Te Araroa, Day 110

I was so tired yesterday but only slept for 2 hours. I am very tired this morning; it is cold.
We pack and wait for daylight. It gets light later and later each day.

Starting this day, we have to go back into the river for those 500m. The river feels very cold this morning.
With cold and wet feet, we find the spot from where we will walk towards Stody Hut. A very, very steep climb with lots of steep and slippery passages begins.
I am glad I do have to walk this down. I take longer than the estimated official time to the hut. At Stody Hut, we have a break.
We want to go to Lake Hawea today and then have an easy walk to Wanaka tomorrow. It is still a long way to go.  There is some more ascent up Breast Hill and then the walk passes Pakituhi Hut, from where the descent starts.
On the map we find a route to that Pakituhi Hut without climbing Breast Hill and follow that. It is an easy walk for a change. We don’t really want to take the TA descent to Lake Hawea. We had too many very dangerous descents.
There is a 4-wheel drive road quite close to the descent, and we hope we can take that one. If not, there is another road, but it would mean another 18 km.
After Stody Hut, the walk is very exposed. It looks like walking in a desert. It is hot, and there is no shade. We pass the junction to Pakituhi Hut and walk towards the shorter road. When we get there, there is a gate and lots of warnings not to trespass. Not good. We can't take that road obviously.
I am exhausted, and we stop at the gate so that I can boil some water for a freeze-dried meal. When I am done eating, it is about 2:30. We don’t have much water left and would have to walk back to go to Pakituhi Hut for water since there is nothing in this dessert like area until Lake Hawea.
I am glad when X suggests staying at the hut and walking the next day early in the morning because walking the 18 km road now plus some more km to some accommodation would get us again a very long day, finishing in darkness.

We have the hut to ourselves when we arrive, but not for long. At the end the 8 mattresses are fully occupied and some tents were set up outside. 

I look at the descent option again. It will be steep but shorter and people say it is ok to do. 

We change the plan and will take the steep descent tomorrow morning as soon as there is enough daylight. 

I watch the sunset and moonrise and then go to bed. 

The Belgium couple we met at Tin hut stays on the lower mattresses platform with us - until something interesting happens as I find out the next morning…