A Dangerous Business

Date: 24th January 2024

Start: Boyle Flat Hut (km 2074.2)

End: Boyle Village (km 2087.1)

Distance Travelled: 12.9 km walked + 8.3 km hitched (21.2 km total)

Total Distance Completed: 1935.4 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: LION by Elevation Worship

Hitching Success: increasing

Good grief it’s cold. Have I gone back in time to October? The tops of the surrounding mountains were coated in a thin layer of either snow or frost. In January. I think you can see where I’m going with this in terms of me getting ready. It took a while. Not to worry, it’s a short day today as we finish off the St James Walkway.

The sky was drizzling when we left the comforts of Boyle Flat Hut, the cold persuading me to put my gloves on before heading over the swingbridge back to the main trail. No more solo walking for me today, I would stick in our company of four. Andrew was feeling the effects of 5 days of hard tramping and has developed a bit of a limp so we all agreed to support him along the way.

Drizzle made way for clouds which made way for sun, but in the forest it was still pretty cold. Fingerless gloves are great for maintaining some form of dexterity on cold days, not so great in keeping one’s fingertips warm. They were painfully cold, bright red in colour. Over time they started to warm up as the sun began to penetrate the beech canopy.

This was one of those days where I was more focused on walking than watching for stuff around me, resulting in few pictures being taken. Additionally, I was keeping an eye on how Andrew was going. Even the smallest of climbs were giving him some grief. At one point, Oli – still carrying his own pack – took Andrew’s pack, placed it on top of his own stuff, and walked ahead of us, still somehow going faster than I could manage if I was by myself. Have I mentioned how much of a lovable nutter Oli is? Speaking of weird things, I saw this purple mushroom.

Halfway in I could feel my patience starting to stretch thin. I had mentally prepared myself for a 3 to 3.5 hour hike but at our current pace it would be more like 4.5 hours. I knew the right thing to do was to stick together and looking back I don’t know why I was so anxious at completing this section sooner. Even going much slower than I normally would we’d still make it to Boyle by lunchtime, giving plenty of time to get a hitch to Hanmer Springs. With that we soldiered on over many small hills as we followed the Boyle River.

After passing over a swingbridge, Oli once again took Andrew’s pack, this time carrying it all the way to the end. The path widened as we passed a small shelter with an intentions book, then walking past an old chimney and finally arriving at Boyle Village. The Nelson Lakes section was at an end.

I say it was a village, in reality it was a DOC campsite and an outdoor education centre. Perhaps a small township occupied the site in the past because this was certainly not a village. The outdoor centre was the place I had sent my box to, and once that was picked up we sat down and ate some frozen pizzas as the makings of hiker hunger set in. Our company would separate from here. Andrew had a shuttle booked to Hanmer, Oli and Melly wanted to walk 10 km further down the trail to Windy Point, and I just wanted a hitch. Braving the sandfiles, I made my way out to SH7, stuck my thumb out and prayed I wouldn’t be there long.

Slight issue. Most of the traffic were trucks that were clearly on some sort of mission. The odd car that did go past didn’t stop, presumably because they didn’t have enough time to register my presence and slow down. Or it’s just that they were all put off by how gross my beard is looking. Either way, it took 30 minutes before I got a ride from Silas who was exiting the carpark of the campsite. He could get me as far as the junction with the highway to Hanmer, an offer I was more than happy to take. At the junction I only had to wait a further 10 minutes before getting a ride into town.

Right, no time to lose, onto the various admin tasks I have to get done before hitting the trail again. Stuff like buying some chips, a cookie, and an L&P from the Four Square. Y’know, important stuff. In all seriousness, I had no interest in running any errands today. I’ve got all day tomorrow to do them. In the time being, I can wait for the others to show up and then head to a restaurant for dinner. Considering I’ve just passed 2000 km, you’d expect me to go for a steak. Instead I went for some wild Fiordland venison.

It was very nice, almost as nice as seeing Matt again. His foot issue thankfully isn’t severe, just a case of athlete’s foot. A couple days in Hanmer and he’ll be back on trail. The delicious main was followed up with an affogato that included Bailey’s. Not a bad way to start this rest period in Hanmer. Here’s to another relaxing day tomorrow.