I thought I was away from my accommodation fairly early, but it didn’t work out that well. I still spent time wallowing around in the dark before getting to the hut.
That had happened the last time I went that way, but with the sunrise a few minutes after 8:30 am and sunset just after 5 pm, It’s a short midwinter day.
The Great Walk designation has led to a major improvement to the car park, which now has a few security cameras up six-metre poles, and a sign that says track entrance with a waharoa archway to designate the start of the track.
There are few changes other than that, except for some new steps that have been built to get down to the beach. It’s certainly the most rugged of the Great Walks.
I recently found I’d walk past a couple of huts, one derelict, on previous visits and corrected that this time. I knew that taking the direct A-to-B traverse through the shrubbery down the slope was probably a bad idea, but I did it anyway. I managed to find the spot with the highest drop to the beach, but avoided breaking my leg in the three-metre verticality.
Plenty of dithering on my part, such as this, led to almost 2 hours with my head torch on, coming right up to three possums at the base of trees adjacent to the track. I also heard major grunting from three different pigs, the last of which I saw moving through the forest and crown fern at great pace.
Then, I failed to recognise some pig rooting and fell forward down the slope, a rib meeting my camera slung around my neck abruptly, but I found I hadn’t broken any bones. I staggered the rest of the way to the hut more cautiously.
Unlike a few weeks before when the hut had been full, with some sleeping on the floor according to the hut book, this time it was vacant. I might have it to myself, but it was cold and damp.
Fire or sleeping bag?
I chose the latter option for my heating. No mucking around getting to sleep after my 20 km, 36,000-step day.
A guide to the night’s accommodation: Port Craig Schoolhouse Hut
