Start – TA km 2539 (Melina Ridge Track)
Finish – Top Timaru Hut
Daily Distance – 20 km
TA Distance – 2559 km
Bluff Distance – 482 km
Another morning of numb fingers and stream frozen feet, eagerly awaiting the first rays of warming sun.
Another afternoon of furnace heat, grateful for the gentlest breeze and increasing patches of snow as I
trudged ever higher. The NZ weather is increasingly a difficult thing to manage. I suppose this teaches me
the stoic virtue of enduring discomfort, so as to not be afraid of encountering it in future. My numbed toes
were calling b on that rationalisation mind. Apparently I’m not at my most philosophical before
morning coffee.
The mission for today was ascending 1000m to Martha saddle, before losing almost all of that gain and
dropping back down to 900m and Top Timaru hut. I don’t know if Martha was a much loved wife,
daughter, sheep, or all of the above, but the saddle certainly warrented a lovely trail at any rate. Following
a switchbacked 4 wheel drive track has been a luxury and to an extent mitigated the effort required
grinding relentlessly uphill for hour after hour. I still found it pretty tough though and was relieved to
arrive at the summit for a well earned lunch some 5 hours after breaking camp.
For an hour either side of the saddle I found more snow to play in. My inner child is truly being spoilt
recently! It is peculiar to be sweating buckets and slapping on sunscreen while gamboling along snowy
paths though.
With me at the hut tonight are Pontus/Sofia (Swe), Liv/Ali/Kat (UK), Laura (Ger), Chris (Swiss) and
Simon/Anya (Ger), so I am grateful to have one of the 6 bunks. With a cold wind howling through the
valley I don’t much fancy another morning waking up in a freezing tent. Oh the luxury…
