Wild and woolly, as they say.
Not what you expect, mid-summer. But not so cold. Showers persisted with the wind really doing its thing.
This was supposed to be the worst of the days up here, but I just had to complete the loop, then drop down the 400 m or so to the car.
It was more like the South Island deep in autumn, and a certain hut day. I had enough food for another two nights, but I had booked and paid for accommodation under a different roof and with clean sheets.
It would take five hours or so to get back to the shelter of the car, with the last half hour or so without wind protection. But I knew I’d signed up for some poor weather, so I couldn’t complain.
Time for my coffee and scoffing my porridge.
It was raining when I left the hut. The track was wet for most of the day, except when it was well underwater. The few stream crossings were up, but the catchments were minimal compared with the South Island, and the depth was only around mid-shin height.
The route was pretty easy, both on the body and in terms of track finding, for the most part. No beach trees to be seen, and few rimu.
Much of the time, at least in the forest, was well sheltered, until I reached the ridge where I dropped down to the farmland, when it wasn’t.
Once out of the forest, the rain slashed at bare skin, and it felt like a full wind-chill danger of hypothermia.
A herd of young cows looked forlorn as they huddled together in a protective bunch. I met the farmer, and we had a cheery chat.
I stayed on the farm road towards the car and a few times had to crouch to avoid being blown off it. I took time to avoid gusts when on the lee side of any tall trees. The powerlines whistled as I nervously scuttled along.
No fun driving around to Tauranga as the rain really did a typical downpour thing, without cease. Turned out Tauranga officially recorded 200 mm for the day, and 91 mm for the following morning.
Not really the right conditions for camping.
Despite that, I was still hopeful I could get back up there for another couple of nights.
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