I awoke with the dawn breaking - just after 5ish - but lay in bed until 5.40 before getting up. Thank goodness I had slept in a long top otherwise I would have been nibbled all over by the carnivorous mosquitos and sand flies - the latter being more itchy and menacing!
It had rained overnight and was still showery but we were hopeful it would clear before we left.
We packed our bags and had breakfast - no butter so I had pain au chocolate - fruit bread I had wrapped around a piece of chocolate - the French would be proud of me! I also had a piece of banana cake and a cup of hot chocolate.....all good energy for the return trek. To ensure we were back at the landing by noon(at the latest) we had to leave around 7 ... we left at 7.15 - it was drizzly and then the heavens opened warranting a stop for over trousers. After a hard burst it finally stopped about 15minutes later but I kept my trousers on until our first break - thereafter my trousers still got wet due to the water on the vegetation but it was more comfortable without the over trousers. Because it was wet I kept my camera in the pack so missed photos of really close up views of the fern bird who came and sat on a bush right beside us. Similarly we had good sitings of robins, pipits and brown creepers. We made great progress and got back to the Freshwater landing at 11.15am....it was a great relief to take the backpack off for the last time - it took me until the last hour to find the most comfortable way to carry it - it's amazing what fiddling finds - even if a bit late! Luckily we only waited a few minutes before Steve appeared, with the boat, - great timing as it had just started to rain again and it persisted all the way back to Oban and continued for much if the afternoon. How lucky we were - most of our walk was rain free - unlike those who were setting off on their trek from Freshwater landing as we left - a couple had pristine white pumps - but not for long I suspect!
Back at the office we sorted out our belongings left the gear we had hired and called Sandra our host who collected us and took us back to the cottage where my first stop was the shower! It was only then that I realised the extent of the bites on my feet and ankles - and the itchiness - germolene, antihistamine and a local remedy were all used with variable impact to minimize the itch ( a memory of the hut and a reminder to all to take and use good insect repellent - we had listened too much to the briefing about the sensitivity of the kiwis to the smell of products - others wore repellent and were unperturbed so we should have taken ours! - a hard lesson to learn but we will be covered and smothered when we walk the Milford Track!)
At 5.30pm we went to see Furhana and paid for our kit hire - Phil was still there - his plane had been delayed - the weather had closed both Invercargill and Stewart island airports for a period - so we said our thanks to both and returned for a relaxing evening and supper - finally eating the can of baked beans we had bought at Wanaka - that will reduce the flight weight back to the mainland!!