Jeremy had his fun hiking the Heaphy Track so Hazel and Dara decided we wanted to have our own adventure. We drove 3 hours East and North and up a steep gravel road to get to Flora Car Park in the Kahurangi National Park.
The views from the carpark, at 912 meters (3,000 feet) were great and it helped to start off the hike with that elevation already gained. We hiked through beech forest and at times were on a ridge of scrubby desert-like vegetation.
We arrived at Mt. Arthur Hut by early afternoon. Despite it being a busy trail, there were still 4 free mattresses on the top bunk and we quickly claimed ours and headed to the ridge above the tree line to check out the views down to Tasman Bay.
Dara was eager to keep hiking but Hazel had had enough so we napped in the sun, a rare experience on the West Coast, and had a cozy dinner thanks to a borrowed camping stove. We felt a bit envious of the family of four (with two adult boys) who had hiked up with bottles of wine, fresh chicken, bacon and spinach to cook into a sauce for their pasta with two cook stoves. Regardless, we slept tight in our sleeping bags amongst 7 new friends.
In the morning, after quick oats and surprise hot chocolate, we were ready to attack Mt. Arthur. The day was sunny but quite windy and there were moments we were a bit anxious of being blown off the ridge which the trail followed all the way up to the 1,795 meter (5,900 feet) rocky peak. Like many peak ascents, it was full of false hope, where we kept thinking we must be nearly there only to turn the corner and see yet another ridgeline in front of us.
But we finally made it and had a victory twix bar in the shelter of a small circle of rocks, about 3 feet high, that perfectly protected us from the strong winds.
Then it was back down to our hut to find new friends had arrived for our second night.
We woke up the second morning to sun yet again and set off, this time down the hill to Flora Hut, built in 1927. Fun to imagine what tramping would have been like almost 100 years ago!
We left our packs there and headed a few miles up a creekside dirt road to Gridiron Shelter and Hut, just to check out these structures built into large boulders creating a natural ceiling.
We both took advantage of a high tree swing to have a little fun before our walk out and back to the car.
Next time, we’ll have to bring the whole family! Here is the link to all of our photos.
