We made a good steady pace before stopping at a campsite on a section where the track levels out just before climbing again to bush line.

Saturday morning and the weather was still nice and we emerged out to magnificent views as we climbed onto Urchin. But we were soon descending into the Waipakahi Valley and stopped for rest by the river.

The wander up river to the hut from here involves many river crossings and after a while one despairs of ever getting to the hut. However, once around one of the many similar bends in the river, the hut appears on a terrace up ahead. Soon we were inside and lighting the nice new stove inside.

The trick to the Waipakahi Hut stove is to shut the door of the stove once it is lit. We were wondering what the roar was, it was the fire getting going. Soon the hut was toasty warm.

We were joined by a couple who had come in over Umukarikari. She was American and he was British. They lived in Ohakune. However they had meths instead of White Spirit for their stove so we had to come to their rescue.

Sunday was a major disappointment with low cloud and drizzle. This wasn’t in the weather forecast. We headed off with parkas on and kept a steady pace all they way over to bush line on the far side of Umukarikari. Everyone went really well except we all agreed that we had cold legs and should have stopped to put on leggings of long johns.

We were very early for our transport so we pitched the tent fly and sheltered from the rain while we had lunch. I phoned Olwyn at the camping ground and arranged an earlier pick up time, which meant we got back to Rotorua in good time to dry out.