Week 7 Summary

A full 7 days walked, 136km covered, pretty much identical to last week.
My back is really starting to complain about things and I'm now taking voltaren pretty regularly, every 3 days or so.
Having moved away from home for the last time, my focus is now solely on finishing the walk, which should be done in about 3 weeks.
I'm now walking alone for pretty much the first time on trail and enjoying the solitude, although I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it for the whole island. Walking solo I am a bit nervous about the difficult Waiau Pass and Richmond Ranges that are coming up.

Day 49 - Anne Hut to Waiau Hut, 28.2km, 6 hours 15 minutes

I had a restless night last night with little sleep. I'm not sure why, sometimes it just happens.

I started off down valley, making for the confluence with the Waiau River, where I would be leaving the St James Walkway and forging off towards Waiau Pass.

Shortly after the turn I happened upon the famous St James wild horses. I was glad to see them, I had an idea that they had been culled after the aversion to public land of the St James Station.


I continued on. I was in a self congratulatory mood, having walked the best part of 1000km without once having erred off trail by more than a couple of hundred meters, not realising that even as I was having this thought I was forging a good 3km off track. In my defence I was heading on a trail, just the wrong one - the St James Cycle Trail. Never mind, it did take me down the Waiau River to where it dives off into a spectacular gorge; I'm just unsure whether it was worth the extra 6 km there and back again to see it.

Ideas of an extended lunch were curtailed by the legions of sandflies that descended as I sat, so I continued on up valley. There was some very pretty river walking but Waiau Pass, which had been looking intimidating all day, was looking progressively more so as I approached the end of the valley.


Oh well, tomorrow's problem. I had reached the brand new Waiau Hut, which had opened since I had started the trail - an extraordinary donation to the country from an ordinary guy who lives down in Timaru. I'd been really looking forward to staying here - it's a great little hut with a fantastic fire and a beautiful scenic outlook.

Day 48 - Boyle Flats Hut to Anne Hut, 16.6km, 4 hours

I woke from a really good sleep to a beautiful morning and set off into the upper Boyle Valley.
It wasn't long before I passed Rokeby Hut. Last time I'd been here was with my brothers Paul and Stephen. We'd just had a memorable night, for all the wrong reasons. We'd dropped over Anne Saddle late in the evening and taken the first tent site available once we got to the river - indeed the only tent site for some distance. It snowed over night, a small stream we were camped beside rose, and we ended up with 3 inches of slush in the bottom of the tent, seated back to back to back, waiting for the first glimpse of dawn. No sleep, with probably my longest ever night. As soon as dawn started touching the sky we packed up and stumbled down to Rokeby Hut, near hypothermic. We lit a huge fire and warned up for an hour or two - I can still recall the steam in the tiny hut as we dried ourselves, and everything else, out.


Today's weather couldn't have been more different. My legs couldn't have felt better, and in 30 minutes I was up Anne Saddle and down the other side.


The top of the Anne Valley is a beautiful place. The St James Walkway, which it is part of, is very worthwhile, especially since it has reverted to public land and been largely de-stocked. It has a sub-alpine feel yet has no significant climbing, the 200 meters over the Anne Saddle the only exception.


Pushing on down valley I got a bit of a shock when I saw what at first glance I first took for 3 opossums immediately beside the track. In actual fact they were 3 piglets - I have no idea where the mother was and there was nothing I could do for them in any case.


I had been intending to push on to Waiau Hut today - I had plenty of time to do so. However this would have me exiting to St Arnaud on Easter Sunday. I'm hopeful of finding some accommodation there thereby avoiding the tent, so it would be better to come out on Monday. Therefore I decided on another really easy day by stopping at Anne Hut. Since I had been here last the old Anne Hut had burned down, with a beautiful hut built another kilometer down the valley as a replacement. It sits really well into the landscape.

A hard afternoon of sunbathing on the porch in my knickers ensued.

Day 47 - Boyle Village to Boyle Flats Hut, 12.6km, 3 hours 30 minutes

Back on trail for the last stint - kind of. I'm planning a couple of 2 day breaks, but moving away from home now I want to finish off the walk fairly quickly.

Not being confident of getting some of the food I'll need in St Arnaud, I have the biggest pack of the trail so far, with the best part of 3 weeks snack food on board plus other extras. My pack is straining at the seams, but surprisingly felt fine on my shoulders.

