Friday 03.03.2023

• Te Araroa kilometres done: 2192.3
• Official kms: 18.3km
• Garmin kms: 21.68km
• Total time: 7:24
• Calories burned: 2810
• Body battery: 7/10
• Accommodation: Goat pass hut.
• Tent nights tally: 16
• Zero days had so far: 22

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/walking-te-araroa-3000km-for-the-key-to-life

Track me live here:

https://aus-share.explore.garmin.com/curtiss

Such an awesome sleep in the tent last night! The one downside though is the condensation on the inside of the tent so you never really get to dry it out properly.

Matt, Alina & Ladina turned up just after 8am from their campsite & we headed off towards the Otira river.

Today we plan to cross over walk up the road to the Morrison footbridge & then head up the deception valley to Goat pass hut. As we hears that the track along the river is dodgy. It only took us an hour to reach the footbridge.

From here the DOC sign stated that it was 9 hours to Goat pass hut! This was disheartening as it was just after 9am & only 15 kilometres from this point.

The start of the trail was quite nice & mainly track, it was a beautiful valley! As we got further up it did get a little more technical with climbing over rocks & boulders.

We stopped for lunch at 12:30 for 30 minutes before carrying on to complete the last 4 kilometres. About 2km up we stopped again briefly at the Upper Deception 6 bunk hut. It had just started raining so we took the opportunity to put pack covers & raincoats on. Unfortunately that meant no photos from this point.

With 2km left & 300 metres of elevation to climb we set off in the rain to climb over multiple rock’s & boulders as well as zig zagging the stream. This would be quite fun in good weather but at this point I was over it & was happy when we reached the hut just after 3:30pm.

It was good to get dry & into warm clothes, have something to eat & then organise gear & food etc.

Two others have turned up so it looks like there is only 6 of us in this 20 bed hut tonight.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow as I get to see Antonia & spend a night with her in Arthur’s pass. Matt has organised a Bach for the 5 of us to stay in right in the main centre.

Hope this rain stops!