A big day! Another 2000 meter climb day all up, and I was pretty done in at the end of it.
Within a couple of kilometres of starting, I passed the 1100km milestone - only 2 milestones left!
The first couple of hours were spent following the Wairoa River down to Mid Wairoa Hut. Generally speaking it was easy going, interspersed with sections of very dodgy terrain - the kind of track you want to maintain concentration on.
Then started a hard climb up a long ridgeline to Tarn Hut. The hut itself was 100 vertical meters down off the track. I'd heard the tarn was good for swimming in so I dumped pack on the track and headed down to the hut. However the tarn, being in the bush, was very tanniny and I wasn't tempted - I prefer to see what I'm swimming in! Still after a fair few hours on a water-less ridge I needed my water bottles replenished, so that was something.Anyone who has had a long day's tramping with a heavy pack will know that feeling when you take it off - you feel so light you might fly. After I regained the ridge and my pack climbing up from the tarn I experienced the opposite affect. Donning my pack it felt about 10kg heavier, to the point I suspected some passerby had loaded me up with rocks. Not a pleasant sensation!
Carrying on some fantastic views opened out of Tasman Bay.
By this time I was pretty done in, and looking forward to the hut. The hut is immediately underneath the very steep and exposed massif of Mt Rintoul, which I'll be climbing tomorrow, something I'm a bit nervous about. After a beautiful sunset over Nelson and Tasman Bay, I'm now enjoying Nelson's lights as I write this. It's bizarre that I'm so close to the city, but on a difficult, alpine track, about to climb the highest peak in the Richmond's.
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