Rakiura Track Day 2: Port William Hut to North Arm Campsite - 13.9km ↗️420m ↘️420m 🚶♀️🚶♀️
The hut was very warm and I managed to get some sleep in between the "I saw a kiwi" announcements as people went to the toilet through the night. The Hut Warden had dutifully warned us all about the famous mud sections of Rakiura, we also learnt a lot about DOC toilets, gravelling and kiwi. I digress... We set off back along the track to get to the junction to North Arm. As we left a big group of hikers had come off the boat for a day walk back to Lee Bay. This was the third time I'd seen this particular group and they all recognised me which was very funny. After 2km we were able to leave them behind and carry on. There was a lot of climbing and my legs and hips were quite sore. Katharina is very tall so one of her steps is like five of mine so it was hard to keep up. When we got to the historic log hauler a couple of hikers told us they'd just seen a kiwi on the track just ten minutes back and we sighed - we'd heard them rustling and calling but couldn't see them. The first few mud sections were not too bad and a lot of the time you could easily skirt around. After more steps the big groups from the hut started to pass us and then there was more climbing and mud before we stopped for a lunch break.
After this we got separated for a while as Katharina had continued to the tool shed for a break and I continued on the track thinking she was ahead. She ended up catching me a few kms later and we navigated more sections of mud. Through here there was an abundance of bird song as the sun light spread throughout the canopy and I saw lots of Tui, Korimako, Kereru and Miromiro through here. I heard something very unusual in one part and as I stopped on the track I spotted a Kakariki on a tree deep in the forest.
At North Arm we decided to go and check out the Hut. We were camping for the night as there were no hut bookings left, but there was a lovely view of the inlet from the beach near the Hut. After that we headed back up the stairs to the campsite and got set up for the night.
📷 Katharina on the (non muddy part) Rakiura Track to North Arm amongst the giant Rimu