Mum and dad dropped me off at Boyle 'Village' then accompanied me for the first hour, during which we followed the Boyle River along its bank. A beautiful section of track to walk before we all sat down for lunch.

After lunch I took my leave of mum and dad and within minutes came out onto wide river bed.  At tjos point I abandoned the track knowing that it meanders all over the place, whereas there is a beeline route to Magdalen Hut across the flats. Magdalen has been rebuilt recently, retaining none of the character of the previous hut, but I guess at least it'll keep the mice out. I wasn't stopping in any case; I'd only had lunch an hour beforehand.


Carrying on up the Boyle the valley narrows again with some more beautiful river walking.


Only a couple of kilometres away was Boyle Flats Hut.  Again I wasn't intending to stop, preferring to soldier on to Rokeby further up valley. However with a strong wind springing up and rain starting I made a last minute decision to take advantage of Boyle Flat's fire and stop for a really short day. Cest la vie, I'm in no rush. I have the hut all to myself, a first on trail, with the rain absolutely belting down outside, so all in all a good decision.

Hiatus 7 - Home for 4 days

So many breaks off trail!  I have enjoyed the breaks home, however this is the last.  I'm off towards the Nelson Lakes and out of range of home after this.  3 solid weeks walking, over the hardest terrain on the trail will see me finished and home again.
Tomorrow morning I set out from the Lewis Pass, bound for Waiau Pass, so a fair bit of climbing ahead of me.  I've chosen to really load up too, I've got the better part of 10 days food on board, as I don't think I'll be able to get all the supplies I'm after in St Arnaud. Oh well.  A good chance to burn off some of the calories I've been loading up on at home!

Day 46 - Hope Kiwi Hut to Boyle Village, Lewis Pass, 26.7km, 6 hours 15 minutes

The beautiful bird life from yesterday continued on the final walk out to the Lewis Pass.  I'll definitely be coming in here a lot more often to enjoy it.

There were some beautiful bridged gorges to cross on the way out.

Once we got to the road there was a decision to make. There is a new piece of track linking Windy Point to the Boyle Village and the St James Walkway, however it involves a couple of fords. With a lot of rain over night we decided to exit to the road instead and 10km of walking with vehicles.

I'm heading home for a few days before I move out of range towards the Nelson Lakes, whereas Neil is going to soldier on, so the bestie break up has finally happened! Sayonara Neil!

Day 45 - Hurunui #3 Hut to Hope Kiwi Hut, 26.7km, 6 hours 20 minutes

A beautiful morning dawned and we set off early(ish) down the Hurunui towards Lake Sumner, 10 or so kilometres away.

As we walked a southerly wind sprang up over our shoulders, promising not such great weather to come. Nevertheless after only an hour of walking we came to the Hurunui Hot Springs, which I had been looking forward to for some time. I was worried about walking straight past, as it had been some years since I've been this far up the valley. I needn't have worried; the thermal waterfall that drops from it to the riverbed is a dead give away. As it happens there is currently an excellent swimming hole in the river directly beneath the thermal spring, so the next 40 minutes were spent oscillating between the hot pool, at about 38 degrees, and the river, at about 11 degrees.
It was marvellous!

Reluctantly carrying on we climbed away from the river towards the Hurunui Hut, situated close to the lake. A good place for another early lunch.


As it happens also a good place for another curio, a superfluous style.

Lake Sumner marked the 900km point on the trail. Having shortly before been stung by a bumblebee I was keen to get into the lake for a cold swim. The thumbs up photo slipped my mind! For 2km anyway.

The climb from the lake to Kiwi Saddle was more of a drag than I'd anticipated. I'd only climbed the saddle from the other direction before - you don't get the same sense for what a climb might be like when you descend it. While there was some nice scenery on route, I arrived at the top pretty tired.

A very adventurous Robin entertained us as we recovered over our snack bags at the saddle. The bird life in Lake Sumner Forest Park is most impressive. While traversing the lake there were anything up to half a dozen bellbirds singing more or less constantly. It may have something to do with adjoining the Hurunui Mainland Island in the upper Hurunui Valley that we had just exited, although I must say I didn't notice an exceptional amount of bird life further up the valley. In any case, it made for a memorable few hours walk.

From the saddle there is an easy drop to flats then across to the hut, only 4km away.