Apaga La Tele Y Vive Tu Vida: New Zealand - Te Araroa Days 50

Tramping Day 50 Feb 3rd 2018 Red Hills Hut to Hunters Hut 18km

Left - Leaving Red Hills Hut in the mist... Right - This sign made me smile - sounds like a kid's playground - but it's adults only believe me!

The next few days are probably the hardest consecutive days on the TA -the Richmonds - from Red Hills Hut to Hackett - 80km - 5 days. Individually they are no tougher than other days I've had but it's the fact that they run together that is the challenge.

Tough tramping over these river beds..

A good weather window is needed here - I got 4 good days out of 5 and no bad rain - I was pretty happy with that...people have to bale out of the Richmonds all the time...

Left - believe it or not this is the "track"!! Right - Hunter's in sight...

The tramp to Hunters has some hard terrain - boggy in places and lots of boulders to negotiate as well. Build in a lot of steep up and down and you have a tough one...

Tramping Day 51 Feb 4th 2018 Hunters Hut to Top Wairoa 18km

A slightly easier day today - although low cloud and mist killed any views of the Tasman Sea from the tops. It also made navigating a bit trickier as it was difficult to see the next pole in the mist.

Big fat Kea on the track - the only one I saw in NZ that wasn't scavenging near a hut..

Right -Wonderful lichens and mosses on the trees - creepy in the mist... Left - meeting SOBO's tramping up from Top Wairoa

Left - you guessed...it's the "track" Right - Top Wairoa Hut

Always good to get a fire on...

Tramping Day 52 Feb 5th 2018 Top Wairoa Hut to Tarn Hut 11km

The first part of this day was very slow going along the river to Mid Wairoa Hut - the 7km took me over 4 hours - the path is very narrow with a steep drop off to the river - there are a number of river crossings which were easy for me but might be difficult after rain.

Break of day over the mountains near Top Wairoa Hut

One of the many rivers to cross...

Then from Mid Wairoa it's up through the forest to the ridge - pretty steep - almost 1000m of ascent - Tarn hut is a detour off the ridge - but it only takes about 10 minutes to get there

Tarn Hut

Tarn Hut's tarn!

Tramping Day 53 Feb 6th 2018 Tarn Hut to Old Man Hut 16km

The first part to Rintoul Hut is pretty straightforward and even the climb up to the top of Mount Rintoul was not as hard as I had expected. There is cellphone reception around Purple Top - take the opportunity to get a weather forecast...

Top left - Mt Rintoul - Bottom right - starting the ascent up steep scree...

The track is visible as a faint pale line up the left of the picture

On top of Mt Rintoul

The clouds were clearing and I had some magnificent views - if you have the time and the weather sit down for 10 minutes and take in the magnificence - one of the best mountain views in the world. Plus it's also worth taking a breather before tackling Little Rintoul!

Tramping doesn't get better than this ....

Superb views on the ridge between Mt Rintoul and Little Rintoul

Some very narrow sections on Little Rintoul - a couple of spots will make your heart race and the adrenaline flow...not a place to be in bad weather - grip is everything and wet rocks and rain would make this section very difficult. Make sure your pack is tightened so there's no movement - double check every foothold and grip before taking the next step and you'll be fine...

Up the ridge to Little Rintoul

What us trampers call "sketchy" :-) Narrow crumbling track on Little Rintoul

Once over Little Rintoul it's pretty straightforward the ridge - you fly down this part as the relief of completing the most difficult part of the TA is huge - what an amazing feeling! Old Man Hut is quite a way down from the ridge (25 mins) and then up again the following day (40 mins) plus it was full when I got there.

In retrospect I should have pushed on along the ridge a bit and wild camped - would have saved an hour of tramping for no real benefit. (Although you would need to collect some water before you get up on the ridge) If you have time push on to Slaty Hut (4 hours) but only realistic if you're starting from Rintoul Hut rather than Tarn

Old Man Hut

Tramping Day 54 Feb 7th 2018 Old Man Hut to Hackett Hut 19km

A misty start and I didn't see much along the ridge to Old Man - made 20km today and ended up at Hackett Hut. Quite a few river crossings but flow was low so no issues.

