The mighty Jimny parked at the start of the Stour Track

Because this weekend I will hike to the Manuka Hut, stay there and then hike back the next day, it should be a 5 hour hike of just over 16 km

It was predicted to be sunny but there’s still a lot of cloud around here

Here = at the Hakatere Conservation Park

But so far at least the temperature is nice

Some more sun coming through

Lovely landscape, nice to be walking here

Looking back

I wasn’t expecting river crossings, that’s a nasty surprise, I hate getting wet feet so I always take off my boots, cross the river on my bare feet (or Tevas), dry my feet and put on my boots again, slows things down but at least my feet stay dry, and warm

It’s very quiet here, I’m loving it

The Winterslow Range covered in snow

Another river (stream) that I just crossed, the water is rather cold, but that’s to be expected in early spring

Looking back, at Mt Somers

Arrowsmith Range in the distance

I took a little detour past Lake Emily

Mt Somers Range, I’m getting closer to Manuka Hut now

Looking back at where I came from

About 2 more km to the hut now

It should – literally – be right around the corner

And yes!

Water coming off the Mt Somers range, this will be my drinking/cooking water (after filtering)

Won’t be long before the sun is behind the mountain

So a quick selfie before it’s too late. I’m quite tired I must say, it turned out to be a 20 km hike because of my little detour past Lake Emily

The Manuka Hut

Sun’s down, moon’s up

Me trying to sit still for 10 seconds for a long exposure shot of the inside of the hut, I failed

The fireplace, not much wood, it’s a cold night, at least outside of my sleeping bag

This could only be better with a smoking chimney

The next morning! I had a good and loooong sleep

I’m on my way around 9 already, bye bye hut

Manuka Lake, Arrowsmith Range still covered in snow

This is the mountain bike track, the track I didn’t walk yesterday but do today, because it’s shorter and my legs hurt

Even more stream crossing though

Looking back again, Lake Emily is just on the other side of that hill in the foreground

Another selfie, so I know I was actually there to enjoy the scenery