tramping new zealand

Flooding, for sure.

I hear that Richmond copped 144 mm in 12 hours yesterday, 104 mm of that in an hour, close to the heaviest rainfall on record for NZ. The Aniseed Valley Road is cut, that’s the one I’m heading out on but there’s no great hurry, might as well have another day here, plenty of food and there’s no shortage of water.

This morning there was evidence of the deluge down at Browning Stream, flotsam about 1.5 m above yesterday’s level, I could hear the rushing water from the hut, no possibility of crossing then, but the rivers might go up real quick, they also go down and now it’s even lower than the level I crossed yesterday, although still murky.

If you want the day to go slowly then stick around a tramping hut.

Showers for the morning, not so much drizzle as an occasional random dump.

I read a cowboy/gunslinger novella, big print, the kind you read when you were 13, have lunch, have a second lunch, start to cook dinner at 4 30 pm, it’s too dark at 5 30 pm, too dark to walk anyway.

I did wander down the track for 20 minutes in my bare feet, can’t just get into those completely shot boots, taking photos of the damp bush, Halls totara, small rimu, Asplenium, orchids and celerytop pine, I can recall the Phyllocladus generic name there, the bush is just so familiar, all those filmy ferns.

With the rain I’m starting to feel quite at home.