Happy and Disturbed

(We are eating, sleeping and recovering in the bustling metropolis of Geraldine but this blog is still a week behind at Harper's Pass. Good writing is incompatible with bone crushing weariness and exhaustion)

A short day to Hope Kiwi hut. We rest as the rain falls. Ian and Rosamund are volunteer hut wardens with lots of interesting tramping stories. A handful of Te Araroa trampers gather. They are fit, sleek and moving fast 2000 kilometres into their quest from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Alex from England asks each of us interesting probing questions about our journey.

The next day the sun is bright and we wander down to Lake Sumner. Tiny Lake Marion is full of native fish, protected from hungry trout by a barrier. We inflate our packrafts and paddle Lake Sumner for a couple of happy hours in fierce tailwinds.

Hurunui hut is clean and restful. We meet the Germans again. Anya gives me helpful foot massage advice. My foot is sore but still making steady progress.

We are changing catchments so it is Didymo cleaning time. We mix detergent in my boat then soak the other boats and all our wet gear, before wiping down the outside of my boat. Didymo is a pest organism that smothers whole river beds with slimes that feel like tissue paper and look like snot. It is ugly in the Hurunui River below Lake Sumner. It is now on my Least Favourite Organism list, along with leeches and typhoid.

We roll along to the famous Hurunui hot waterfall. A little hot pool in the forest halfway down a hot waterfall. We soak blissfully, getting cleaner and relaxed. It is some forest magic.

As the day heats up we move our heavy packs upriver. Lying in the cool river to prevent overheating. We snooze briefly at the run down Cameron Hut. Grassy river flats and open pretty beech forest.

Night is spent camped next to Harper Pass biv then over the Harper Pass with its expansive mountain views.

At Locke Stream we inflate the rafts at last. Not quite enough water and we bounce off little rocks grunting and dragging the boats. Not fast but more amusing than walking. The river gets bigger then opens into braids too small to paddle. We drag the rafts across the gravel flats and yellow grass for a kilometre searching for water before we reach the big Otehake side stream. Suddenly there is plentiful water and we blast along happily staying in the biggest braids.

The grassy flats have gone and as dusk appears there are only gorse bushes and gravel to camp on. We push on and high above the river we find a perfect campsite nestled under beech trees in dry leaf litter.  Weka shriek nearby. These flightless birds stomp around the forest and constantly threaten to grab your stuff and run.