New Zealand – 3rd Dec 2008 - Day 41

Our alarm screeched into action at 6.30am, so we had time to get our clothes out of the dry room, create our lunch pack, pack our back packs, eat breakfast and get hiking. The rain was still falling and the temperature had also fallen.

Today’s hike was set to be the hardest as we rose some 800 metres to get over the MacKinnon Pass, named after the Scottish chap who discovered the route back in 1888. We were looking forward to this section as the previous sections had been a little too easy.

We hit the track at 7.30am in heavy rain. One of our guides, Emily, walked with us for the first few hours until we hit the zigzag trails, taking us up to the pass. The climbs were not too steep, but the weather was awful. We were already soaked through by the time we reached to less protected area of the pass. We stopped and put on our hats, trousers etc. to protect us from the weather. As we neared the top of the pass the horizontal sleet was stinging our faces. We were wet and fed up at trying to hide our faces from the weather. After touching the Mackinnon Memorial stone, we headed for the hut.

We were so looking forward to getting our wet stuff off and warming up. We were to be disappointed. The hut was large but cold, with concrete floors and a minute gas heater. We took our wet boots off and rung out our socks. We tried to dry some of our clothes infront of the heater but it was too small. We had a couple of hot drinks, but the longer stayed in the hut, we colder we became. This hut is being replaced next year, it bloody needs to be. For a place like this, the hut is simply not good enough.

We put our wet clothes and boots back on and headed out into the high winds and heavy sleet. We couldn’t talk for about half an hour, until we had dropped low enough in the valley to het out of the wind.

We walked down hill for another to hours in heavy, driving rain, reaching our Quintin Lodge for 1.30pm, again, far too early.

We hung our clothes in the drying room. This time a boot drying room was available. We showered for ages, getting warm, again. Some cakes and hot drinks helped to get us warm as we sat in front of the fire waiting for others to arrive.

After a few hours, the rain began to ease, so we put dry walking gear back on and headed for Sutherland falls, just 40 minutes walk away. They are the 5th highest falls in the world and due to all the rain, they looked very impressive. We walked back with Angie and Liz. As we reached the lodge, the rain set back in again.

We sat around the fire, drinking wine and chatting. After dinner, one of our guides called Nick, gave a wee presentation on the next days hike. He is a great lad. Angie had a few jokes with him during his presentation which had us all laughing.

We went to bed praying for a good last day. After half an hour in bed, we were so cold, John indeed up finding some spare duvets in other rooms which kept us warm. During the night we kept being woken up by the heavy rain and wind. At times, we thought the roof was going to cave in with the volume of rain.