Methven to Geraldine
After yesterday’s rain we were thrilled to wake to a stunning day - blue sky and not too hot. Perfect!
Our shuttle was due at 11:30 which gave us time to meet some friends from Christchurch, Jill and Russ, for brunch. It was very kind of them to make the effort to drive to Methven to see us and was a real treat.
The shuttle drove us round to the other side of the Rakaia River. It was quite a long drive out on a very rough road with great views of the river. It became very obvious how wide it really is and how challenging it would be to try to cross by foot.
We left the drop off point at 1pm and started on the gradual ascent up to Turton’s Saddle. We were spoilt with great views behind us of the river and mountains behind it, as well as a bit of tease of what was to come.
Lunch was near the top of the saddle looking back at the river.
We then started a general descent down to follow the Turton’s Stream which led us down to our hut for the night.
Comyn’s Hut is an old metal hut with no water supply. Unfortunately Roger and I were some of the last to get there so ended up on top bunks. To add to this challenge there were no ladders so it was quite a scramble to get up to bed!
It was a lovely walk today. Pretty easy going with good views.
Day 63: Comyn’s Hut to Manuka Hut (via Clent Hills Saddle) (21km / 8 hrs)
Today we walked up Round Hill Creek - literally! I did not count how many times we crossed the stream but rumour has it that someone counted 60 crossings one day!
Fortunately the water level was quite low so there were no issues on any of the crossings. That said, I did slip on a rock on quite an early crossing and ended up sitting down in the water for a while! My poles helped me get up again and, apart from being a bit cold for a while, there was no harm done (albeit it left me curious all day as to whether anything in my pack was wet).
About 2:5 hours later we broke away from the stream and started the climb towards the saddle in earnest. It did not take too long though and we decided to have lunch at the top of the saddle to spend time taking in the views.
We then walked across four scree slopes in quick succession but all had well formed paths across them which made it pretty easy.
Finally we descended in to the valley and made our way to our hut. We could have de-toured on the way to visit a hut where Sir Ed Hillary had signed one of the walls but decided it was too much effort (no disrespect meant, Sir Ed). John was keen to go have a look so we asked him to take a photo for us. Almost as good!!
When we arrived at our hut there were two horses outside! Inside were two hunters who had ridden in from a local lake. I have never stayed at a hut with horses outside before so this was definitely a first!
A really good day - and nothing in my pack was wet!!
Day 64: Manuka Hut to Geraldine (via Lake Clearwater) (walked 11km)
We knew we had about 27km to walk to our shuttle pick up point so left the hut at 8am. The views continued to amaze as we started to make our way out of area. About 2 hours or so later we were on a road, making our way towards Lake Clearwater.
Dennis, who works for the Te Araroa Trust, saw us on the road and offered to give us a wee tiki tour of the local area. He drove us to Mt Sunday car park to have a look at where we will be walking tomorrow, as well as having a “Lord of the Rings” moment as Mt Sunday was used as the home of Edoras.
Dennis then dropped us off at our pick up point, Lake Clearwater Village. “Village” is a loose term for a number of baches and holiday homes but……no pub, no shops and no cafe!!
So instead we put the billy on, made a coffee, ate our lunch and waited for our ride.
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