Day 121 - a right slog, the shakes and a serious sunset

Top Timaru hut —-> Pakithui hut 24km

If I wasn’t getting around 10 hours of sleep every night on this trail I’m not sure I’d have made it even half this far. Despite how tired and achy my legs were last night, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle today - it’s amazing what a warm hut can do to your mood!

John and I were walking by 7.30am, aware we had at least another ten hour walking day, if not more. This part of the Breast Hill track was in three sections. The first along the river. The second a steep climb up to Stody’s hut and the third, a climb across high country to Breast Hill lookout and on to Pakithui hut.

The morning was harder than I thought it was going to be - lots of up and downs across constantly changing terrain. Forest, frozen tussocks and rocks alongside the river. It kept it interesting but the icy cold river crossings almost broke me…again.

The river wasn’t deep here. It was ankle, maybe shin deep in places. In preparation to cross for the first time, John was about to put his phone in his bag so it wouldn’t get wet in his shorts’ pocket, but as I crossed, we both laughed realising how shallow the water was. It wouldn’t get close to his shorts. So instead he put his phone in his trusty ziplock and then into his pocket like normal. But as he crossed he instinctively pulled his shorts up anyway and his phone plopped out into the water! Had this been any normal river he would have been able to grab it, but it was grey and silty - you couldn’t see a thing.

I ran into the water and we both splashed around for 15 minutes trying to find it. We were sure it wouldn’t have flowed downstream, it was too shallow, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. Bye bye John’s phone :(

The morning’s bad luck continued with both John and I falling over several times. Steep drops down to the river over wet leaves were prime territory for slipping - my crashes down to the ground broken thankfully by my backpack.

After five hours we’d finished the first section and sat down on the trail for some lunch. I had left over thai green curry from the night before, and it made for the most delicious lunch in my wrap.

Then began phase two. An absolute slog of a climb, up through the bush to Stodys hut. Neither of us had much water and there was no way we were travelling back 500m to collect it… we’d manage.

It felt very reminiscent of the Richmonds, the sun now beating down on us. We powered upwards for an hour and a bit through the forest and then out into the open to be met with spectacular views over the mountains beyond.

Stodys hut was dark cold and messy, I was very glad we weren’t staying there.

I sat down outside the hut eating snacks, not quite sure how I was supposed to keep going for another three/four hours. I was exhausted. But John was a great motivator and he set off on phase three, up through the tussock towards an old farm track which would take us all the way to Breast Hill.

20 minutes in I had the shakes. I was staring at a hill I had zero energy to climb up. John was a machine, powering on ahead and all I wanted to do was turn around and lie down. I dug out my emergency choccie bar and after a quick sit down, the shakes had gone and I was running to catch up with John.

Once the track levelled out, we had 360 views of incredibleness. It was nearing sunset and the light settling all around making the land seem almost magical. Mt Cook was clearly visible on our right, looming tall and wide over the surrounding peaks.

By 5.15pm we were at Breast Hill summit, just in time for the most perfect sunset I’d ever seen. Lake Hawea down below us, Mount Aspiring National park to our right and the valley we’d just trudged through behind us. I was re-set and suddenly had all the energy in the world.

We stayed at the top until the draw of a hut became too much and I pretty much ran all the way there. The sunset was only getting better as we crossed Breast Hill, the light reflecting off the jagged rocks overlooking the lake.

Pakithui hut was nestled into the valley below. It was the first hut in a while where we had other people staying there - a popular day trek up from Lake Hawea, there were three others doing an overnight camp.

We reflected on an incredibly hard couple of days and what a relief this lovely hut was. How all these huts can just be in the most perfect positions in the backcountry is something I will never fully comprehend and I will be eternally grateful for them.