Day Five - Kia Ora to Bert Nichols

Last night's hint of clear skies rang true this morning and we applauded the arrival of another beautiful day. Cathedral Mountain was glistening in the dawn light, our packs/food were free of mouse holes, and we knew today was Waterfall Day - what a treat.

Today's walk is another fairly short one, made longer, however, with the addition of the short side trips to see the falls. While I was set on doing these, we also had An Issue. Staying at Kia Ora (the hut we were departing from this morning) was a group of 5 stragglers that belonged to the collection of walkers who set out from Cradle the day before our group. Roughly 32 walkers depart each day, and mostly stay together the entire week, unless some people double up some days or take a rest day. This is allowed, as there is no time limit on when you have to end your walk. I appreciate this flexibility, HOWEVER. What it also means, unavoidably, is that you may arrive at a hut to find a number of beds already taken, forcing members of the arriving group to go without. Now, luckily, between the number of beds at Kia Ora and the number of our group who chose to camp anyway, no one went without. Our concern came for the night ahead of us, which was to be spent at Bert Nichols Hut, an older hut that has less beds (24), while our group numbered 29 + these 5 stragglers. Audience, I can humbly tell you that Dylan and I would ROT before we handed up beds to these people. Once more, the race was on.

In all seriousness, we do think PWS would be wise to implement a fairness system addressing this. A solution, should they call on me for consultation, could be as follows. Walkers may stray from the traditional daily schedule as they wish, however, if they are to spend a night at a hut that isn't the traditionally scheduled hut for that night of their trip, they must camp. This still allows for freedom and flexibility, but doesn't rob anyone of a bed who is simply doing the walk as prescribed. The group of 5 in question were having a rest day at Kia Ora (no I was NOT eavesdropping) and so had already got their night indoors - if you wanna stay another, go outside. I am known for my kindness.

Anyway, we weren't too worried, as we'd established ourselves by this point to be some of the fastest walkers, and if it came to fisticuffs, I was ready. Off we went.

The falls today were a trio, D'Alton, Fergusson, and Hartnett. The first two were coupled together, reached by descending like a mountain goat down a slope for about 1km, where the path branched off, D'Alton to the left and Fergusson to the right. I can confidently say that D'Alton is one of the COOLEST WATERFALLS I've ever seen. Dylan practically had to drag me away from the cliff edge from where we stood to view it, muttering "okay danger queen, that's enough" as I jumped and jived with joy. Scale: immense. Water: thundering. Rock pools: aplenty. Forest mermaids: hiding I'm sure. I was torn between throwing myself down into it and selling my soul to a tree sprite so I could live there forever as its mystical and mossy guardian. But alas, we had to go.

Loving some punishment, we sped our way back up the slope, heads down poles out, hiking with a vengeance back up to the main track. Continuing on, we came across another turn off, for Hartnett. Oh. I had forgotten this one, I thought we had seen them all back down the previous track. Hm. While I very much wished to go bananas over another stream of water, Dylan pointed out that the 5 packs strewn around the track junction indicated that The Stragglers were down there. This was our chance. With some regret involved, we soldiered on. Next time Hartnett, next time.Leggi altro