Friday night had us hiking the 50 odd minutes required to get to the confluence of the Blackwater and Ohau streams. The campsites were brilliant. Some of us erected flys, the others relied on tree cover, mocking the weather gods.
The next day our boots hit the Blackwater at a lazy 8:30am, but we made acceptable time in the lower gorge section. The water level was low and the day was warm perfect for river travel.
By midday the river steepened and travel became a bit more involved with lots of boulder hopping and a bit of scrambling. The heat also intensified making the deep pools a relief to be sought out and not sidled. The pace of the party slowed markedly given the different levels of experience of river travel, but we soldiered on taking the various forks in the river aiming to exit between Waiopehu and Twin Peak and avoid the leather wood fence which rings the top of these two peaks.
We exited the stream at 5 pm, much later than I had planned (this trip is a favourite of mine and I’ve done it plenty of times over night and as a day trip). We therefore agreed to shorten the day and stay at Waiopehu hut, leaving Oriwa ridge for another time. The views from the top were excellent; we could see the southern crossing, the Dundas Ridge through to Crawford and the Carkeek Ridge. We loitered on the tops for a while before descending to the hut for brews and a hearty Italian meal.
We shared the hut with a friendly but very loud and drunk private party. We all retired early and the night passed peacefully until I sleepwalked off the top bunk; a two meter high bunk dive leaves you feeling like you’ve been horse kicked in the gut and flogged with a rubber truncheon. I moved to the lower bunk and spent the rest of the night cursing top bunks, aches and pains.
With overnight rain and my midnight bruising’s we decided to head out the fastest way. Leaving in the drizzle we made the road end in regulation time for a coffee in Levin before heading home.