bed!
Not many miles today, a lot of lying down, but I've still had a great time.