Te Araroa Day 74, Tutaki to d'Urville Hut

Starting km: (2090)
Finishing km: (2114)
km covered today: 24

My mate Ryan had come down from Wellington to join me for a few days of tramping.

Our first day on the trail together was a super fun one. We started out hitching from Murchison to Mangles Valley Road, some 5km east on SH6.  We split up for this, but shortly after I arrived at the intersection a passing farmer picked us both up and dropped us right where I'd started my walk the previous day.

Half an hour later and we were on the Tiraumea Track. When I called the DOC office the previous day to get more info on the track the ranger on the other end had called it "the trail of a thousand fords." This was an exaggeration, but not a huge one. The track follows the Tiraumea River from where it joins the Tutaki, past an eponymous hut to its source.

Whether through grassy flats, airy beech forest or the cool deep green gorge, the one constant was the river crossings.  I counted a total of 53 crossings of the Tiraumea before we reached the hut (not to mention a fair bit of time spent simply walking up the river.)

The other constant (yeah, I know I just said there was only one) was an odd low buzzing hum that seemed to follow us wherever we went. It was pretty astonishing/worrying when I realized it was just the wing beats of millions of German wasps that infest Nelson Lakes.

This made it all the more curious that when I was stung near the start of the track it was by a bumble bee.

After reaching the source of the river at Tiraumea Saddle it was soon time to descend the quick and very steep ,200m to the d'Urville Valley.  Because it was already 18:00 we decided not to carry on up the d'Urville but to make for the d'Urville sitting near the mouth of the river on the ~20km long Lake Rotoroa.

As it's possible to get a water taxi in to this hut I was rather surprised that we had it all to ourselves. We enjoyed the view of the mountains across the lake. I killed the sandflies that had made it into the hut. Ryan went for a swim. I cooked dinner (couscous for two. Plus veggies, cause Ryan had a courgette.) And we both had a cup of tea before bed.