Te Araroa Day 94, Highland Creek Hut to Eichardt's Flat

Starting km: 2650
Finishing km: 2680
km covered today: 30

This was supposed to be the toughest day of the Motatapu, a rough track. So I was on the trail by 7:00, chugging my way up a steep spur and into the low clouds.

When views out over the mountains or down into the valleys did emerge they were lovely. Continuing very big, and still quite "broken."

The track went down into a section o forest, then right back up another 500m. By this time the cloud had thinned, and the land was looking (a little bit) friendlier.  I also had a good solid feed of snow and snow totara berries in here.

Unsurprisingly given the landscape, the track went back down yet again to the Roses Hut.  There were plenty of signs at the bottom directing walkers along the trail and firmly reminding them that the road (presumably up to Shania's former home) was private with no public access.

I'd arrived at Rose's Hut at 11:15. This gave me a ton of time to make it to my next destination, Macetown.  I'd been warned about sandflies there, so decided to spend my lazing time at Rose's instead. I took a four hour lunch break during which I cooked lunch (a rarity), read my book and Federated Mountain Club Bulletins, dried my (dew-moistened) gear and even contemplated having a nap.

Around 15:30 I got going again and charged up the final of four 500m climbs on the track. The views from the top were of more tremendously rugged peaks. I stopped for a while because this really and truly was my farewell to mountains on Te Araroa. The trail only goes above 1000m once more, and that to a peak rather than a pass. So this was really goodbye. I would miss them. The scenery was invariably lovely, and at my present fitness levels the work usually wasn't even particularly hard.  Better than that bloody pasture-walking (of which, sadly, there is more to come.)

Down in the valley I had another final: my last river walk. Strolling down the Arrow was a lot of fun, especially since the flow was low and the riverbed was more stable and less slippery than many other rivers I'd walked.

It was in the section between Rose's and Macetown that I saw all of my northbound TA walkers for the day. There were six in total. I'd been seeing five or six a day for quite a while now, which leads me to wonder if the typical 80/20 (or so) split of SOBO to NOBO walkers may be different this year.

I got to Macetown at 17:30 or so and was, as promised, accosted by sandflies. Plus the sun had cooled down, and I was enjoying my walk. As so often happens I decided to just carry on and see where I got to.

The going was slowed a bit, but pleasantly so.  First by a few raspberries. Then by the sweetest white and red currants I'd ever tasted. Then by tons of gooseberries. And finally by Big Hill  (this is not one of my cute little descriptions like "A flat piece of ground somewhere near..." It's the actual name of the hill) Saddle where I could call Sarah and send a couple of emails.

I ended up on Eichardt's Flat. Like a lot of the land around Arrowtown it was covenanted as public access, but owned by a trust. There was nothing in the trail notes saying not to camp there, nor on the comprehensive signs at the entrances and trail junctions.

Since it was a lovely evening, and I'd seen a new weather forecast saying it would be a lovely morning I decided to forego the tent and sleep under the stars. I was rewarded by a brilliant meteor (easily visible despite the gibbous moon nearby, and probably brighter than Venus) and a very pleasant night's sleep.