Tuesday 24th March: Morning Cloudy and cold, Afternoon Sunny and Cool 8°C to 10°C.
Routeburn Falls Hut to McKenzie Hut:11.3K: 10.00am to 3.30pm: 5hrs 30 mins
Accommodation: McKenzie Hut
Looking forward to Harris Saddle
Shelter at Harris Saddle
Misty open heath country
Looking down on Mackenzie Hut
Steep descent to Mackenzie Hut
Gotta carry out the rubbish
Bunk House Lake Mackenzie
Our splash dash "bath"
When we awake at 8.30am to the noise of rustling bags, it's still quite dark - an cold. Breakfast is a few nuts, half an apple and Ian has left over meusli and yoghurt. After packing in the dark, we're back in the dining room for a cup of hot coffee before we leave at 10am.
10 minutes up the hill towards Harris Saddle, and we have to put rain coats on. Ranger John ws right about yesterday being a great day. It's misty drizzly rain. A steady climb and in 2hrs, we reach Harris saddle (1227m) where there's an enclosed shelter already full of hikers trying to get warm. We're wishing for our Jet Boil right now. A few cashews later and we're off across undulating open heathy covered countryside. It's 9°C and very cold and windy. Finally we round the corner and looking down can see McKenzie Hut a long way down in the valley below.
It's a slippery descent through moss covered forrest, straight out of Lord of the Rings. It's eerily mossy with lichen covered dead looking trees. It takes 2 hrs to descend on a wet slippery track, but at 3.30pm we reach Mackenzie Hut and go directly to the Bunk House, grab two bunks, low down and side by side. We've learned this is the first thing to do. Then over to the dining room for a cup of tea and to heat some warm water for our doggie splash. The Toilet rooms all have flush toilets, thank goodness, but the floor is freezing so we need to have a super quick splash and change into clean dry clothes.
Back in the kitchen, we get the pot of boiling water going with our pea and ham soup. It's still 10°C outside and drizzling. We sit and chat for few hours to couple of Kiwi's before heating up our mixed pouri pot of vegetables with our diced sausage, and washed down with the last of our Pinot Noir.
Ranger Michael appears at 8pm and gives us a very interesting 1hr talk on the decline of birdlife in New Zealand in the past 1,000 years with the introduction of ground mammals. Previous to the ships and rats arriving, teh only mammals were a small flying bat, so the whole place was teaming with birds. Now with Rats, stoats and possums, the number of birds have been drastically reduced. And now everyone is on a mission to set traps for the rats and stoats in particular, to increase bird numbers. This has been slightly successful in the past 3 or so years.
Then off to bed and it's still cold so I drag out a packet of Japanese hand warmer sachets, rub them around, and place one packet inside one of my socks. It's like going to bed with a hot water bottle and I stay warm the whole night. Snorers were invited to sleep on the kitchen floor.