Starting km: (2018)
Finishing km: (2071)
km covered today: 53
Is 50 the new 40? I've never felt as good after a 50+km day as I did this afternoon. And three out of my past six days of walking have been 50km or more. One way or another, I think that from now on if the terrain and conditions are right I won't be super concerned about setting myself days like this.
It started up on Lyell Saddle. As it turned out more people did arrive, so there were four of us in the hut and three in the private "summer sleepout". Curiously they were all Kiwis, three from Wellington and three from Invercargill. As one of them pointed out, it's quite unusual to visit a hut at this time of year and have locals be in the majority! It appears that international tourists haven't really discovered the Old Ghost Road yet.
The walk down was really pleasant. A gentle slope with forest providing just enough shelter from the sun to keep it cool. It was also jam packed with bird life. Kereru, Tomtits, riflemen, tui and most especially South Island Robins. For some reason I'd thought these birds were somewhat rare. Clearly not. I'd seen a few on the Heaphy, many on the first couple days of OGR and probably dozens this one morning.
They're some of the most charming NZ native birds. They'll fly up and and maybe 2m ahead of you on the trail, then hop ahead of you until you get within a metre or so, then finally panic and fly off. If, however, you stand still, they'll hop closer and closer until they're almost on your boot tops. Adorable!
On the way down there were a few gold rush-era ruin to explore, and a bunch of interpretive displays at Lyell Village at the bottom where I had lunch. Lyell Village isn't really much of a village anymore. Just a campground, a few ruins and one of the finest collections of sandflies in NZ. Like many of the gold rush villages, when the mines went bust so did Lyell. My sister Melanie and bro-in-law Ka Hung may remember walking up to some of the ruined gold works and the Lyell cemetery when they visited NZ many years ago.
From Lyell the route was 35km along State Highway 6, which was quite busy with campervans and vehicles carrying kayaks. This was actually a lot better than it sounds. Most of it was on the true right of the Buller River with a wide, not too vegetated grassy shoulder to walk on of you were on the river side of the road, facing traffic. Only the last 11km after crossing to the other side was unpleasant as the shoulder got narrower, and the "wide shoulder" side was no longer facing traffic.
Anyhow, pretty much the whole walk was through the Upper Buller Gorge. I didn't get to see as much of it as I would've liked, because there was often bush between road and river, but what I did see was fabulous. There were people rafting, kayaking and jet boating on the river, and the dark teal, clear water flowed fast and deep throughout, often with plenty of white as it made some pretty impressive rapids and sandy beaches on the banks.
I'd originally planned to camp somewhere between Lyell and Murchison, but a second hand weather forecast from one of thd many cyclists I'd met coming up the OGR convinced me that it might be nice to have a roof over my head. Heavy rain was on the way.
So I just kept walking and walking and around 18:30 I'd arrived at the lovely Lazy Cow backpackers in Murchison.
So here I sit after two huge plates of nachos (the salsa I made was so-so buy the beans were tip top), some ice cream and a big jug of iced tea. It's way past my normal bedtime, but I'm showered and well fed and my feet and knees aren't even particularly sore.
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