Day 24 - Upper Timaru Hut to Ahuriri River East Branch, 28km, 7 hours 30 minutes

Martha Saddle, the entry point into Canterbury

Today I had a very large river to ford. With heavy rain in the forecast I was out the door pretty early, at 7.20. 


After a couple of hundred meters it dawned on me I had someone else's walking sticks. Sticks restored to their proper owner I got started on the day properly.

There has been some rain in the night but the morning dawned with only scattered light showers. These grew heavier as I closed in on the now customary saddle I was to climb this day, this one only about 600 meters of climbing.

The heavier rain had me concerned about the level of the Ahuriri River I was to cross later in the day, and also about the stability of the scree around me. A SOBO had seen a landslide come down close to the trail the day before, a story which reminded me of a close call we had when I was a kid coming down from Cass Saddle, also in heavy rain. On that occasion we had just crossed a scree slope into bush when there was an enormous rumble and a huge cloud of dust went up behind us. In any case I was watching the scree slopes to the side of the trail very carefully!

I was pushing quite hard to try to make the river crossing before it went up too much, and soon had a sight of the low part of the saddle I was to climb. Happy days! It was nicely graded with switchbacks, looking something like a ski field access road.

Following this led into a spectacularly shattered landscape near the top of the saddle.



There were fantastic views from the top, and once over the top I could see Canterbury mountains in the far distance.



With the rain staying constant, and an easy gradient to follow down I pushed on towards the river, ignoring a small hut where I had intended to have a boil up, concerned by the possibility of rapidly rising rivers.

The river I had followed down from the saddle was becoming quite large as I neared the Ahuriri, yet wasn't unduly discoloured, which gave me hope for getting across the larger river shortly.

The Ahuriri runs on a river bed with magnificent views of the Main Divide, which is not so far upstream from where I was crossing. As I approached the weather suddenly cleared to blue skies giving fantastic views of the Alps.





The trail notes warned of a difficult 100 meter drop down off the alluvial plain to the river bed. Indeed the official route looked impossible, with scree cliffs 40 meters high barring access. However I spied a 4 wheel drive track cutting down the slope a few hundred meters up stream so made towards that. I noticed however that the cliffs levelled out to a steep 30 degree slope, so using my poles literally skied a scree slide to the bottom. My boots won't thank me for it, but scree skiing is a lot of fun!



The river crossing was pretty non eventful. It was bum deep and running swiftly with slippery rocks, so care was required, but I found the crossing easy enough.
The north bank marked a triple milestone:
1. I had forded one of the largest rivers on the trail
2. It marked the 500km point on my journey
3. I had entered Canterbury!

The far side's terraced bank, and farmland behind it, was festooned with rabbit holes every couple of meters, such that care with foot placement was required. Every couple of seconds another rabbit would appear from its hole and bolt across the hillside.


On my way up the East Ahuriri Valley, beginning the climb to a saddle that would drop me to Lake Ohau, I spied some curious farmland. I couldn't work out if it was pastoral with closely spaced shelter belts, or partial forestry.














In any case I hadn't gone far up this new valley when I found an idyllic camping spot with shade, tucked next to a freezing water race.
I gave up plans of going further up valley and knocked off mid afternoon for a few hours of lazing about and 1 or 2 (very quick) dips in the water race.