Up then down.

January 15th

Telford Campsite - Lower Wairaki Hut

Distance: 8km

Elevation: ascent 600m / descent 544m (420 to 1024 to 480)

Steps: 15,000

Our morning started with staring up at the hoard of sandflys on the underside of the tent fly. We spent quite some time strategising how to get outside the tent without letting them inside.

The resident pair of karearea/NZ falcon put on a show. One left their tree earlyish and returned 20 min later. Vaughan watched it pass a prey item to the other falcon IN MID AIR! This happened two more times in an hour. Maybe a nest in the area??

Today was the first in the Takitimu Conservation Area, and the section did not give us a kind start. From our campsite at 420m (elevation) the trail went imediately upward, initially through grassy slopes, then through head height scratchy scrub, and finally over rock/scree slopes to an elevation of 1020m. In that time we covered 3.5 km in 3.5h. Very slow going, but the view!

We felt massive relief when the trail quickly changed to forest, the temperature cooled notably, and the slope went downwards, although it seemed to be nearly as steep as the up.

We met four other people on the TA trail, all going south. SOBOs are a wealth of information for what lies ahead. One of Vaughan's highlights was seeing flowering native mistletoe at the lower elevations. It's been on his wish list for some time. These parasitic plants are usually high up in the canopy, but their presence is given away by a carpet of red petals below. Below is one of the more spectacular examples we saw at eye level.

Today was supposed to be a short day (8km) after the herculean effort of yesterday, but the steepness of the trail and the high temperature in the morning (maybe 22 degrees) has left us pretty exhausted again. On a positive note, Vaughan's knees are 90% better, however, our blisters have flared up.

Tonight's accommodation at Lower Wairiki Hut is cosy, but we'll no doubt sleep well again tonight.

Update: we didn't sleep all the way through the night, having to visit what we are dubbing The Worst Long Drop That DOC Manages. (No we haven't seen all of the toilets along the TA, but we have seen plenty. and this was baaaad.)

The plus side of this midnight walk? Seeing the stars! This is the best my phone could do (I'll be looking to see if there are apps that will let me do more than 2.4second exposure). You'll have to believe me when I say it was spectacular!