Im in a bit of a mess. My pants are ripped to the point of being almost shorts, socks are burnt, everything's thick with mud. Having not washed properly sinse the Ngaruroro im getting a bit feral. With a flat headlight and my only candle burnt ive got no way of seeing after dark, which is coming increasingly earlier each day. On top of that its still raining for the seventh consecutive day.
Continuing south along the ridge, it hovers around the tree line for what seems like forever. The drizzel stops and the clouds very slowly part. By the time i finally emerge into open tussock the suns out. Having not seen a blue sky sinse coppermine It's amazing. The phones soon back to life and i know exactly where i am, where im going and what the weather's going to do, which isn't good news. After one short peak, Nicholls hut is found on the east. There's 6 bunks a tank and a fire, but being above the tree line there's little to burn. It sits on the TA trail so gets a lot of use. The area south of here has been recently 1080'd and the absence of the usual hunters is noticeable through the book.
From here the ridge climbs up to Mt Crawford(1462). The clouds just about gone and i get my first glimpse of the west coast as well as good veiws out to the Wairarapa. Ruapehu pokes out above the clouds now in the distance north and a high range to the south has me confused for the longest time untill i realise im looking at the Marlborough sounds.
At the next peak, junction knob, the TA heads west leaving a less trampled, less muddy ridge. It an hours gentle descent to Andersons at the bush line- easy. Andersons Memorial hut is architecturally identical to Nicholls, being west facing, one would expect it to suffer the wind, but this evening it basks in the glorious evening sunshine.
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