Rain – lots of it. Last night on the ride here, all night and all morning. Plus grey skies and 300m visibility. We would not get our gear packed up remotely dry. The ride was also dodgy, the silt on the gravel roads becomes slick as soap.

Rocinante and our tent

So, a decision was made. Stick it out for one day, or at least until a pause in the rain gives us a chance to pack. And then, all went out again, when the DOC warden took pity on us and offered us a hut for a great price (budget is an issue for us now, especially in the “western world”). The hut was amazing! Warm, dry and enough space to spread our gear out to dry.

Te whenua also took pity and shooed the clouds away around 11am. It is hard to overstate what a difference the weather makes when one is so exposed to it all day. What set out to be a dreary and cold stake out between wet tent and cold public kitchen turned into a warm, sun-drenched dream.

The weather turned out to be so good in fact that we took off for 3 hours hiking the tracks around Waikaremoana Holiday Park. We explored some of the coolest waterfalls and had great vistas of the lake and surrounding mountainside.