Start – Rangipo Hut
Finish – Mangaehuehu Hut
Daily Distance – 8.5 km
TA Distance – off-trail
Today my luck with the weather ran out. Mild – heavy rain has been falling all day, which has led to
an exceptionally short Christmas Eve hike. It ended abruptly at 11:00 when I reached a hut and declared,
“there’s no way I’m walking in this all day!”, went inside, built a fire and haven’t moved since. David and
Marjon arrived an hour later and between all of our drying clothes the hut has acquired the humidity of a
Turkish bath house. Still, an afternoon spent in a warm hut with Christmas songs and cocoa is no bad
thing. The only mildly unfortunate event involved me leaving my wet shoes too close to the fire, so a
small part is now looking rather melted. I don’t think it’s anything too structural, but it has certainly been a
hard few days for my equipment.
This evening the weather has cleared and I have finally glimpsed Mt Ruapehu during a break in the
clouds. Hopefully this bodes well for tomorrow and I can have a nice sunny Christmas hike. Merry
Christmas everybody!
