The next day dawned bright and clear, which was great, as this day was basically stroll along a very long mountain ridge. Epic views followed.
We walked from Angelus Hut over to Bushline hut across Mount Robert Ridge. This is a walk of about four hours or so, but with careful planning, plenty of photo breaks and a nice lesuirely lunch we made it a healthy 6 hours. I was very glad the weather was so fine; the path was very narrow and a large majority was scrabling over loose rock with a sheer drop either side. It would be terrifying in the wind, and god forbid snow!
However, it was a bright sunny day and I was very happy in it as I was totally protected with my shiny new factor 70 sun cream (how wrong I was). Every turn brought a new horizon, new ranges and a new veiw of this awesome country. Very excited for two Kiwi newbies.
We got to Bushline hut mid afternoon - with a bit of a loss as to what to do next. So reading and playing cards was the game. We also seemed to have inturrputed a couple who it seemed were on a sort of honeymoon. So that was a bit awkward for a couple of hours…. luckily, we were saved later by a large kiwi family turning up with loud voices and plentiful amounts of cake and custard for everyone to share.
Excellent! DOC (department of conservation) huts, (bivvies in UK terms) are just wonderful places. You’re always garanteed to meet interesting people in truly beautiful places.
The next morning dawned bright, and we very quickly ran down the mountain back to St Arnaud. The $45 shuttle bus left at one, but we reaaallllyy did not want to pay that much, so the plan was to try and hitch back to Nelson. After only ten mins of standing around waving at passing cars we got a lift to a highway interscetion, 20 mins down the road. Following that it was another 10 min wait to get a lift by a fairly nice but very tired Samoan chap back to Nelson.
We got back to a much nicer hotsel, just off the beach, and after a VERY enjoyable and much needed shower spent the rest of the day replaxing with a bottle of wine, ice cream and a bizarre meal of leftover trail food.
