Sunday 19 March: Weather 10°C to 15°C cool and a bit overcast
Perry Saddle Hut to Saxon Hut: 17.5k walk
Accommodation: Perry Saddle Hut
Early morning start Collingwood
Highlight of the day was the incredibly well graded 17.5k track up such a gradual gradient it didn’t feel like an ascent of 800 metres.
Up at 7am, pack, shower, breakfast on the patio with the same magnificent view then a walk down to the village to await the 9.45am bus. It’s cold and the warmest place is in the museum where the cabinets lights provide a bit of heating. The bus arrives with a collection of trampers and 30 minutes later we’re at the car park at the start of the Heathy track. We meet a family who had also stayed at Herron’s Rest - in the cottage below us. They were dropping off their son Stefan with a back pack full of untested camping gear.
Start of Heathy Track
Occasional Views
Short coffee stop - with sandflies
Short lunch stop - more sandflies
Views over mountains - no snow
Perry Saddle
Setting out at 10.30am we’re soon at Brown’s hut then instead of steep climb up to Perry’s Saddle, we’re amazed that the gradient is so slight - about 1:200 metres - not like the 1:10 metres we’re used to in the French Alps. It’s a beautiful walk through dry forrest and at 12pm we stop for a coffee on a bench seat with a view - Anika, a tramper on the same bus, is there and we chat for a while - she is on a mission to see as much of New Zealand as she can in the shortest possible time and is doing the Heaphy track in 3 days, not 5.
On again, slowly up to the Arere Shelter where there’s a gathering of people - some going up, some coming down. A cup of tea with raisin bread is lunch, but we don’ stop for long - there’s the dreaded sandflies. Just another 5k and we’re at Perry Saddle Hut at 4pm. We’re the first to arrive and in 1 minute have selected the best bunks - low down and away from doorways is good. I’ve checked out the washroom - there’s no showers in DOC huts - and at Perry Saddle there’s not even a wash room so we improvise with hot water in our wash basin up behind the rangers hut. Dinner of onion, tomato, dried mince with wine carried in our coke bottles. Early to bed - there’s not much to do when the lights go out about 9pm.