A Dangerous Business

Date: 11th January 2024

Start: Havelock Holiday Park (km 1805.5)

End: Pelorus River Campsite (km 1826.6)

Distance Travelled: 21.1 km

Total Distance Completed: 1666.5 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Gone by Kings Kaleidoscope

Pelorus River Water Temperature: refreshing

Yet again I’m getting up inhumanely early. Granted this has been the first one in a while but they don’t get any easier to do. Honestly I can’t figure out why we’re starting so early. Our original plan was to find a wild camping spot near the start of the Pelorus River track, but all that meant was a whole butt tonne of road walking. Long but fairly straightforward. Oh, I know why we’re doing this, it’s to beat the heat. Inevitably we got going later than planned, starting at 6:30.

Gone was the Link Pathway and the separation from the highway. For the first few kilometres we contended with a surprising number of trucks making their way from Nelson. For the most part there was always enough room to get out of the way, but I’m still glad that the road walking down south is kept to a minimum.

Crossing over the Pelorus River, the track then follows a much quieter gravel road. Normally at this point I’d be turning on a podcast or audiobook, but as I had to conserve power at all costs I was forced to go without.

Like most road walks there wasn’t much to talk about. Melly and I spent a great deal of it discussing our past adventures and our hope for future ones. The kilometres rolled by and soon we reached the start of Dalton’s Track.

Today really was a throwback to the North Island: road walking, farm tracks placed along the boundary of each field, stiles upon stiles to cross said fields. The only thing missing was a ridiculous amount of mud. No complaints from me here, it was a pretty easy trail, helped by the sighting of a great herd of dairy cows…

…and the Pelorus River whenever the trees made way for it.

The fields were filled with either cows, turnips, or nothing, seemingly in that pattern the whole way through. Occasionally we’d have to drop down to a creek through some bush, but for the most part it was flat field walking (ignoring the cow-made potholes that threatened to send our ankles to the shadow realm).

The far end of Dalton’s Track was the beginning of the Pelorus River Scenic Reserve. Now on a proper bush track made for day visitors, we made quick work of the final kilometre to the campsite, passing over a swingbridge and the aptly named Pelorus Bridge to get there.

This place was packed. The trail notes had mentioned it can be a busy campsite in the summer holidays, but I didn’t expect it to be that busy. Cars, caravans, campervans, and tents everywhere, with dozens of people swimming in the river too. The only thing they didn’t have was a cafe which sadly closed midway through 2023. No matter, in the interim someone had started up a coffee cart! And had subsequently gone on holiday until the 14th of January. Dejected, we sat down and ate our own food.

Our lunch conversations mainly revolved around what to do from here. We had three options: push to the first hut still over 5 hours away, push to a wild camping spot at the start of the Pelorus Track and hope that no one else had the same idea, or stay here. Doing either of the first two options would give us a good head start for tomorrow’s walk, but the hut seemed just a bit too far for today and we were expecting some of the other hikers we were with in Havelock to head for the wild camping spot. Staying put means a big day tomorrow but would offer a half day’s rest plus a chance to cool off in the river. The opportunity for a swim was too good to pass up, so we booked in to camp here.

We were directed to a canpsite/picnic area at the river’s edge which was quite busy when we walked down. No one seemed to mind or bother us as we set up our tents, in typical Kiwi fashion many of them were curious as to what we were up to. Throughout the afternoon we all took a swim in the river, well needed considering the heat we had walked through. The water was crystal clear, not that I’d know that when I was in the river considering I wasn’t wearing my glasses. There were a few other hikers with us, all doing the South Island only. I’ve met a few NOBO’s over the last couple days too which has been a bit weird considering I’ve only met other SOBO hikers so far. I expect there’ll be more of them as I venture further south.

Once all the day visitors had left, the picnic area became much more peaceful. A relaxing dinner was had, followed by an early bed time. Tomorrow would be the first of many hard days through the Richmond’s so I wanted to get as much rest as I could.