Day 126: Twizel to Unamed hut

I woke up to rain pattering down outside and when Cecile and I looked at the river forecast the flow had risen to a level that was above our comfort level. We made the easy decision to hitch to a road right after the Ahuriri river that we could follow for about 11km back to the start of the trail. We got a hitch after about 15 minutes of trying and after about a half hour started up our gravel road in some light rain. We weren’t optimistic about getting a hitch along this road to the trailhead, but after walking about a km, we heard a car coming and got a ride part way. Then again after walking about a km, another car came along and we got a hitch right to the trailhead. At this point the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out and everything seemed to be going our way. We walked along the track, which was a 4 WD type teach that went through some farmland.

The most challenging part was trying to dodge all the cow patties. We quickly came to a stream called the Avon Burn, which we crossed. The water was turbid and fast flowing, but luckily it wasn’t deep. We followed the poles that typically indicate the path, crossing the Avon Burn several times, at some points it was harder to cross as it was deeper and swifter, but it was still easy enough to manage. It just made you realise how dangerous a real river crossing would have been today. We eventually came to a spot that didn’t look to fun to cross and when we consulted our map, it turned out that we could have continued to follow the 4wd track instead of the river. So we made our way across a field and past some cows to the track and then it was straightforward walking the rest of the way. The track was undulating and some of the climbs were surprisingly hard, even though short.

It may have been the week’s worth of food in my pack that was weighing me down. There was also a bit of wind, nothing crazy, but you did have to lean into the gusts a bit. We made the hut (no name) by just before 3 pm and decided to stay as the other option would have been to camp in an hour or so, which didn’t appeal much given the wind. There’s three others at the hut, a German woman, who also hitched from Twizel to the trail today and two Nobos. It’s an older hut, but some of the bunks have real mattresses. The only problem is that I have a top bunk, bitt there’s no ladder to get up so it’s a bit of a challenge to get in and out of. I really hope that I don’t have to go to the bathroom tonight…

Day 127: Unamed hut to campsite at km 2562

I made it through the night without having to get out of bed! It was hard enough climbing down from my bunk in the morning and luckily the person under me was up so I didn’t land on them. It was a nice clear morning with an almost full moon still in the sky. The track started with a climb up to Martha Saddle at 1680m. The climb was long but not steep and followed a 4wd road.

Cécile and I tried to have a break at the top of the saddle, but it was windy and cold and out of the sunshine so we had to move on.

It was also a long and steady descent after the saddle to the Timaru river, which we followed to Top Timaru hut, where we had some lunch. The hut was quite new looking, especially after all the old classics we’ve seen lately. It was too early to stop though so we set off with the aim to make it about 6km further to a waterfall with some camping spots nearby. The trail was slow going either sidling along the forested bank or going steeply up or down. We also took to the river at times. The river was silty (maybe from a land slip) and impossible to see how deep it was so each step was an unknown. Luckily, the water only got about knee deep at worse.

We finally made it to our intended campsite after about 3 hours. The waterfall is on a side stream and I tried to rinse off in it before getting attacked by sandflies. The campsite is just up a short climb from the stream and also a bit above the river. Cécile and I are the only ones here, so it should be a nice night without too much noise apart from the gushing water. It also not quite as chilly as last time we camped and I have my silk bag liner now so I’m hoping to be toasty warm all night.