24/1/22, Day 5, 16km, Total 81km
Elevation Gain: 846, Loss: 650m
A wonderful day and so nice to have some sun.
Once again I left at 8.30am but today I decided to do things differently. Instead of just ploughing through to the next Hut in the shortest possible time I decided I would spend all the 7 hours claimed on the DOC signs that it should take. It would normally take me 5 hours. So today I spent 30 – 40 minutes just sitting quietly in the bush counting birds. That was great. Then when I got to Waituna Bay with a nice sandy beach the sun came out for the first time in 5 days. So I spent an hour sunbathing. It was great. The cool breeze put me off swimming although I was tempted.
About 90 minutes from the beach and 7.5 hours from the last Hut I arrived at the Big Hellfire Hut. It is high on a ridge overlooking the inland flats and lakes of Stewart Island.
Today I had my first sighting of a wild Kiwi. I must have startled it as I walked along as it dashed across the track and into some ferns. It then looked at me for half a minute then disappeared. No photos unfortunately. I also saw a rat running around while I was at the beach.
Again I have this huge hut (that sleeps 12) to myself. Where is everybody?
