Saturday 11th of November 2023

• Drive time from Christchurch 1.5 – 2.0 hours
• Walking time – 2.5 to 3.5 hours
• Weather – clear & warm
• Hikers – Antonia & myself

It’s been a while since we have been out for an overnight hike, so this weekend is the weekend to do!

With the forecast showing blue sky’s & warm weather, we packed our gear Friday night & were ready to leave at a leisurely time this morning.

Stopping at Sheffield bakery it was a late breakfast of a pie & a coffee’s as well as a nice large square of quiche each to carry in for lunch.

Within two hours of leaving home we were at the car park at Hawdon shelter. This has to be the fullest I had seen the car park before & I have been here over a dozen times!

After getting ready with our packs on, we were ready to start, setting off at 11.15. This hike starts by dropping into the Hawdon river bed & within a few minutes crossing the main river.

I couldn’t help but think we would definitely be camping with this many cars in the car park. Luckily we are always prepared to be self sufficient in any hiking activities we do.

Just over a kilometre in & we were at the start of the bush track on the true right of the river. This takes you about 2 kilometres on easy track up the valley avoiding slow travel of the river bed.

This time round the bush track had a bit of tree fall with some short detours to navigate but was pretty smooth going. It wasn’t long before we popped out the other end.

From here it’s a fairly straightforward cross over to the other side of the valley to join the 4wd trail for a few kilometres, crossing the Hawdon river once more. You end up passing where the hidden doc hut (I call it the hidden Hawdon), which you can only see it if you go looking for it.

It was close to 1pm when we were approaching the East Hawdon River crossing, both of us still full from breakfast, so we decided to keep going until the hut before we would have a break & our lunch.

At about 7 kilometres in we crossed over the Hawdon river for the last time to the true right. This is mainly track with some rock travel for the remaining 3 kilometres to the hut.

We reached Hawdon hut within 3 hours of starting, there was only about a dozen people at the 20 bed hut so was a shock to us as we expected more people. It was only 2pm though.

We sat outside and ate our lunch while we contemplated what our plans were going to be for the night.

It was decided that we would cross the river in front of the hut & set up camp. In my experience I knew that there would be a lot more people coming, as it’s an easy hut to get to & every time I’ve stayed people mainly turn up around 5pm.

Once across the river & wet to the knees for the final time today we hunted around for a suitable spot & then set up the tent, created a fire-pit, seat and collected dry dead wood from the river bed, I then used our electric chainsaw and cut it all up into manageable pieces (yes I carry a 1.5kg electric chainsaw).

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at our piece of paradise and watching lots of people turn up to the hut & fill the remaining beds, we also watched people walk up & turn around and head back down the valley again once the hut was full (I was told some didn’t have tents or air mats so had to backtrack the 10 kilometres back out again!)

At least half a dozen people after the hut was filled came down the bank, crossed the river & set up camp further up the river from us.

We just relaxed by the fire for the evening, toasting marshmallows & drank hot chocolate before retiring to bed at 8:30pm.

Surprisingly it was a good sleep that night, waking up early as I do I got the water on the boil & made Antonia and I hot coffee’s to go with breakfast. We then set out to pack everything up & were on our way just after 8am.

The walk out was pretty straightforward & was quicker than the walk in. We were back at the car within 2:45 which was perfect timing to drive back to Sheffield for lunch, arriving just after noon.

Another great weekend getaway & another hike where the importance of a tent & an air-mattress is a must.