tramping new zealand

Two halves to the day.

The good half. The other half.

The first half was better than good, it was great.

Up early. Nice day, there had been a sky full of stars.

I was off early, heading back to civilisation.

I concentrated on the track, or lack thereof. You basically charge straight up various watercourses, or on deer trails on the side. As it narrows it’s more the wet feet.

Unlike when it was raining and I was always on the lookout for the track, today I was relaxed and it didn’t seem far. Soon I was climbing the saddle, a big 250 m, and scooting down the other side.

The sun was out. Bush magnificent. A very enjoyable morning.

The last little saddle had a view of the Tasman once again. An immense blue.

And then it was back to people.

Hard afternoon.

Once on the road there was that question again: should I walk or sit?

Well, I walked.

Yeah, I walked. And walked.

I had a couple of rides.

By 4 pm I’d gone a net 48 km, in more than four hours. But at least I was out on the highway.

Eventually a kindly couple found me space in their fully packed car and we had a fun ride on through to Fox.

I’m over hitching for a while. I organised the bus ride back to Nelson for tomorrow.

Back to Nelson to regroup and probably plan a final summer excursion. Just doesn’t seem right finishing a tramper summer in January.

[As it turned out that horrendous weather that had been predicted turned up on cue. The ex-tropical cyclone met the cold front in South Westland. More than 250 mm of rain fell near Haast, and slips blocked the highway, that meant that 600 people were trapped. It was no place to be when living in a tent.]