Eventually the mist burned off...

Hackett Hut

Saw this sign as I exited from Hackett Hut - strangely there's no sign at Starveal Hut warning NOBO's!

Tramping Day 55 Feb 8th 2018 Hackett Hut to Captain's Creek Hut 24km

Another long day but I was determined to get to Havelock before bad weather set in. The weather report I'd picked up at Purple Top indicated that huge rain was coming in on the 10th...I needed to get out!
The route to Browning Hut was pretty straightforward but then came a storm damaged section - a km of track with huge trees all over it - pretty difficult to follow the trail and lots of huge detours round the trunks.
After you get to Rocks Hut it's easy going to Middy Hut but then it starts going up and down again before reaching Captain's creek.

Captain's Creek - the last hut for me on the TA NOBO

Tramping Day 56 Feb 9th 2018 Captain's Creek Hut to Pelorus Camp 16 km

It's a pretty easy walk out to the road end - beautiful views of the Pelorus River and some great swimming spots if the weather is good. I got to the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve and joined the tourists who do the tiny tramps in the local area - 1 or 2 km! - how the other half live :-)

Pelorus River

Fieldmouse Roadblock

The joy of towns - high calorie food and beer!

Due to time restrictions and incoming weather issues I opted not to walk the 20km to Havelock from Pelorus Bridge and hitched a ride. Heavy rain kept me in Havelock until the 12th.

Tramping Day 57 Feb 12th 2018 Anakiwa to Cowshed Bay 26km

The rain cut down my time on the Queen Charolotte Track from 4 days to 3 so I decided to skip the 17km roadwalk from Havelock to Anakiwa.

QCT is easy peasy cruisey tramping after the rigours of the TA - well made tracks and stunning scenery - a nice end to the TA NOBO. The rain had cleared and I had 3 stunning days...

Lots of tramper traffic on these tracks though - after weeks of hardly seeing a soul it was weird to be meeting people every 10 minutes.

Cowshed Bay camp was pretty busy though - wish I'd pushed onto Black Rock Campsite which was much quieter.

Tramping Day 58 Feb 13th 2018 Cowshed Bay to Masden's Camp 31km

More blues skies, easy tramping and stunning views....

Stayed at Masdens Camp - Tony is a really nice guy - there's a small beach to chill out on and a mussel bed to gather your dinner!

Mussels steaming in the pot!

Tramping Day 59 Feb 14th 2018 Masden's Camp to Ship Cove 17km

Last day on the TA - I had arranged a pickup from Beachcomber Cruises (office@mailboat.co.nz $67 pay on the boat) from Ship Cove to Picton (SOBO's get it for $50 -no discount for NOBO'S!!)

I had to be there by 3pm - the tramp was 17km but I flew it in about 4 hours fuelled by a mix of adrenalin and high emotion...

You know you're back in the world of the day walker when it takes 2 minutes to walk 20 metres!!

The signboard at the entrance to Ship Cove - the jetty is the first thing you see...the end of the track...

Boots off and a sit down...

This is what it's all about - one tired but elated tramper standing by the Cook monument - 1300km from where I had started!

I walked 1182km in 59 days - an average of exactly 20km a day. TA South island is over 1300km long - the discrepancy is due to the fact that I got rained out of Goat Pass and failed to complete the Deception and Harper River sections (about 100km) and then due to further rain I had to hitch a couple of road sections near Havelock (40km) So my TA South Island Tramp was not a "Pure Thru Hike" as I had intended - I was a little disappointed by that but the NZ weather had it's own way - nothing I could do about that...

The total ascent over the 59 days was more than 32,000 metres - or going up Everest 4 times - and as the tramp started and ended at sea level I also descended Everest 4 times!

Below are the elevation profiles - south bound _ - I did the reverse - as you can see NZ is a series of up and downs!