Double double rain and trouble

February 19

Geraldine to KM 2310 to Double Hut

KM 2297

Distance: 13km 

Elevation: flat

Steps: 25,000

Time: 12:55pm - 4:30pm

*bonus content at the end.

Today was another half day of walking. Our lift around the Rangitata River was only able to get us to the track at 1pm, so that limited our options a bit. Also, there is a front of weather, including heavy rain and snow above 1500m, coming through tonight.

While we waited for the ride, we managed to attend both the Geraldine Farmers' Market, and a craft fair, happening within a few blocks of each other. Knowing we would have to carry anything we bought helped us not spend any money, though. Unfortunately, the crepes truck that is usually at the farmers' market was not there, so we "had" to go to the Running Duck cafe for breakfast. Eliza had boring but yummy eggs on toast, but Vaughan had pork and beans. Now, especially for the American audience, this is not what you expect. It was the sort of beans you're thinking of, but served with them were two slabs of pork belly! Delicious!! 

The first 20km or so of the trail on this side of the Rangitata River is very flat, and basically over farmland. A public road crosses the trail after about 20km, at Māori Lake, and that's when the trail starts to get a little bit interesting (although it still has another 5km or so over a farm). Also, the first hut is at 32km from the start point, or 12km from Māori Lake. I between we would have had to tent. We knew we would not be able to walk 32km in one afternoon, and really did not want to be in a tent in the predicted bad weather, if we could help it. So we agreed to "skip" a short section of the trail to get closer to the huts.

We can say now, from the warm and dry interior of a hut, that we made the right decision! 

We could see the rain front coming our way, even as we were still driving to the trail head:

And once we got onto the trail, the light of the oncoming storm gave the tussock-covered valley and hills, and the merino sheep, a beautiful mystique.

The storm continued to roll slowly closer,  but at this point Vaughan was still more interested in birds than the weather; and while we were keeping an eye on those clouds, we didn't yet feel the need to have our pack covers on or raincoats on.

That all changed a few minutes later, just as we crossed into another valley the first drops fell. 

And for the rest of the afternoon, we were walking in rain. It started off very pleasantly, although it got less so as the temperature dropped and the wind really picked up. Vaughan was the smart one today, having packed his rain pants close to the top of his bag; Eliza's were well buried. So when we arrived at Double Hut for the night, while Eliza's shorts were soaked through, Vaughan's shorts, legs, and undies were dry.

Before we got to the hut, we passed a literal milestone, or should I say kilometer-stones, that someone had put on the trail, denoting 2300km from Cape Reinga.

 

When we got to the hut, we found Linsay already there, ready to get the fire going for us! (Literally, she had it laid out and was wondering whether or not to light it). She had spent about 1 hour in Geraldine, and gotten a ride back out to the true start of the track, so she did most of that extra 20km yesterday, and had a slightly longer day than us today. But she managed to get to this hut before the rain started, so she has been warm and dry and enjoying the hut to herself, until we showed up with a "honey, we're home!" (Both she and we had stopped for lunch/a snack earlier at Manuka Hut, so we had seen that she was ahead of us on the trail, and figured she would be here.)

The rain is only meant to last until the wee hours of the morning, and the next few days' weather should be warm (but not too warm) and sunny - great walking weather (although, yes Bub we did really enjoy walking in the rain before it really started pelting us sideways).

Tomorrow's walk calls for going down a river after crossing a saddle (1400m), and we will, all three of us, be able to make the call together whether we think the river levels are safe for us to cross, the 18-or-so times we will need to do so. But also, with three of us going together, each crossing will be safer, so we are all feeling good about the days ahead.

*We had heard rumours of its existence. Cryptic notes in hut books, obscure references in trail notes but no map marked with an X. So we didn't know where to start looking. Supposedly, NZs beloved Sir Edmund Hillary, before Everest and knighthoods, visited this hut and left his signature on the wall. Eliza and Linsey searched high and low to no avail. But our unlikely hero, Vaughan, deduced it would be preserved somehow, and found the signature beneath a piece of perspex within seconds.

 "1951 Ed Hillary".