Day 20: Rose's hut

It had snowed the night before as we were coming in to Rose's hut, my first white Christmas. It was a very cold morning. We slept in. We packed up and had breakfast. But it continued to be cold, and so we unpacked and we continued to sleep in... waiting for the warmth of the day to arrive. Ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock... it never came.

Until suddenly we were awoken around 15:15 by some sunlight streaming in through the window. It would take 6 hours to get through to Highland creek hut, if we left by 16:00 we'd arrive just as daylight dies. We packed up, all ready to leave at around 15:55 we were met by a thundering barrage of hail just as we were stepping outside. We unpacked our bags and went back to bed.

It was to be more snow. We were to have to travel up that mountain to about 1250 m. It looked as though the snow had fallen down to around 1100–1200 m.

Later that night, a very keen Latvian girl (Marta) would arrive, having come to Rose's from Highland creek. She brought with her tales of snow and hail from the tops. It did not sound particularly pleasant though she was smiling all the same. She did count herself fortunate that the sunlight half-hour happened while she were up the top, so she was treated to expansive views of fresh snow. We spent the rest of the night chatting with her, she was quite an awesome character. She's a local in Wanaka and offered to let us pitch a tent at hers when we come through in a couple of days time, and invited us out to dinner at the restaurant that she works at. Looks as though we'd found ourselves our second trail angel.

At some point in the day, we were scrolling through the hut book. What do you know, Sandra, had been there a month or so earlier.

The weather is supposed to improve, and turn fine. We'll make it through to Highland creek then. The food rations have stretched a little to accommodate a zero day, but we won't starve any time soon.

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