Hump ridge track

We did our 1st proper 'tramp' (as they call them over here), when I say proper, you have to take all our own gear on our backs, food, clothes and all weather gear as well as camera etc though thankfully no tents involved! The walk we did was called the Hump Ridge Track, it's in the south of the South Island, on the edge of what's known as Fiordland and goes up to just under 1000m and then back down and along a section of the South Coastal path.

Day 1 was the up day, 19km of it (not all up thankfully) and was v tough in places, we went through native forest (which there isn't a lot of as loads of it has been logged and turned into grazing fields -see Akaroa for more on that-. The logging still continues in some areas though not as heavy as previously) pretty much all day til right at the end when we reached the bushline (height where trees don't grow beyond, about 900m in this case) where we had a fantastic view for 5 minutes when irritatingly the cloud came in, we were disappointed to say the least after 8 hrs of walking. For the last bitwe were shepherding a German girl called Lena who had chosen jeans to walk in, not a great idea on a damp and muddy track as she discovered to her cost. Re the forest you wouldn't believe the variety of ferns they have out in this region and down the west coast as well as dotted down the east, they've got loads and ferns that are trees too, it's because it's temperate (ie not boiling hot) rain forest, it really is amazing, got more pics of it than I know what to do with!

Day 2 was another 19 km back down to the coast after seeing the lovely views from the walk around the circuit just above the hut we stayed in as the cloud had thankfully lifted in the morning, this was via more forest...it was a day known as 'the knee buster' to the staff on the walk as there's loads of boardwalk down to protect the fragile environment and it's pretty much all down hill to the coast, after which you walk along old tram lines that used to be used for the logging, that was really hard going on the feet, Claire really didn't enjoy that part and neither did I especially. The day ended on the beach by the hut watching a couple of rare Hectors dolphins fins popping out of the water as if they were on a Sunday drive, very relaxing.

Both nights we stayed in what are known as huts, from what I've heard the huts we stayed in were at the plush end of the scale. The huts on this walk were not a lot more complicated than kitchen/lounge/dining room combined with bunks to sleep in, neither of us really got much decent sleep unaccustomed as we are to sleeping with other smelly snoring human beings but we survived though tempers were fraught on more than one occasion. Other huts might be just a shed with bunks and a fireplace and that's it!

We ended the walk on day 3 walking through more forest close to the coast and for the final 10km or so on the beach, it would have been a much nicer walk if it wasn't for the drizzle that set in in the afternoon but it was still pleasant if slightly longer than you might like after a total of 38 kms the previous 2 days, we saw lots of locals fishing for shell fish and white bait and a traffic jam of epic proportions by south coast standards, at least 4 4x4s doing their best to avoid getting stuck in a river of mud coming one way and a couple of Maori guys in a 4x4 going the other way on their way to shoot some hog. By the end of day 3 we were very very glad to see the van and went to scoff some lovely bites at a great cafe straight out of the Victorian era run by a lovely lady from the same time in Tuatapere the nearest town to the walk, safe to say it tasted damn fine, mind you the socks I walked in probably would've tasted pretty good too!