When you meet strangers and have a shared Little Adventure, like crossing Waiau Pass, you can have a bit to talk about. My friends from yesterday had plenty of tales to tell, so despite getting up at 6 am, and having an early breakfast down at the lake, it was 11 am by the time I left.
All those going over the Pass today, five in total, had long departed, and the others heading over Travers Saddle.
I was heading to Lake Rotoroa, Sabine Hut.
Humm, DOC was advising eight hours’ walking.
Steeper downhill to start but slowly flattening out.
I had missed the section from West Sabine to Sabine in my recent travels. I’d gone over Moss Pass into the D’Urville each way, over Travers Saddle, or just missed it completely coming down the D’Urville River valley immediately to the west.
And that was the day.
It was after 7 pm when I finally arrived at the hut. A whole bunch of new people there with whom I had little in common other than proximity. They were mostly on the standard Travers – Sabine circuit, a five-day tramp. Not much ambition from my perspective.
Yeah, I bundled myself onto the top bunk and switched off.