Wow! A rest day.

14 days after leaving Greymouth I finally have a break from forward motion.

I’m drying out some parts of my gear, most particularly my feet. Not sure how much difference a single day will make but I’ll give it a go. There’s even some sunshine early on.

I’m sharing the hut for two nights with a research geologist and his offsider, they’re looking at the vertical movement in the Alpine Fault, interest in this area is the alignment of the Glenroy River. Quite different to the remainder of the fault, so there is probably less lateral movement here, it’s mostly vertical.

The theory is that quartz rock in the last half metre of the surface is partly converted to a radioactive element, beryllium, With the half life of about 1 million years, so by separating out quartz in the river sand it’s possible to measure the radioactivity of the sand and thereby deduce how quickly the mountains are being uplifted. The range is thought to be between zero and 10 mm a year, on average over a long period, the abrupt earthquakes are generally infrequent.

We talk geology and earthquakes off and on during the day, and other random subjects, two scientific minds interested in the world around us.

Other than that there is little to report, my biggest excursion was to fill up the water bucket down at Maling Stream a couple of times.

The hut book shows I am the 13th group to come over 3 Tarn Pass this summer, well up on the six from when I was here previously at the hut a couple of years ago.

Most are keen on Thompson and Waiau Pass, most camp at Lake Thompson but for me I haven’t timed it right with the weather.

We sat outside for breakfast but by 11 am it was fully clouded over, I’m hoping I might still get a few days of summer sunshine, like this time last year.

It’d be excellent if the fine weather started tomorrow.

+++++horizontal rule+++++

A guide to the night’s accommodation: Bobs Hut

Bobs Hut under Mt Maling, 2127m, in Nelson Lakes National Park
← TA Day 58 | to Bobs Hut, West Mataki valley TA Day 60 | now trapped by flooding at Bobs Hut, West Mataki valley →