Once again there was hardly a cloud in the sky first up. Venus was still shining brightly.

A weka let out a prolonged squawk that was answered by an enthusiastic outburst from a robin. Perhaps they were also excited by the lifting of the gloom.

After a decent, if initially overly smoky, fire in an otherwise cool hut last night everything was fairly dry, except for my socks and boots which remained outside due to the pong factor.

Always a good idea to head to civilisation with the rancid clothing fairly well muted, when travelling by public transportation.

No particular hurry in the morning. It would be a five hour descent, but then I realised if it was pleasant conditions I could go via Anchorage rather than the more direct route. That would give me some additional kilometres under my belt, with the result some minor belt tightening, and I could be walking rather than just simply sitting around waiting for the bus for a few hours.

Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

And the track from the Holyoake Clearing down to the Coastal Track near Anchorage was new territory. All good, the granite sand generally gives reasonable grip on the slopes. And there was plenty of that, marching down a series of ridges.

Once on the Coastal Track I decided to tally up the numbers other people out and about.

The sky was blue, no wind. Some helicopters periodically buzzed along the coast, the few tourist boats moved at a slower pace.

At Tinline Campground, ie, half an hour to go, I was up to 170 heading in, 27 in my direction. Then I became distracted with a conversation, and probably missed another 100 for the remainder of the track. Quite a few for a random day in April I thought, but this had become common enough.

I had hurried on the level Coastal Track, frightened of missing my 4 10 pm bus, but of course I was back with an hour to spare.

Humm.

I’m already plotting my next tramp, because it’s another long weekend this weekend. If the weather is good I’ll be up Mt Fell for one of the most exciting days you can have around Nelson.

This short trip was quite a surprise. The entertaining school group, the poor weather, the misty tops.

Can’t get enough of this form of exercise. Plenty of hill climbing, but for once my pack was fairly sparsely loaded.

← Day 3 | Back to Castle Rock Hut