Wednesday, April 1: Sunny with a few clouds on the horizon; quite warm

Tramping: Rawhiti – Cape Brett via Deep Water Cove, 16.3 km

Cape Brett Hut (DOC, $15, gas cookers, no heating; $30 track fee for private land)

Managed to struggle up at a quarter past seven and fry two eggs for breakfast, pack everything up into the backpack for the hike and then everything else into their bags and into the car and was ready to go by 8:30.

Short drive to the ferry and was soon on the other side (car $11) and down the meandering road to Rawhiti. I had been considering walking via Whangamumu and that track entrance was 5.4 km down the road (a gravel road for the most part at that) but as we will see that wouldn’t have been such a good idea.

Found someone’s front yard to park the car in ($5) and swapped shoes for the hiking boots and was ready to tramp by 9:45. Views of the bay begged to be photographed but the batteries packed in immediately and once on the track the next bay beckoned likewise so I got out a box of batteries and kept them in an outside pocket just in case.

Pretty steep climb to begin with and I was sweating pretty furiously. After about 4 km most of the climb was over but then the catastrophe struck – the left calf decided to cramp in such a way that the left foot couldn’t be used for climbing very effectively (positioning the foot and then pushing off). I struggled with this for a few km and the cramp just got worse so around km 8 I took a 20 minute break to see if that would improve the situation. A women who had stayed at the hut the night before passed me and mentioned the salty water “issue” and then passed on. I reached a hut shortly before km 9, and there was water there (as there had been at the top of the climb) so I refilled and drank, knowing that this was going to be a hard day with or without the cramps.

The views along the way are pretty sensational and were shot liberally.

Cramping was beginning to take its toll on the right leg and the upper left leg – the main problem seemed to be the uphill sections. I knew that Deep Cove would be around km 12 and although it was a 700 m detour it was worth it and I had my lunch (salami sandwich) there. A yacht left some people on land to tramp about, a shoal of fish was playing near the surface of the water, and fairly shortly afterwards I left as well – with no improvement in the leg situation. I was beginning to get a headache as well so I had to think of something along the lines of rehydration and electrolytes. It was still pretty much up and down and the views were just as spectacular.

Meanwhile it was one wheel’s off and the axle’s dragging in the tramping department. The km signs seemed to stop at 14 (actually 15), and if they were accurate then the pace was not bad (~4 km/h) but they may well have been short. Fantails were playing along the track and a couple of tuis were calling. I crossed over the peninsula to a dramatic set of cliff faces with a yacht at sea, then the path seemed to go straight up and was really hard going. I met a younger guy from the Deep Cove boat, barefoot, who was apparently returning from the hut and he said, “Not far to go,” but I had to stop every few steps. Eventually the summit was reached and then the track started downhill again. The lighthouse appeared, the remains of older buildings (foundations) and then the hut itself.

I had a wash just to cool down, then checked the water and it wasn’t that salty. Had a look at the vitamin tablets and they contained magnesium and calcium, so I quickly had one of those and two aspirins, and then went for a lie-down.

A couple of flies here were a bit annoying but rested for about ¾ hour. When I got up again my vision was, well, strange. Very clouded, and with weird, foggy lighting. Might have been the salt I had sweated out during the tramp.

By now it was after 5:00, and things had to be organised. Stripped off and went to the washing basins to wash the feet and sox, and put on fresh sox. Hung the wet sox up to dry, started the diary, boiled some water for drinking and started cooking the rice. The kitchen here has everything you need, but no fireplace or heating. Could have cooked the instant noodles in parallel but the rice was ready before its time. Sent a spot message which probably should have been, “OK, but only just,” set up the A470 for a fixed exposure time lapse of the sunset/rising moon, a few snapshots with the SX120, washed the dishes and am now writing this by candlelight. Will see about some star photos later in the evening. Temperature was 21° and falling outside, inside 26°.

Tough track, great views.