Pelion Hut to Kia Ora Hut – 8.6 km

Nothing dried. *Sigh*

Note to self: Next time bring more socks.

The guide book proclaims this as ‘Mountain day!’ Mountains means climbing, and that’s what we did pretty much from the get go as we started the long ascent to Pelion gap. The guidebook calls the climb ‘steady’. Given what they call ‘gradual’ I was half expecting that we would need to break out the climbing gear.

I honestly cannot recall much of the climb, so it can’t have been that bad. Or maybe it was so traumatising that I simply blanked out the memory? Or it might have been the views at Pelion gap that drove all thoughts on the climb out of my head. It was probably this, the weather was brilliant and the views, well, they were pretty damn spectacular.

This is where lots of folks take the side trail to Mt. Ossa or Mt. Pelion East. Next time gadget, next time.

We started the ‘gradual’ descent down towards Kia Ora hut. This stands out more in my memory than the climb as my legs were living up to my trail name. My knees protested all the way down.

Note to self: Next time bring more fitness

Penny managed to fall off the duckboard right before the hut and sliced her knee pretty good. Again, she was pretty nonchalant about it, but it was a pretty damn good cut. After cleaning it up and applying one of the bigger band aids I had brought along, I suggested ‘Band Aids’ as her trail name, since she was covered in them. She wasn’t too keen on that. “Ok, how about Slice’n’Dice?” Her grin said it all.

Kia Ora hut is “quite nice, quite nice” as well. Not as big as Pelion hut, but it was very happily situated on another button grass moor. There was a river close by, and we went in search of a potential swimming hole. Unfortunately the river was only ankle deep and very fast flowing. so swimming was not really an option. The girls still dipped their feet in, complained about how cold it was and then preceded to stay in the river until I forced them out about half an hour later.

I am starting to worry about our food. We may just be a little short. Except for Clif bars, we have so many friggin’ Clif bars, why did I pack so many Clif bars? I did pack extra meals, but the girls are HUNGRY. I was eating some tuna in chipotle mayo. I could not pay the girls to try it back home, but here they begged to try it, declared it delicious, and then proceeded to eat the whole thing. Even Ellie, who is so goddamned picky at home. I got maybe a spoonful. I didn’t begrudge the girls nicking my lunch, god knows I have ample energy reserves *looks at gut*. But the fact they were so hungry was worrying. I thought back to the food we wasted on day one. Now there are no leftovers, not even a crumb.

There were plenty of ‘hut mates’ to chat to, which made for a really pleasant evening. Most folks we had met over the last few days, though we hadn’t exchanged names with most of them. It’s weird hiking thing, but doesn’t feel rude. We’re all just hikers now.

There were some pretty cool guys from the US, the Harry Potter trivia folks from the other day, two ladies soon to become medical doctors, a couple of older ladies who had walked many trails before, a Danish couple, a young couple who are attempting a thru hike of the PCT next year and were testing their gear out on the OT, Heath and Sarah who were on the same bus as us and started when we did and another couple who, it appeared, had brought a 350 g bar of dairy milk for every day they were here. I mean I assume it was a different bar each day, unless they just put the same bar out every evening just to mock hungry hikers.

Some folks played cards, others shared stories from the many trails they had walked before. I got a few laughs with my first night camping in Georgia story (DAKA-DAKA-DAKA Whoo!). When the light started to dim I looked for the kids to get them into bed. But they were waaay ahead of me. Both of them were tucked in bed and snoring the quiet snores of a rest well earned.