Day 37 - Comyn's Hut to Rakaia River, 14.5km, 3 hours 30 minutes

The view from Turtons Saddle down to the Rakaia and Wilberforce River beds. It's 5km of riverbed across to the far mountain range.

An easy day in prospect, just need to nip up a saddle then down to the Rakaia River. The day dawned beautifully fine, if somewhat cold with a small frost on the ground. Still a welcome change from yesterday!


Early on we passed a SOBO. A woman in her early to mid twenties. Very small pack, apart from the bow mounted to the side. Turns out she had a possum trap too and was largely living off the land. Very impressive. I'm still not keen to try possum meat though.

We made progress up valley, easy and picturesque walking.


A cricket hitched a ride on my pack for 2-3km, spending its time chirruping right by my ear. I didn't mind it for the novelty - it reminded me of those Bernstein bears stories like Just Me And My Dad, where there is always a cricket involved.
We arrived at A-frame hut for an early lunch. It's a cute hut, but given that it only has 3 bunks and there were 2 people in residence last night I'm glad we didn't push on to it!
Then a small climb up to Turton's Saddle and a fine view both down to the Rakaia River, and back the way we had come from.


I was in very familiar territory now, having hared up to this saddle on a reconnaissance trip shortly before starting the trail.  That time I was meandering back down to the Rakaia to rejoin my family when I was surprised by a sudden thunderclap directly overhead.  I hadn't noticed the coming over the saddle behind me.  It certainly got the adrenaline going!  I ran off down the hill and all the way back to the car which was parked at the river, with the storm reverberating close behind.


Back to the current trip, the river itself is not safely fordable.  I remember trips as a boy crossing the Wilberforce River, and it is possible to go upstream and tackle the two rivers separately before their confluence, but it is a big river and I was not keen to do so.  So Karen and the boys picked us up.  We're staying for the night near Windwhistle at a nice little place, before being dropped to the north bank of the Rakaia tomorrow.  The room Karen and I are using has a Juliet balcony, which I have to say, I could get used to!