tramping new zealand

I woke early, as usual, but this time thought I’d immediately get up and get breakfast ready.

Early on, it was drizzling but then ceased, and while it threatened for a while, rain never eventuated. With the heavy rain in the night, my entire caboodle had failed to dry out. The tent was drenched.

With civilisation beckoning, who would care? I just stuffed everything into the pack. Scoffed my porridge. Drank my coffee.

By that time, it was 7 am, our scheduled departure time.

The pressure was on to get to the pickup point at the Kohaihai road end in time for our transport, hence the early start. Our progress had tended to be considerably slower than the DOC times to date, and we didn’t want to take chances.

As it turned out, we were able to increase the pace and made it to Katipo Shelter, the midpoint of our day, at the 2.5 hour time on the sign. Fewer photos and mucking around had helped progress.

Now we had four hours to get the second section cracked out, so we ceased being so cautious and stopped a bit, including for lunch, until we were sitting at the lookout on Kohaihai Bluff and realised it was time to really crank out the last kilometre.

We made it with 20 minutes to spare, which really suited us.

A talkative cyclist filled all available space with noise until I suggested he allow us to contemplate the end of our experience.

Fortunately, he complied, but before we had time to swat more than a few sandflies, the van had arrived and we were off to our dry accommodation, a shower, and some fresh food.

We were going to have three nights together in Karamea before I returned to Nelson via Johnson and Kākāpō Huts. The other two were satisfied with their efforts and had pre-booked a flight back to Takaka to pick up the car.