Wednesday 13 February 2013

Richmond Range!

Following on from the Queen Charlotte track we grabbed a hitch from Havelock to Nelson to hang out with Casey and Fisk, a couple of friends from back in the days of Karaka. Also, we needed to resupply our food and such for the next section - a 9 day stint from Pelorus Bridge to the next town, St Arnaud. 110km of untouched wilderness. Was great to hang out with Casey and Fisk so we decided to take a rest day with them. We drank beers and ate home cooked food - delicious. When hitching back out to Pelorus Bridge we got dropped off by Casey on the State Highway about 100m in front of two other hitch hikers, one of whom wandered down to us for chats and let us know he's been waiting for 1hr15mins and still no ride. Then he resumed his position back up the road, shortly after a ute pulled up and Cory the driver said its fine for a ride so we hopped in and as we pull off see the other two hitch hikers still trying to get a ride. I lowered my window smiled smugly and waved to them as we went past. All I heard was "...but we've been waiting for over an hour..!." Oh well, was good to be back on the road.

As we approached the start of Pelorus River track we bumped back into Rajiv so linked back up to take on the next big section. It was beautiful walking along the river. Tall ascents and steep descents broken up by many stream and tributary crossings, one of which saw Emily turn into a ninja as she was faced with leaping a long distance to the safety of the other side of the gushing stream or swimming down through the rapids!!!

Rajiv has been nursing a bad ankle which swelled up to 1 1/2 times its size and after day 2 with compensating for his ankle his knee started hurting so we took an early unscheduled stop for the day at a hut by the side of two joining rivers with 2 sets of rapids. A gorgeous setting.

After day 3 me and Em decided to push on and leave Rajiv in the company of 2 other walkers who were doing the same trail but at a slower speed so that fingers crossed after a 4 hour, 900m ascent to the hut we would wake up in the morning to blue skies and sunshine as forecast. The forecast was right and today was the best days walking so far!

Many hours spent walking the exposed tops with clear skies and not a breath of wind with views that were so vast and expansive it was hard to know where to look. Nelson and the ocean with Kahurangi National Park one way, Blenheim and the North Island one way and then a fine array of tall peaks dancing down the interior of the south another! Absolutely stunning! We took a lunch break and just sat there gazing for an eternity. Such a magnificent vista that felt all the better for knowing we had got there under our own power. This is why we trained up in the north island for 2 months. To be here right now trail fit and experienced.

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