Day 26: Pakituhi hut to Top Timaru hut

New year's day. 2021. After our impromptu rest day yesterday, we were feeling quite energised. It was an easy, relatively nice gradient (compared to the horror that had come before) 300 m climb up to breast hill. Our new highest point on the Te Araroa. From here we were treated with exceptional views in all directions.

Then the track found a 4wd road, which it would stick to, all the way to Stody's hut. Easy walking, with a net elevation loss of 500 m over 8 km, and we found our way to Stody's hut in about 3 hours 30.

The hut was an old musterer's hut, and it was not much. Dirt floor, no water, dark, cold, etc, etc. Even the small creek running past it offered nothing, with less than a dribble going through. We elected to have lunch outside, as there were a swarm of fly's clinging to the inside of the one small window the hut offered. We reflected on how grateful we were to have called a short day and then a rest day at Pakituhi. Staying at Stody's would not have been nearly as nice.

From there, the track instantly degraded into a hellishly steep decent. The poles, and the knees, got a work out as we dropped a further 500 m straight down to the Timaru river's valley.

We thought the worst of the track was behind us after we reached the river. We were probably right, but only by a hair. The track would follow the river all the way up the valley, but the sides of the valley were so shear that it often meant the track needed to crawl up 50, 100, 200 m above the river to make forward progress sidling along the hills before being thrown straight back down again. To make things worse, heavy rain had arrived. So the steep decents back to the river, which would have offered plenty of opportunities to slip on a dry day, had us tumbling fairly regularly with the wet. Getting back down to the river would often mean crossing it to crawl up the banks on the other side.

All in all, it was 16 km from Stody's to Top Timaru, but it took us a solid 7–8 hours. There was very little easy walking. Very undulating, sidling, and steep. But toward the end the track found an easy part for the last km or so into Top Timaru hut.

Unfortunately there was no roof water at the hut, and the river was full of share/grit, presently a stark grey colour. There was a side creek going into it though from which we were able to collect some water. At the hut we found an interesting character out for an overnighter. He'd come complete with a cast iron pan, chef's knife, liquid cooker, steak and all the surrounds. He was intent on improving his fitness, so the pan will probably go a long while to helping with that aim. He'd spent most of the year in Nepal doing various hikes before returning home to New Zealand. His partner is currently heading south from Picton, we'll probably see her on the way.

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