A Dangerous Business

Date: 2nd January 2024

Start: Nichols Hut (km 1578.5)

End: Parawai Lodge (km 1596.8)

Distance Travelled: 18.3 km

Total Distance Completed: 1436.8 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: 2000 And Whatever by Electric Fields

Feet: battered

With another fairly long day ahead, I presumed everyone would be eager to get going early. I presumed wrong. Despite all of our alarms going off early, no one made a move except for Elliot and Ruth. Well, I guess I have to include Matt in that group, but he did the crazy thing and decided to climb up to Mt Crawford before sunrise. For the rest of us, it was a surprising but not unwelcome slow morning, eventually leaving a bit after 8.

Although most of today would be downhill, the first part would be the climb up to the summit of Mt Crawford, the highest point of our route through the Tararuas. You’ll be pleased to know the track didn’t get any easier. The ridge was at its narrowest up here and the first few hundred metres was mostly rock scrambling.

Hard work it may have been, but it was hard work done in superb weather. No clouds above our heads and the wind kept at a minimum. The summit was reached 90 minutes after departing the hut. All the blood, sweat, and (nearly) tears that had been shed over the last 3 days was justified as we peered into the distance all around us.

What a place, all I could do was stare at everything I could see. So many hikers come up here in typical bad weather, never getting the chance tknsee these sorts of views. I am one of the lucky few to be up here in perfect conditions, so I was more than happy to spend a bit longer up here with our fellowship.

But not forever, there was still a long way to go, almost all of it downhill. Waving goodbye to the mountain and my knees premptively, I began the slow descent into the valley below me. A sign suggested only 2 hours to the hut at the bottom, but everyone on Far Out agreed this was far too optimistic. 3 hours seemed far more likely.

For the final time, we left the tussock of the alpine zone and entered a forest. The track was certainly steep, but it was for the most part free of mud. My strategy of using neighbouring trees to help me get down each root-covered step worked a charm, helping me keep up with the speed demons that are Snacks and Melly.

Despite our good pace, descending 1200 m is going to take a long time regardless of who you are. I’m afraid I don’t have much to report on for this section. We all just got our heads down and grainded out the kilometres, crossing the Otaki River at the bottom of the climb via a very sketchy suspension bridge.

With 400 m to go before Waitewaewae Hut, I presumed it’d be nice and easy. I was quickly put to game by some fallen trees that forced me to take detours, eventually reaching the hut – and Matt – by 2 pm.

Whilst we’d been walking, he’d gone for a swim and a 20 min power nap. A big part of me wanted to join him in that endeavour as I feared it would be too start the next track. However, the group’s decision was to keep going, me reluctantly joining them. Why? Well the comments on Far Out had other ideas. I knew it would be hard, but not 10 km in 5 hours hard, suggesting a very draining track. In the end, we only left at 3 pm, risking an 8 pm arrival. Again, I don’t have much to write about here. We just grinded out the kilometres. It was more of the same as we’d hiked through: mud and steepness. Mercifully, the path flattened out with 6 km to go , joining an old forest tramway alignment.

There was one iffy slip to traverse, but otherwise it was a great track, finally back at a normal walking pace. Crossing the Otaki once again, all we had to do we find the hut. And we could not find the hut. The true TA route leaves the marked loop track and goes inland following a fenceline until we at long last found the hut at 7:30, an 11 hour day. Perhaps not at long at yesterday, but I’m very happy with how we went. We more or less did the whole last section in one big push, taking just shy of 5 hours to reach the hut.

It was late, no one wanted to do anything, so we quickly ate our dinner and settled in for a night of cold-induced snoring, satisfied that the worst was not behind us.

Oh, one final thing. I got given my trail name today.

I am now Dad Jokes.