Waiau - West sabine hut

7km in 6 hrs, overcast with sunny patches.

We set off quite early this morning (7am) as the trail notes said it would take 6-8 hours and we wanted to give ourselves extra time to get down the steep decent on the other side of Travers pass.

It turned out to be a good decision just because the morning was so cool and lovely for walking. The top of the pass was just magical. Everywhere you look is just rugged mountains with rock bleeding to alpine meadow into trees. The yellow spikey flowers smell a bit like flax flowers.

The descent into the treeline and down to the river was a bit brutal on the knees and ankles but we felt a lot fresher than we did last time we had a steep descent. And when the spirits flagged slightly Karen played us some "everything is awesome" and that made it better.

In the beech forest it was just more of the same gorgeous paths, mud holes to skirt around, little streams to cross and friendly little birds.

We got to the hut before 2, plenty of time for a rest and a wash before dinner. There are a lot more people in this hut early that aren't just passing through. And it would appear that there are plenty that are doing day trips from here. It makes having a private bath in the river a bit more of a tricky proposition.

As I had suspected the hut was absolutely full. Everyone just got along and it was quite civilized really.Read more