Early in the morning, I heard the other hikers rumbling around. I looked out and it looked rainy and the tops were in the clouds. So no rush to get up as I’m not going to Angelus hut. I’ll save that for another time.
The weather wasn’t that bad after all. The trail was fine, but with slippery roots always a bit slower. Also brushing through the scrub makes you instantly wet, so I was glad I put my raincoat on and covered my backpack. The only thing wet were my feet. Not great but expected in NZ.
Faster than the doc time, I paused at the mid-way point. Sabine hut. A beautiful 32 bunk hut, however, the amount of sandflies was uncanny and the ani sounds from the walls and roof weren’t very comforting. It turned out only 1 person slept in this hut last night. Must be scary and I wasn’t too sad that I didn’t continue yesterday.
After my lunch break, the sun broke out and it uplifted my mood massively. The trail following a river was a combination of easy and difficult parts. On the whole, it took me the exact estimated time.
I arrived at 5:30 pm which is very decent. I saw Mathild and Alex and a bunch of other TA hikers. Always nice to keep bumping into each other and later on even more familiar faces show up.
Glad with a refreshing dip in the river and my largest portion of food so far, I was quite content. Although it’s only 7:30 I’m in bed, because tomorrow will be a big day. So I want to get up early and be rested.
Zilla-in-the-wild 