tramping new zealand

Time for a break from putting one foot in front of another.

When you see an opportunity to stay at good lodgings, well, you might as well grab it. $5 a night, although I had a recently renewed Backcountry Hut Pass that meant further payment was no longer an issue.

Some disincentive for any early movement was dense fog in the valley, which blocked the view across the river even. That burned off by mid-morning, but I came to the conclusion by that stage that I preferred to rest my aching limbs.

I killed all the flys trapped inside, and then if few more that appeared. Washed a couple of the big picture windows so I could more appreciate the view. Wandered around outside and met the cat/kitten that had made strange noises under the hut last night.

Much of the hut literature was consumed, but I avoided some of the more ghastly shooters’ magazines.

Read a few passages of the Old Testament, something I’d never really done previously, in this case about David getting to marry one of the daughters of King Saul, but rather than requiring a dowry, was asked to accumulate 100 foreskins from Philistine soldiers instead, and went out of his way to find 200.

That seemed a little heavy way to spend my time, but eventually I found a recent bestseller in the pile of burnables and started on those 572 pages. That was almost as gory, and to some extent made the pain of walking preferable.

The rain kept away after the overnight heavy showers. Mostly.

Despite this, I still contemplated a day trip up to Palmer Bivvy which is about 5 km away, up Palmer Stream for the following day. Little vertical elevation gain so I was hoping the stream would be gravel filled.

It was either that, or walking back to Warden Hut, a truly big day, considering it’s 6 km further than from Forbes Hut yesterday, and that was a decent Top 10 effort. If I head out it should be a super early start.

Actually, my dwindling food supplies suggest it would be a good idea to vacate the area.