Sunshine and shadows.
The weather forecast is for no rain until Friday afternoon, with some on Sunday and Monday. An inch of rain here doesn’t do too much, other than temporarily wet trampers.
No big storms on the way.
I packed up from my accommodation in Greymouth, went for a coffee, and took off for Hokitika.
1 pm by the time I made it to the car park at the Arahura road bridge, and started to sort out my food.
The owner of Cowboy Paradise on the West Coast Wilderness Trail drove past and suggested I leave my car up there, so in the end it was around 2 pm before I departed.
Oh, that full pack on my shoulders once again.
The trek up to the first swingbridge was mostly a four-wheel-drive track that somehow got out into newly boggy conditions.
It was a surprise to find an old pack track on the other side of the Cesspool swingbridge, but, as expected, the track was washed out probably half of the time. That meant a great deal of scrabbling about crossing tributary creeks, and down at the water level rock-hopping under some nasty loose cliffs.
As might also be expected my feet were well rinsed by the time I struggled into the hut.
No rain, but quite some drizzle during the walk.
The hut had been vacated by some greenstone hunters, seemingly in a hurry, and they had left the place in considerable turmoil.
Stuff was strewn everywhere.
Folks, take your things with you when you depart. Leaving it for others to deal with ain’t pretty.
So, while precipitation falls here, Australia burns.
A guide to the night’s accommodation: Lower Arahura Hut
