top of page

Gerard’s blog St Arnaud to Boyle

gwellsnaki

We headed south rested and loaded up with 9 days of supplies. I said goodbye to my barman Chris who had looked after me for the last few days, I think I will miss him.


I feel the Richmond Ranges has scarred us and it’s now the benchmark for other tracks.

The first 3 days down to Blue Lake hut (which is the hut before we cross the Waiau pass) has been enjoyable. The track is a proper track (not a goat track) and the views as we crossed the likes of Travers saddle at 1787m high were amazing. Even had some snow to contend with.


The half day up to Blue Lake hut rained for a couple of hours and the temp dropped. We arrived wet and drained so Jenny got the fire going and we got cosy. Karan stayed the night also. The weather forecast we get from Grumps each night (thanks for that) and morning was not the best for the following day to cross the Waiau pass and it had rained a lot that afternoon. Early in the morning I had to go for a piss and to my surprise the sky was clear and I could see the snow capped mountains that surrounded our hut, this looks good I thought.

Bingo we woke to a magic day and headed up early to the Waiau pass which is 1870m high. It was a bloody challenge with scree slopes, steep ascents and descents and a shit load of snow at the top, especially on the south side.


We worked our way through all of this and thought well we made it. Little did we appreciate the number of river crossing we would have to make before reaching our hut for the night. Again the rivers were high from the previous days rain and I shitted myself a bit during the crossing but together we got through.


The next two days before hitting Boyle would be easy walking down valley flats over grassy areas, very restful considering what we have accomplished, but they were long days.

So for this section we covered 116ks over 6 days. We both feel this section has gone well, considering we originally catered for 9 days. I got a bit of a pulled muscle on my left foot, but resting these few days is sorting that.

156 views2 comments

Recent Posts

See All

2 comentários


Julia Dolan
Julia Dolan
28 de nov. de 2021

Certainly a challenge but looks like the views were amazing and hopefully made up for the trials.

Curtir

cwells
27 de nov. de 2021

Great stuff Gee, well told, that snow looks amazing but cold. rest that foot up !!

Curtir
bottom of page