Great sleep out on the veranda was interrupted by the first of the departures not long after 5 am. He had places he would rather be.
I stuck around for breakfast, etc, being social, and was Number 4 departure. The only one heading towards Lake Rotoroa.
Most others were going up to Lake Angelus.
Still damp, and gloomy, but not raining.
The thing about weather is you are out in it a lot, and so tend to notice what’s going on.
I certainly became aware when I stopped for lunch, a few minutes before 12 am. It hammered in for at least half an hour, before just resuming a slow drizzle more or less until I reached the hut.
My shorts were soaked, and I felt just like the tramping days of old. Water down my neck despite my hood up. Water in my boots.
The track was variable. It started like an Abel Tasman highway for the first third. Fully benched, you could zip along on your bike.
Then it was the full Festival of the Root on the giant sidle around the slope.
Plenty of windfall that DOC had hacked their way through. Not much other work done on the track in recent years, maybe as most of the track falls outside the official national park boundaries.
Even the drizzle has ceased by the time I reached Sabine Hut.
The hills around the lake were clad in misty clouds but on the way down I caught a glimpse of the ridge of Mt Misery. Clearly get up there in a hurry, ie, it looks steep.
Not much point being up there today with the poor visibility, but conditions will improve tomorrow, I pondered hopefully.
A guide to the night’s accommodation: Sabine Hut
