A Dangerous Business

Date: 23rd January 2024

Start: Anne Hut (km 2056.8)

End: Boyle Flat Hut (km 2074.2)

Distance Travelled: 17.4 km

Total Distance Completed: 1914.2 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: The Proof of Your Love by for KING & COUNTRY

False Starts: 1

I was startled awake at some ridiculous hour by the sound of a fresh wind trying to batter down the walls of the hut. Without any protection from trees, Anne Hut is rather exposed on this grassy plain. There was no danger to us, however, the designers would’ve taken this into consideration when building it, so I just curled up in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep.

More startling surprises awaited me in the morning. Half-awake I made my way over to my stove and started boiling water for a coffee. In the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a older man that looked a lot like Matt’s dad. An interesting coincidence, but it can’t be him, he would’ve camped somewhere before the hut. No hang on, that looks exactly like him. And who’s that sleeping under the table with long black hair? Oh wow, it is Matt! To give a short summary of their previous day, they’d passed through some pretty fast flowing rivers and made it to the hut by 10pm. To make matters worse, Matt seems to have picked up some sort of infection on his foot. He needed to see a doctor as soon as possible, so he’s heading straight out to Boyle today assisted by Oli. I was intending to do the same, however Melly had agreed to stick with Andrew and only go as far as Boyle Flat Hut today. The wind and rain that pelted the hut last night was sticking around so I figured the best thing would be to join them too and have two short days to finish this section.

We waited around the hut until 10 for the weather to clear, and when we thought we saw a gap in the clouds beginning to appear we set off. What we had actually seen was the sky equivalent of a mirage, because no sooner had we left then it started raining again. Ho hum, I guess I should be used to that my now. Yet again, it wasn’t the rain that was soaking me, but rather the ankle biting long grass lining the narrow track. It must’ve taken little more than 5 minutes before my feet were drenched. Guess it’s gonna be one of those mornings.

I thought I was keeping a slow enough pace for the others to keep up with, but as it turns out it was still a bit too quick and I found myself alone on the trail. I contemplated waiting for them to catch up, but as the trail wouldn’t be that technical and Melly would be keeping Andrew company, I decided to press on.

I was now beginning the slow climb to Anne Saddle which after a full day of flat track seemed like trying to climb Everest. Motivated along yet again by Andy Serkis narrating The Two Towers (this time going through the Ents attack on Isengard), I pushed myself up onto every step and rise through forest and field.

Towards the top I entered the trees for a longer period. It was more beech as I have come to expect from these forests, but this time it was lots of densely packed thin beeches instead of the larger ones that made up the forests before Waiau Pass.

In that forest I stayed all the way to the stop of the saddle, the antithesis of the Travers Saddle that I crossed 3 days ago. Instead of rocks and wind, I had trees and… rain? I guess rain isn’t really the opposite of wind.

With the drizzle still falling, I only had a quick lunch break, eating into what little food I had remaining. Provided I don’t get held up for a day at the next hut I’ll be fine. The sound of hiking poles could be heard just as I was about to leave, followed soon after by the appearance of Melly and Andrew, the latter of whom looked fairly knackered. To be fair, he is a lot older than us and he still managed to go up and over two high mountain passes in the space of two days. There’d be very few of his peers who could boast such feats and he has by utmost respect for doing this trail.

Thankfully for all of us, the climbing was over and an easy descent would take us all the way to tonight’s hut. Feeling pretty pumped – helped by a very light pack – I got in a bit of a zone in the latter half of the day, determined to reach the hut in good time. In hindsight, it may have been better if I stuck with the other two, but they were both fine with me going on. Putting the overgrown grass behind me, I now found myself on a twisty pathway as it meandered down the side of a mountain. Helping me along was a podcast about the history of New Zealand, this particular episode being a two hour long rant about the Bob Semple tank. Soon enough I was back down by the river and passing along grassy meadows where the grass wasn’t as high nor as wet as they were in the other valley.

With less than an hour to go, I climbed up a small embankment past Rockeby Hut. There’s no other way of putting it, it’s small. Like, really small. The door was barely tall enough for me to fit under, and inside were three canvas bunks – not even any mattresses – a small stove and small bench. There wasn’t even a hut book, just an encyclopedia and a bible. I was almost tempted to stay here for the night, but I was lured away by the fact that my friends would be staying further downstream. With that said, along with my visit to Dracophyllum Hut in the Tararuas, I am interested in staying in a tiny hut at some point along my journey, just for the novelty of it all.

Operation Tiny Hut will have to wait for another day, tonight is another big serviced hut and there’s still 3 km to walk. The rain had returned as light drizzle that did nothing more than put a thin coating of water on my rainjacket.

After more nicely formed trail, I crossed the swingbridge over the Boyle River and walked the final 200 m to Boyle Flat Hut. It’s noticeably darker inside than Anne Hut, due predominantly to the darker wood used in its construction and less windows to let light through, although still feeling very homely (swarms of sandflies notwithstanding).

Melly and Andrew were only 15 minutes behind me, with Oli returning later that afternoon. Matt had managed to reach Boyle just fine and got a ride into Hanmer Springs. There’s a small clinic in town, so if it’s more severe than he thinks then he’ll probably have to make his way down towards Christchurch. We’ll just to wait and see what happens.

More hikers rolled in as the evening rolled on, including a couple of Kiwis doing the St James Walkway and a few NOBO’s, including one girl from Tahiti. I started feeling pretty tired around 8pm so I called it a night early. This section has demanded a lot of energy from me, both physically with the two massive climbs and mentally with having to be constantly focused on the descents. The fact that I haven’t had a rest day (like a proper one, my half rest days in Wellington and St Arnaud don’t count) since Christmas is also getting to me. Thankfully tomorrow I will be heading off trail after Boyle to Hanmer Springs for a proper zero, both for a well-earned rest and because it’ll be my birthday (as well as Melly’s). In the meantime, here’s hoping I can get some good sleep whilst surrounded by 13 equally stinky bodies that may or may not snore.