And the rains came. And came, and never left. Today it rained in bursts, but what bursts there were.
Creeks became rivers, and rivers were FULL.
The Downs, that looked so desert like before, became surreal and muddy.
I, of course, am still adorable.
As is Sarah.
Okay, we're all pretty adorable.
The Shiner Brook, once so calm, is now a raging torrent. The cable bridges make a lot more sense now.
Waterfalls appeared where before you wouldn't know they should be there.
And Sarah is really good at spotting these snails, that despite their size are really good at blending in with the wet rocks and leaves.
So I'll admit it. Even though we didn't pay for it, we slept in the Perry Saddle Hut that night. The winds picked up as it turned to evening (at least 20mph sustained with gusts two to three times that, I think) and the rain turned to a constant downpour, when it wasn't blowing sideways.
Fortunately, there were extra bunks in the hut for us, and no ranger crazy enough to be up there to check if we had paid, so we got away with it.
Heat provided by coal, of all things.
The hut was a welcome respite. We filled our stomachs, dried out a bit, and prepared to hike the last 16 km in the morning. We were hoping to get to the trail head as early as possible, since we still needed to hitch out a dirt road, and then to Takaka. Otherwise we'd be hiking another 60km on top of our 150km on the Heaphy. We figured the earlier we got there, the more likely we'd catch someone with a car.
We set our alarms for 5AM, and went to bed.
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