The beers are in the river
Just finished killing all the sandflies in my tent. Loads of them out tonight. Evil buggers indeed. I finished the Hump Ridge yesterday with a 35 km day, that’s 22 miles. Took me just under 12 hours in total. A nice hike with nice views in the early morning then everything clouded over which made for cool temperatures for hiking. Came down off the Hump Ridge and back into the forest then down to the bottom to Port Craig Village, an old saw milling village from the 1920′s with some interesting artifacts from the milling days as well as the old railway they used to take the lumber out on.
Hiked on and on and on and on and finally got to the trailhead at 6:30pm and went to the farmstay again to stay the night – big pasta dinner/ hot shower/ some conversation with the 2 other hikers there (1 Kiwi guy and 1 Scottish girl)/ then bed. I slept like a log.
This morning caught a ride to the main road (24 km) with the guy from the homestay then got another ride to Te Anau with an older Scottish couple whose son lives in Auckland and just had a baby and they were here to see their grandchild.
Resupplied my food then hitched from Te Anau to Gunn’s Camp at the start of the Hollyford Track, 88 km from Te Anau. The 2 guys who picked me up were quite feminine and often stopped to take ‘pickies’ or pictures along the way. Staying at Gunn’s Camp tonight, an early settler camp from the early 1900′s complete with museum and many articles about the nearby Homer Tunnel and Milford Sound. Very interesting place. Even has a hot shower that is heated by a wood fire – never had such a hot shower before.
Tomorrow I should start the Hollyford Track. It’s due to rain then and the next day but I’ve been lucky with the weather so far in the last few tramps so I can’t complain. I’ve got a few beers hidden in the river at Gunn’s camp for when I come out of this tramp in 5 day’s time – hope they’re still there!
Morning clouds on the Hump Ridge
Views from the ridge
Walking into the clouds
Add comment January 9th, 2003