tramping new zealand

Wind!

It was so windy during the night that I was awoken by a huge crash at 2 am, which I initially thought was thunder. The wind came in tremendous gusts.

The mystery was unresolved, but maybe it was just the chimney flexing.

I was keen on an early start, but despite getting up before 6 am, light didn’t follow quickly. It’s almost the Equinox, so only a few weeks before Daylight Saving Time ends.

That makes it feel like autumn.

Still windy, but I committed to the river route to get down to Tent Stream. No track, you just go down the narrow valley, overcoming any obstacles, and crossing the river when required, ie, a lot. Or just wading down it.

Fortunately, the river seemed quite low.

The first 400 m was easy gravel walking. Real easy, but I knew it wouldn’t last.

As it turned out, there were only two tricky points, climbing over or down some massive rocks. At those two points, I found the short length of rope that I carry, and lowered my pack ahead. It’s only 3 m long, but it has got me out of trouble on a few occasions, as I don’t have a companion to pass my pack to.

Yeah, there were many river crossings involved, more than 20, but never over my knees. Certainly better than sidling for hours, with a 200 m climb and descent to get around those slips.

But it’s definitely not for times when the river is any way up.

At one pinch point, stray detritus was wrapped around a rock about 6 m above the flow.

I was in The Flow, cracking out the kms.

Once in the farmland, I had one encounter with a bull, which glanced at me and went back to munching its tasty grass. Some time later, I noticed it had followed me and wasn’t so far away.

The sky was now threatening, and clouds still raced past. Once out on the flat on the four-wheel-drive track, the wind aided propulsion.

Just the six hours of energy expenditure to get to the car.

All the same, it was good to get my pack off. I found some fruit to eat.

All was well with the world.