Week 6 – Geraldine to Arthur’s Pass

Over and through Rangitata & Rakaia River

Day 35 – Geraldine to random camp spot

Our shuttle from Geraldine dropped us off after Rangitata River, near Mt Sunday where Edoras from Lord of the Rings was filmed. You can see the cliff below, it was pretty cool to see it in person. I’ve been listening to LOTR narrated by Andy Serkis since Lake Taupo, so I was fully immersed in the realm of Tolkien.

Note: I’d just like to add Andy Serkis’ talent to impersonate all the characters of LOTR is impeccable. No other audiobook version prevails.

This leg from Rangitata to Rakaia River only took us 3.5 days. Many hikers skip this section to avoid the logistics of organising shuttles, which I fully understand as each ride costed us $60 one way. For Rakaia River, my parents kindly drove from Christchurch to pick us up. I’ve met hikers who were adamant about crossing both rivers but none of my buddies had any desires to (thankfully) and all agreed to skip them both. I thoroughly enjoyed this leg though, very dry and hazy, flat for the first 2 days, and beautiful scenery all around.

We only hiked for about 3 hours today until we reached our flat spot to camp. We met 2 SOBO German brothers here, very cool free-spirited vegetarians. Our camp spot wasn’t the biggest, but we all cosily squeezed in.

Day 36 – Camp spot to Double Hut

It was freezing in my tent last night! Today was an easy 26 km day to Double Hut. The track took us onto the road for a bit until we entered a farm and continued on in the similar dry yellow scenery.

We arrived at Double Hut with a stunning view (photo above). We all arrived pretty early so we took the opportunity to fix our farmer’s tan line by lying in the sun (as if we haven’t had enough vitamin D already). Here we met 2 hunters who had some luck scoring a Chamois, which they then skinned and drained out the blood by hanging it beside the hut. They offered me to try the stewed-up meat but I kindly declined. We also met a SOBO hiker from the States (Montana) who was carrying the fiddle alongside his pack for the whole of TA. How impressive! He played us fun folk tunes. I regretfully mentioned I played classical violin back in the day, as he insisted I play something. I realised it had been years since I properly played this instrument and my performance sounded like dying cats. I wanted to apologise to my audience who had to endure that.

Day 37 – Double Hut to A Frame Hut (favourite hut on TA)

We mentally prepared ourselves for a long strenuous day for this next section. The trail turned out to be better than we thought (always the case when you expect the worst). The track was still full of long tussocks with hidden holes in the ground, many Matagouri bushes scratching my bare skin raw, thistles, and spikey alpine plant that literally pokes the skin and bleeds you. Lastly, we waded this river about 50 times.

But the views were really nice, I still enjoyed this day as it felt like we were tackling quests in a game. However, near the end like all things, river walking became repetitive and I was over it. I started becoming careless with my footing and my ankles were all over the show on the wet rocks (not very safe and cautious of me).

I was exhausted. Never had I yawned this much on the trail. We had a quick snack stop at Comyns Hut before continuing to A-frame Hut. I arrived at 6 pm, we had the three-bunk hut all to ourselves. This hut was my favourite on TA. The photo below is taken by my talented friend Pierre (credit to him). The forecast predicted no clouds during the night, so we all woke up at 2 am to star gaze. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen stars like this. It was amazing.

Day 38 – A frame Hut to Lake Coleridge

We had a short 10 km hike before we reached the roadside where my parents were picking us up. The trail was an easy 4WD road with a striking view of the valley. You can see the Rakaia River in the distance. The wind got slightly ghastly at the top during a switchback. I think I have PTSD from the time I walked in the middle of a cyclone so I have a funny relationship with wind. The track was through a farmland, surpassing a few intimidating cows. I become a scaredy cat when it comes to livestock. Yes, they can kill people!

We re-supplied at Methven and my parents dropped us off at Lake Coleridge. We swam by one of the braided rivers of Rakaia. It was so refreshing. Looking at all the braids of the river, I was glad to have skipped it. It’s not just one but multiple river crossings and you never know how deep the one after is.

Day 39 – Lake Coleridge to Camp spot by Pinnacles

As soon as I woke up (I slept in), the boys started talking about walking a 43km day to avoid bad weather ahead (perfect for long distances as the trail was all flat). I was really keen to give this challenge a go so I can finally say I walked the length of a marathon, but it was already 8.30 a.m. by the time a decision was made. It was too late for my wee lil legs to keep up with everyone else. If I wanted to do this I would have needed a 6 am start. Damn!

Me and Allen got a ride from a man at the lodge for 10km as a headstart. The track wasn’t anything exciting, it was mostly on gravel road making it hard to breathe each time a car drove by. Flat terrain also means hard on your knees. I was also carrying an unnecessary amount of food.

I’ll humbly say, I still struggled with my 33 km stretch so kudos to the rest for completing 43 km today.

Day 40 – Bealey Hut

I slept amazingly on this night. Hamilton Hut was only 5km ahead, so I decided to pack my tent ASAP and eat breakfast there as I couldn’t cope with the sandflies. I do wonder often, how badly the ecosystem would be affected if we wiped out the existence of them.

Hamilton Hut was nice and big with a view. The number of SOBOs slowly started to decrease from here onwards. The track from here to West Harper Hut was beautiful! We were finally back in the forest. It hit me that we’ve been walking on open dry land for the past few weeks, I forgot how much I missed the forest.

West Harper Hut was an extremely unique hut. A lot of funk to it. Yet, I probably still would have tented. (You’ll know what I mean if you ever come across this hut). As usual, I forgot to take photos, sorry. It also had a stunning swimming hole near.

I’ve just finished The Fellowship of the Ring (book 1) and have started The Two Towers. I didn’t expect to cry so much at the end. The pure dedication and loyalty of Sam towards Frodo is just inspirational… we should strive to be more like Samwise Gamgee in this world.

Walking past the lagoon-saddle A frame hut – 2 bunks inside. Really cute.

I arrived at Bealey Hut which was almost full. There were quite a few SOBOs here. There was nothing wrong-looking about the hut, but from one look at it, my instinct told me to tent outside. But due to the forecasted rain, I decided to take the last bunk. On this night I had the worst sleep paralysis, and I couldn’t shake off the feeling of a presence staring me down from across the room. Maybe this hut is haunted?
I should have tented.

Tomorrow we reach Arthur’s Pass!