A quick dash into Nelson to hire sleeping bags and buy one or two 
provisions and then off we went to Marahau by pre-arranged bus.
Started walking the route at around 10am and immediately struck by the beautiful scenery around the coast.Lunched at Anchorage Bay hut and then on to spend our first night in a D.O.C.(Dept. of Conservation) hut in Bark Bay, which was very comfortable.....but basic! We had hoped to finish the route in 3 leisurely days(51k), but unfortunately had not accounted for tide times and the fact that bus services did not operate as normal on Sundays...which meant that we had to spend 3 nights in huts and
walk for 3.5 days.
The 2nd day was even better than the first from a scenic point of view...golden, desolate beaches, azure blue sea and bird-song like nothing we had experienced before. A lovely hut at Awaroa where we chatted to 2 German girls(their english... perfect!!) and a great de-hydrated backpackers evening meal rounded the day off perfectly(well almost perfectly, as no wine!!)
Day 3 was excellent too and all was going well until we came across our last hut at Whariwharangi. this left a lot to be desired as no candles for evening light, lots of mosquito's and sandflies and a resident rat which insisted on running back and forth between the partition walls!!
After a poor nights' sleep, I awoke to find several bits of my anatomy had
been attacked by the mossies(not going to be too specific here....suffice to say that 2 days later and I'm still itching!!).
Pam meantime had got off lightly by cocooning herself inside her silk sheet sleeping bag(clever girl)...this did lead to her suffering dizzy spells for 2 days afterwards as a result of lack of oxygen to the brain!!
provisions and then off we went to Marahau by pre-arranged bus.Started walking the route at around 10am and immediately struck by the beautiful scenery around the coast.Lunched at Anchorage Bay hut and then on to spend our first night in a D.O.C.(Dept. of Conservation) hut in Bark Bay, which was very comfortable.....but basic! We had hoped to finish the route in 3 leisurely days(51k), but unfortunately had not accounted for tide times and the fact that bus services did not operate as normal on Sundays...which meant that we had to spend 3 nights in huts and
walk for 3.5 days.The 2nd day was even better than the first from a scenic point of view...golden, desolate beaches, azure blue sea and bird-song like nothing we had experienced before. A lovely hut at Awaroa where we chatted to 2 German girls(their english... perfect!!) and a great de-hydrated backpackers evening meal rounded the day off perfectly(well almost perfectly, as no wine!!)
Day 3 was excellent too and all was going well until we came across our last hut at Whariwharangi. this left a lot to be desired as no candles for evening light, lots of mosquito's and sandflies and a resident rat which insisted on running back and forth between the partition walls!!
After a poor nights' sleep, I awoke to find several bits of my anatomy had
been attacked by the mossies(not going to be too specific here....suffice to say that 2 days later and I'm still itching!!).Pam meantime had got off lightly by cocooning herself inside her silk sheet sleeping bag(clever girl)...this did lead to her suffering dizzy spells for 2 days afterwards as a result of lack of oxygen to the brain!!
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