From Camp spot 1km from Birchwood road to Top Timaru Hut
Hiking time: 09:00a.m.-05:00p.m.
Daily/Total distance: 21.5km /826km (230.5 hitched/skipped, 84 biked)
Steps: 29854
Weather: cloudy in the morning, sunny and very windy during the day and light shower in the afternoon

This morning I got up at 8am. I set about packing my things and preparing my breakfast and lunch wraps.

At 9am I was off. Though the clouds ahead of me didn’t make me feel so good about the days plans. They were very very dark and foreboding. I really didn’t want to get another soaking like I did on Stag Saddle.

I ventured on anyways. A NOBO I met told me she only had some short light rain coming here so I should be fine. This made me feel a bit better about the upcoming section. She also told me, that there was a hut up ahead, that was not mentioned in the Trail Notes. If I had known of that before I would have planned my previous day differently. Immediately after talking I had to cross the river for the first time. As my shoes were still damp from the previous day, and I had no clear way of getting across dry I just waded through it.

After about an hour of walking beside the river the river was crossed a final time and the track continued up a farm road, meaning a gravel road.

At this point the cloud had luckily list their dark and foreboding colouring and I looked more cheerful into the days adventure. As i was walking on a farm road, the ascent was more gradual, therefore also taking considerably longer.

Within another hour I reached Tin Hut, the hut that was not mentioned anywhere. It is a private hut, so everyone has to pay regardless of owning a hut pass or not. I was only planning to stay for lunch and to use the dunny. By this point the wind had picked up in speed and was slamming at times quite forcefully against the side of the hut. Upon reaching the toilet I saw that the door was broken off. So, dunny with a view without having to keep the door open while pooping. On tip of that, the dunny was quite full, with the like coming very close to the seat level of the toilet. It was fine for business though so I went ahead. Then I set off to continue the next ascent up to Mt Martha Saddle.

The trail continued on a formed track, steadily going uphill. The wind was also blowing quite strongly, and at tikes i was bracing myself on my poles to make sure I do not get blown over. I kept thinking if it gets too strong I just drop down and pretend I’m a boulder that doesn’t yield to the wind.

After 2.5h I finally reached the Saddle. It was continuing to be quite windy. I downloaded the latest weather forecast and then continued on down into the valley.

The trail went down a gravel path in a zig-zag fashion. Contrary to my experience on Stag Saddle, with no wind on one side and strong wind on the other, the wind continued to blow strongly, resulting in me stopping when a strong gust hit to brace myself before continuing on.

Down in the valley the Trail followed along the Timaru river. Wind was picking up and now some light rain was added to the mix as well.

I was quite glad to reach Top Timaru Hut. I was just starting to need to find a dunny. The door is broken though and doesn’t close. Another dunny with a view then. Then I continued down to the hut, which was a bit hidden from the trail while the dunny was visible from quite far away already.

I was glad to get inside. It had stopped raining, and my gear was mostly dry from the strong wind. But it is nevertheless good to be sheltered from the elements. I was alone in the hut and so made myself comfortable. I went down to the river to get my 4L of water to filter and then set about organising my things. Started to make dinner and then set down to read. I didn’t even notice that it had gotten dark. Planning to go about my nightly routine before bed, I was dismayed to see that I had lost my Pee rag. Granted, it was only a piece of bandana, but it was very useful. It must have gotten blown away by the wind. Now I have to use more of my scarce resources of toilet paper.

As I had downloaded the latest weather report for the next day, I knew that there was strong wind and rain in the forecast, especially from 3pm onwards. Soz looking at the next section I realised that I would have to be off by 7am to reach the next hut before the worst hits. With my alarm set to 6am I therefore went to sleep at 10:30pm.