Day 68: Mid Wairoa to Rintoul

A 900 m climb up to Tarn hut to start the day. We had a lazy start out of Mid Wairoa at around 11:00, then started the hill grind. Trying for Rintoul hut today.

We got to Tarn hut around 14:30 for a late lunch. A few mountain goats were seen on the way up the climb. We were thankful that the hill was all under bush cover. It was a sweaty climb all the same.

The track then takes you back up to the main ridge line via the namesake of Tarn hut.

We broke out of the bushline a while after leaving Tarn hut. The day's efforts climbing finally having a pay off, as we get a view out around the range.

From here the track became a bit more exposed and continued to climb.

We reached Purple top, the high point of the day, around 18:00. Mid Wairoa sat at about 300 m, purple top around 1530 m.

The track then decends back down into the bush line and sends you across a ridge. The character we shared the hut with last night warned us there were a group of a dozen behind him... the huts are all 6 bunkers through the Richmond's. We were expecting to pitch tent, and didn't think there would be many options at the hut. So I kept my eye open looking for potential spots to set tent should we have to back track. When we got to the hut, we could see smoke coming from the chimney, and all the windows open. It was a stinking hot day.

Inside we found 5 SOBO's having something of a sauna, and so we pitched tent. Thankfully there was a grass clearing at the hut so we needn't back-track. We had dinner in the hut and had a chat with them. But escaped the heat as soon as we could to sleep in the tent.

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