Saturday morning 6th april – woke to clear weather and snow on the tops. Freezing temps outside meant lots of layers of clothes before we set off again. Nice walk down to Gouland downs and the old hut. The aches and pains seemed to have diminished somewhat – but revisited me in the later part of the day after about 15 Kms. Too many pains to detail.
Lovely scenery – evidence of the large carnivorous snails that inhabit this region and large wetas. We finally made it to Mackay Hut at about 3.30 pm and found it already nearly full. Not a nice new hut like the last one.We are relegated to a large sardine like top bunk with only one ladder. daylight savings finishes tonight and this is unfortunate as this is one night in which an extra hour of sleep is neither appreciated or needed – everyone hits the sack on dark – so a long long night awaits.
Surprised to find Wayne Skudder arrive late after a long walk all the way from the track start ie 1 day for our 2 dayer! not a happy camper as he has damaged a knee. had not seen Wayne since about 1994- he had trouble recognizing me. Wayne has been on a big series of walks that he does in a fraction of the time of mere mortals. Travels light – no cooking gear or utensils – he eats these snack bars ” square meals” – 2 for breakfast , 1 for lunch and a further 2 for dinner. Thinking he may enjoy some variety I offered him a lovely pack of muesli with yogurt for breakfast – which he declined!