Day 1
Our group gathered at the Railway Station at 2.30pm and, along with Jane’s group, jumped in the club van to catch a 4pm ferry to Picton. The sailing was smooth and pleasant. We drove south from Picton, with lovely views of valleys as the sun set, until we arrived at the Kaikoura Top 10 – a very comfortable place to spend the evening.
Day 2
Megan dropped us off at the road end and we were walking by 8.30am. The climb quickly became steep, and the heat of the day quickly arrived. There was a nice lookout about an hour up the track, where we saw several people had camped out to see a glorious sunrise. The 4WD track to Mt Fyffe Hut was straightforward and afforded increasingly nice views looking towards both the Coast and inland, including down into the Kowhai River.
We arrived at Mt Fyffe Hut on schedule, just after 11am, and had a break before continuing up an increasingly narrow 4WD track to the summit. The going continued to get hotter, and three of our group (Josh, Hannah and Sally) decided it would be prudent to not go beyond the summit. The view from the summit was worth the climb though, and after a brief break and a group photo, Sara and Daniel headed off along the ridge.
Even though the 4WD track had ended, the going was surprisingly good, with a wide, largely flat track. We were surprised it only took an hour to get to Gables End, navigating a steep descent across a scree ridge and chatting to a solo tramper heading the other direction on the way. From Gables End, the track descends steeply, and we found ourselves effectively surfing down scree, pleased with our decision to bring poles. We estimated the gradient was in excess of 35 degrees and were sympathetic when we saw two trampers on the lower slopes slowly making their way up (whom the other group would lend a tent to later that night).
From Kowhai Saddle we headed right. It was estimated to take two hours to get to Hapuku Hut, but we made it in 1.5 hours. We navigated another descent on scree, then found a trickle that turned into the upper section of the river (so nice to be able to drink the fresh water and dowse our hats) and located a steady path through the bush to avoid river travel.
Hapuku Hut was very tidy and we had a pleasant evening reading, and having an easy dehy dinner as the hut cooled down, before heading to bed.
Day 3
We began walking shortly after 8am, navigating next to the river for a short distance, before climbing into the river and finding shallow spots to cross. We had read that it could take either 3 or 4 hrs to walk out from the hut, so were pleased to see a sign saying 2 hrs to go once we had climbed out of the river.
The sidle track was easy going until we came across a slip and needed to take an alternate track which climbed steeply. But fortunately we didn’t need to descend as steeply. We estimated this detour would have added 20 or 30 mins onto our walking time. Before we knew it, however, we dropped out into the wide river bed, and enjoyed the sight of different layers of rock, a waterfall in the distance and the overall sense of walking through a desolate landscape.
We made faster time on this small scree, but stopped often to take photos and to take in the view. Despite a small amount of rain falling, the river level had not risen much, and the river crossings were straightforward. We followed the orange DoC triangles to get out of the river and dutifully waited at the Grange and Parsons Roads intersection until the other group arrived to collect us.
A lovely lunch in Kaikoura, with very generous portions, preceded a mandatory visit to Nin’s Bin before we arrived back in Picton with plenty of time to spare. We benefitted from this, as our ferry left 30 mins ahead of schedule. Another smooth sailing got us back to Wellington by approx 10pm, with all of us having enjoyed a lovely weekend in the South Island.
Trip statistics
Day 1 – Mt Fyffe carpark to Hapuku Hut – 17.16 km, 9 hrs 17 mins elapsed time, 5 hrs 53 mins moving time, 1,501 m ascent, 1,186 m descent
Day 2 – Hapuku Hut to corner of Grange and Parsons Roads – 9.46 km, 3 hrs 24 mins elapsed time, 2 hrs 53 mins moving time, 109 m ascent, 603 m descent