From Wairoa Hut to Hunters Hut aka Te Araroa LASH Day 13

I am not a fan of sleeping in cabins. The main problem with them is that there are usually other humans. Don’t get me wrong, I generally don’t care about other humans. In a hut they can be… troublesome.

Still, as far as sleeping in the cabin goes, I have to say it was a good option. The other humans were just as devastated as I was on the big day yesterday, and there were none of the usual problems of the loud snorer, the pack noise, the bathroom hunter, or my personal favorite, the flashlight blinder.

Most of the cabin inhabitants set off between 7 and 8 in the morning. Everyone continued on the path towards St Arnaud and the promise of pizzas and hamburgers after a long journey through nature. As a section hiker, I didn’t have the same attraction to the small tourist town. I was very happy to continue walking through the New Zealand countryside.

Did I mention it was raining? That may have also influenced my lackadaisical start to the day. I lazed around the now empty cabin enjoying my oatmeal and slowly getting ready to walk in the rain.

summer rain

Shortly after nine I rolled out of the cabin. Lihat juga vch1. I feel that a short dissertation on summer rain is appropriate at this time.

I feel that many readers in the northern hemisphere will imagine the summer rain as an insignificant event. Summer rain in the mountains of New Zealand’s South Island is a completely different affair to almost anywhere else I’ve been.

I left the cabin in my normal clothing. Pants, hoodie, cap. Yes, I had shoes, socks, and underwear stuck to my body in appropriate places. I began the climb up the nearest hill and was instantly chilled to the bone. Mid-February, low elevation with a little drizzle.

After about thirty minutes of telling myself that the climb and my internal engine would warm me up, I waved the white flag. I stopped and put on my rain hoodie. This improved things significantly.

Last night I looked towards my house before continuing up. I finally got above the tree line once again and that’s when it got really cold. I think it was the introduction of wind into the equation.

Suddenly the only thing I could think about was whether it would be appropriate to start running to see if I could warm up enough to feel my hands and feet again.

The conditions were abysmal. Visibility was reduced to a few meters, the wind was whipping my body, the rain was falling sideways completely soaking every part of me that wasn’t covered by the hoodie, and I was generally miserable. I guess with the wind chill it would be around 0°C.

Yes, you read that correctly. Frost in the middle of summer. New Zealand doesn’t mess around when it comes to catching you off guard when it comes to the weather.

I increased my cadence to the point where I think I would have had a chance for a medal at the Olympics in the road walking event. There was a palpable sense of relief as I began to descend and saw the tree line once more. As soon as I entered the safety of the trees and their protection from the wind, I felt much warmer.

The cabins are the best

Unlike many of the drops so far in Richmond, this one was consistent and had very good ratings. This allowed me to maintain a great pace as I moved towards my goal for the day, the next cabin. One of the big reasons for doing a three cabin walk yesterday was to be able to remove the pin early on this day in bad conditions. I’m so glad I did the Wairoa River section in the sunshine yesterday; It would have been a very different experience this morning.

There was one last major river to cross before reaching the cabin and the morning rain had not caused any challenges as I walked through fast flowing knee deep water. It was still cold though.

I walked up the hill from the river to the cabin and was very happy to see the structure and couldn’t wait to get inside and warm up.

You can only imagine my delight when I opened the door and saw a group of other hikers huddled around the fire that was producing an enormous amount of heat.

This is where New Zealand cabins shine. They are well positioned on trails across the country. They are weather resistant, comfortable and well equipped. They are the best.

I took off my wet clothes and then sat as close to the heat as possible. If I’m honest, I thought about opening the stove and just going in.

Once I thawed out for a while and felt human once again, I contacted my fellow hikers who felt the same way. They slowly went out into the rain again to continue their pursuit towards the city.

I spent the rest of the afternoon drying my clothes, eating, and chatting with other hikers as they came and went on their own trips.

The rain stopped mid-afternoon and at five in the afternoon it was as if water had never fallen from the sky. This was great as it allowed me the convenience of setting up my tent dry as I found a great spot just a few minutes walk from the cabin.

More hikers arrived for the night and I enjoyed more conversation while I ate my cold, soggy dinner.

The forecasts for the coming days seemed confirmed again. I lay down in bed warm and dry hoping that the weather would be better tomorrow.

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