Waiau - Blue lake hut

8.75km in 3.5hrs. Overcast/drizzling

Another gorgeous day in the beech forest. I heard a chattering on the side of the path and saw 2 rifleman juveniles being fed by their mum.

We arrived at the hut at about 1230 as it's another short day. It had drizzled pretty much constantly for the last 45 min but that hadn't dampened spirits.

Luckily we had another burst of nice weather after we had gotten settled and eaten lunch so we popped down to see the blue lake. It is every bit as spectacular as promised. It looks like you could dive in from the shore at one point... if you were allowed to touch it.

By late afternoon the weather packed in and started chucking it down so a lot of late arrivals that had intended to camp ended up sleeping on the floor. I think we almost ended up with as many in the floor as on the bunks.Read more