Te Araroa day 115 – A half day
March 27th 2017
Highland creek hut - roses hut
6.3 miles
Total distance: 1646.3 miles
With just the 5 of us in the hut it was nice and quiet and when it poured with rain all through the night we were pleased to be in the hut. I had some really weird dreams, mostly influenced by LOTR I think. Everyone had a messed up Ork face and there was lots of sword fighting. We had a plan today to go about 15 miles to Mace town, an old abandoned mining town, and camp there which involved 3 big climbs.
The first goal was to get to the next hut, Roses hut, for lunch. Still cloudy but humid the day was much the same as yesterday. The notes suggest it takes 5-6 hours to get to the hut and the information in the hut says it takes 7-8 hours. We did it in 4 hours. The first climb was ok, alternating between steep and following contours. The views of the mountains always provided something to look at. The descent to the river was painful for the knees and they are becoming more painful on each descent, especially the long ones. I was really pleased to get to the bottom and took a little break with Sandy and Colin, where we got rained on by the trees, before taking off for the second climb.
That climb seemed much easier and much quicker than the first one and we were surprised to find ourselves at the top so soon, with great views over the river flowing down the valley.
The descent was intense again and we could see the hut for a while before we got there, but both the climbs weren't as bad as we were anticipating. I felt like I was in good shape for the next climb. Once at the hut we took off our wet shoes and settled in for lunch, where we spent a good hour discussing what our next move should be. Should we stay or should we go? I didn't have a strong preference either way, it meant getting to Queenstown in the morning or in the afternoon of the same day. So we took a vote and we chose to stay, again! Ultimately it came down to preferring to spend time relaxing in a quiet hut with a beautiful view rather than spending too much time in the city. I certainly won't look back and think – I wish I spent less time in the hut!
Hugo arrived and we settled in to watch another movie! Assassins Creed – I watched it all but couldn't tell you what it was about or what happened in it because I was totally confused the whole way through. Then a Scottish guy, who was very difficult to get any conversation out of, and a girl from the Philippines arrived, followed later on by a guy from Belgium. We hung out and chatted and I listened to them all speaking French which sounds like they are arguing all the time!