Te Araroa chapter 6 - in the land of snow (1)

When I look back, this section was one of the most beautiful times we spent on Te Araroa. Also one of the most challenging.
... we stepped out of the car of one nice gentleman and started walking again. It was morning and there was a mountain range with a lot of snow in front of us. But first there was a road to walk. You see we were not on Te Araroa again just yet, there was another 20km or so.So we started walking and for the first time actually we could see the great Rakaia river properly.

On the road again!

Rakaia river - Before we were walking behind that range / řeka Rakaia - předtím jsme ťapali za támthletěma horama :)

 It was HUGE! Later we learned that some peeps attempted crossing and if they didn´t drown, good for them, but the state of the massive river as we saw it was scary and demanded respect and it wasn´t even the spring melting time when masses of cloudy water are rumbling down.
The river bed must have been around 10 km wide and braided, it means you have to cross many different flows with different depth and streght.
This time of year the flow was low but still high enough to take you not mentioning it was completely cloudy. I mean we later saw some posts in the book about people crossing it and fair enough do what you want, but don´t encourage otheres to do so - as some of them did. We have a lot of river crossing experience, but still I just wouldn´t go for this one.
Anyway, the road crunch crunch crunch walk walk walk. Still not back on the trail. A nice gentleman in a large lorry from the mines stopped and took us about 7 km. Then we kept walking and had another 1 km lift, so we ended up walking about 7 or 8km extra on the road. I felt the debt was paid and I was happy :)  And then the game was on again, up the hills!

 The clouds on that day were massive and boiling in the sky, transforming into huge fluffy things and I started sensing some cold in the air. We aimed for the first hut and of course, there was a saddle to climb to, so we started climbing steady steady and almost twisted our heads off turning around all the time watching the Rakaia valley. Stunning!

Then the ice started falling from the sky! Funny time are back :) ! A lot of little hay was flying around us in the air and I felt there would be a big change very soon. Roman seemed unimpressed with the weight of his backpack (resupply in Metheven, but hey I carried ressuply as well!) so I started racing up the hill. He got it very soon and the neverending battle between little Marco Panzani and Ullrich was back on. Little Marco Panzani was on the lead the whole time, but he´s a good sport, so he let Ullrich win :)

Can you see the snow line :) ?

What more can you want seriously :)

And there was the saddle! We were surrounded by mountains and solitude again, wild clouds and mighty Rakaia. There´s not much more in the world you can desire. The clouds started closing in, so we raced to the little cute A frame hut and the snowing started. We managed to make a nice fire, roast some wild mushroom to find out they were bitter because there was something nasty in the pan that we didn´t notice before, so we had to throw our extra dinner away. What a bugger!
So we ate what he had prepared for the dinner without the yummy mushroom and went to our sleeping bags as the nights started to get colder. And there was snowing outside...a lot.

But there is always morning and this morning came with a message : "Deal with it." You know what? I think any desription is absolutely pointless, so just have a look.

My new profile picture :)

Looking peaceful, but there was a swamp under the snow :) / vypadá to v pohodě, ale pod sněhem byla bažinka :)

This was just begining :)

Hut in the distance

Balls. Wool balls / koule

the crossings are inevitable :) What can you do, there´s another 163 the next day. But you may want to try running the first 10 till you get bored / wet anyway :)))

We´re closed for the day.

And because I was sick we stayed in the hut only 6 km away from the A Frame hut for the night. And the next day we found out it was a bloody good idea.

Lenka&Roman walking/swimming in da snow /compare drawings with reality :)

Beacuse we had to walk in something similar, but deeper and something similar, but all day :) It was really challenging day, one of the most challeging during our walk, but also one of the most beautiful. First we had to cross the river about usual 365 times and together with snow and ice it was quite fun :) But as you keep moving, everything is fine - even the wet socks in your wet boots wet everything. Than we started a climb through first knee deep, than a thigh deep and than, in the saddle a waist (Lenka - boobs) deep snow. And the wind hit us hard as we tried to swim from the hole we fell into after we started crossing down.

Comyns hut a.k.a. Commies hut :)

This way, baby...

Haha ultra fun! Try running more than 10 times I challenge you! :) /320 přechodů za den, běželi sjme skrz asi tak 10x než nás to přestalo bavit a goretex stejně proteče. Ať děláš co děláš :)

Oh, I see!

All the flora under the snow. This is not deep FYI / tohle ještě nebylo hluboký :)

We just look awesome all the time.

Almost in the saddle!!! Skoro v sedle!

Guess how windy it is?

We simply couldn´t take any picture while being boobs deep in the snow, so one with knee deep :) / ztechnických důvodů jsme nemohli vyfotit, jak vypadá po kozy ve sněhu, tak aspoň po koulena.

Yep. Around this one as well.

I am absolutely capable of walking another 10 km :)

Hair levitation by thinking!

Can you see our crawl - line?

And so we went down and down the valley, the snow was again waist deep and then knee deep and after several hours - there was no snow! It´s really interesting how many different landscapes and conditions you can experience in 1 day. I felt almost dissappointed we left the snowy mountains (but if you asked me then..) We EVEN decided to go one hut further!!! OMG we are crazy people :) But seriously, Manuka hut was one of the best :)

Bye snow. (aka see you very soon!)

Te Araroa hikers will get this joke.

Whaat? Where´s the snow???

And in the morning, Roman found his washing towel frozen. The towel survived. (when you survive washing Roman there´s really no other challenge. Maybe washing me.)

Question mark?