TA Day 52

TA Day 52: Saturday 8 February 2025

Mt Rintoul Hut - Starveall Hut

We woke up to a beautiful morning with birdsong and a beautiful sunrise. We had breakfast by the table outside, watching the sky change colour.

Then it was time for the steep and slow climb up to the top of Mt Rintoul. At the top we celebrated with some "Top Snickers" and just mesmerized, we took in the views. But today would be a long day so we had to keep moving. A lot of people had made it seem like today would be one of the toughest days in our life, but it really wasn't. Tough, yes, but we've definitely had tougher terrain on Te Araroa before this.

We went down some scree, and up another scree part, meeting lots of people on the way. Going up Little Mt Rintoul was the steepest part, but going uphill was not so bad, going downhill is probably worse.

Continuing towards Old Man Hut the trail was actually nice - or nice for being a trail in NZ at least. So here and there some obstacles, and some elevation but not too bad.

Up at Old Man (the mountain top, not the hut), there was a rainwater tank! Yessss. A small one that was almost empty, but enough so that we could make a small lunch meal for ourselves and get a little bit more energy into our bodies. By now we were quite hungry, and the meal helped somewhat.

We continued along the ridge, stopping many times to film, take photos or just watch, because this really was beautiful. And so cool that we could see the ocean!

We arrived at Slaty Hut in the late afternoon/early evening. We sat down by the table outside and prepared the rest of our meal. There were quite a few girls staying in the hut tonight. All hiking Te Araroa, but some of them had just started because they were only doing the South Island.

It wasn't far to the next hut, Starveall, so we wanted to continue after eating. Some of them were surprised that we would continue after such a long day! But we just laughed and said that it's nice to utilize all hours of the day, especially on such a beautiful day as today.

And it was beautiful. So freaking beautiful! It was also less hot and more comfortable.

Once we arrived in Starveall, some time before dark, we met some more nice people. Unfortunately the good tent spots were already taken, again, except for the emergency helicopter landing spot where you're not allowed to sleep, so we decided to stay inside tonight.

Today's:

Distance: 17.65 km

Ascent: 1620 m

Descent: 1669 m

Tent nights: 35/52

Weather: Sunny