Last night at the D'Urville hut

We kind of knew we'd have a narrow window of reasonable weather today.

We knew we needed to be heading down valley as soon as could see. It didn't rain overnight but as day broke I could see clouds were gathering again. Bugger.

After a couple of hours light rain began. We continued on making good time but eventually we were forced to stop and put jackets on. As we took a break at Morgan hut it started to pour.

We headed off again, heads down with only one thing on our minds - to get through to D'Urville hut (opposite the Sabine hut on the other side of Lake Rotoiti where we'd been back on Tuesday night).

We thought it could take us 8 - 9 hours but we did it in about 7.25. The lower part of the valley was wet, very wet. Fortunately the rain eased and we crossed side streams that could have caused us problems with ease. 40 minutes from the hut it poured and we arrived at the hut like little drowned rats.

Three hunters/fishermen and a young son/grandson were in residence. They welcomed us in, shared their warm fire and shifted gear so we all had a bunk.

After food and hot drink or two, I pushed through wet bush to a small point where a stream fed into the lake with a nice drop off from shallow to deep. There I chased trout while sandflies chased me. I was successful but released my catch back to the lake.

Tired and still grinning I drifted off to sleep to the sound of hunters clearing up their dinner. 

Our last night and we've certainly had an adventure.