words with kitchen

real life adventures of an aspiring adult

Tag: Te Araroa

  • Rintoul Hut zero

    Woke up this morning to cloudy weather so we slept in. I’d been wanting to zero in a hut. Let me tell you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. This is a long section, so I had a lot of food. But I still have a decent amount of time left, so I…

  • Day 46: Mid Wairoa Hut to Rintoul Hut

    The day started with a climb. Big climb. Through forest, so pretty boring, no pictures. Halfway in we stopped at Tarn Hut, which is conveniently by a tarn. Then up we went some more. Much more. Lots and lots of wasps. They were so thick they’d just run into you. No stings, but it was…

  • Day 45: Hunter’s Hut to Mid Wairoa Hut

    Today started off with a surprise. When we went to bed last night there were 3 of us. When we woke up there was a 4th. A kiwi guy had snuck in just after we all passed out (he said he got in at 9:45pm). After some food and pleasant conversation, the 3 of us…

  • Day 44: Red Hills Hut to Hunter’s Hut

    Today was pretty challenging. Lots of up and down, various terrain types, including a large terrible boulder field and some squishy boggy goodness. Oh and some steep rock sidles hanging over cliffs for good measure. Last night Christine and John (just2hikers) showed up and we’re probably going to be pacing each other all through this…

  • Day 43: St Arnaud to Red Hills Hut

    My pack is so heavy. So. Heavy. But I did manage to cram everything inside it! I was expecting to have to have stuff hanging off the outside to get all of the food in. But nope, it’s all inside. Today started off fairly boring. Road walk. I half heartedly tried to hitch but really…

  • St Arnaud zero

    Today I had one simple goal: make my pack smell less horrifying. Oh, and eat lots of bbq. Well, I got one of those things done. Not that I didn’t try to get my pack to smell less horrifying, but at this point I think I need something a bit stronger than what Mirazyme claims…

  • Day 42: Sabine hut to St Arnaud

    I’m sure Upper Travers Hut was neat and everything, but last night’s hut was pretty well situated. I mean come on. Fun fact: there’s a water taxi from the other end of the lake that would have picked me up and taken me to town if I wanted. This hut is basically a zero walking…

  • Day 41: Blue Lake hut to Sabine Hut

    Yea, no Travers Saddle for me. Forecast said 60km/h winds at the top and I just used that as an excuse not to go! It’s ok though! Before I left this morning I wandered to the lake to get a picture of how clear the water is. There was some wind though so the surface…

  • Day 40: Waiau hut to Blue Lake hut

    What a day. I’ve been anticipating this day for literally months. Worrying that it would be too hard for me to do, the weather too bad for me to even attempt. The trail notes make mention of crampons and ice axes and that made me super concerned. The first part of the day for me…

  • Day 39: Anne hut to Waiau hut

    Such an easy easy easy easy day today. Came pretty close to just heading on past the hut, but I decided not to. Tomorrow is going to be a long, challenging day. I want to rest up and get an early start and that’ll be a lot easier in a hut than in my tent.…