Being awakened by Kea’s banging their beaks against the window was an entirely novel experience and not a wholly unpleasant one. I think Kea’s should be renamed to Cheeky Troubles or something of the sort. You wouldn’t believe the things they get up to and manage to destroy with just their beaks. Last night, they’d managed to chip their way through a hard thick plastic water container! Anyway, this morning, if nothing else, they at least got us up in time.
This morning’s regimen was pretty much the same as yesterday’s: get dressed, have breakfast, pack pack and off by about 8 o’clock.
The descriptions provided in the various books and brochures of today’s trek do not do any justice whatsoever to the actual route. The first hour’s walk (for us at least) was entirely uphill towards Arthur’s Pass where we were greeted by yet more naughty Kea’s. Once across the pass, we were expecting some nasty downhill sections as the ranger at Mintaro Hut had warned us to pay special attention on the descend during his talk the previous night. However, as it turned out, we had nothing to worry about, especially if compared to some of the hikes we’d done in Switzerland and Italy. The thing that made it hard was the length of the descend: >1 km.
A beautiful walk on yet another glorious day with a stunning side trip to Sutherland Falls, which we had almost resigned ourselves to not being able to do following the alarmist descriptions the night before of today’s hike.
As there was no point in reaching the Dumpling Hut early, a (bunk) bed would be there for us anyway, we took our time making numerous stops to photograph and video local birdlife and reached the hut by 15:30 hrs. A quick cursory wash of the extremities and a cup of tea saw us in good stead for the evenings’ entertainment: food and a sip of whisky, followed by bed at 21:30 hrs.
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