Te Araroa : Tarn Hut to St. Arnaud

KM this section : 60
KM completed : 1929

Time to get my feet wet, yet again.

I depart the hut after tidying a bit and having a muesli bar breakfast - hmm, it occurs, I bet readers are asking, 'what is Timmy eating up there?'.  Well whether you are or not, here is a typical days food on the go : three 40g muesli bars; 125g processed cheese (e.g. Chesdale 'finest cheddar made better'); 75g crackers; 75g sweets (e.g. Werther's - boiled sweets with fat from Germany!); 85g noodles (some hot food is good); 125g sweet biscuits; 100g chocolate.  Sounds healthy no?  Probably running a calorie deficit but I struggle to eat more, and lack of energy is not a problem thus far.  I eat plenty in town of course.

Mount Ellis.

Oh yeah, walking.  Well, my South Island honeymoon couldn't last forever.  I don't get far before taking a wrong turn and wasting an hour - down pointing arrows can mean 'straight ahead' here it seems.  The correct path is pretty bad, a near vertical descent, then along a river via a route that involves much scrambling over rocks and inching along narrow ledges, plus of course the occasional wade across.  Eventually I reach open ground, walking is better but there's a mountain to climb and it is getting late.  In fact for some reason the marked path skips the Mount Ellis summit, but I have to climb it, it's about the only good bit of an otherwise miserable walk.  I'm now in danger of failing to reach a hut before dark, so find myself jogging downhill.  I make it for 8:45pm, still light but not ideal.  Just me in the hut again...

6.30 in the evening is an entirely sensible time to be up a mountain, oh yes.

At least after this exertion I have just a days walk to St Arnaud, and it isn't too bad - lots of contour lines, through interesting geology, apparently the earth's mantle poked through the crust here, meaning mineral rich rocks (and not too much vegetation, yay).  Have a few problems though... pushed too hard yesterday, my feet are sore and I have a new blister, and while the boots are generally OK, the sole of one is coming away.  Hopefully wrapping the laces around will hold it together, as St Arnaud has precisely one shop, sure ain't getting new shoes here.  At least there is a campsite, and even a bar and cafe, so I can rest up for a day and, with any luck, heal.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.