Richmond Ranges

“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

Sir Edmund Hillary

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How to describe a week of WOW.

Best part of the TA. So far…

We started from Havelock with excitement, anticipation and a hot coffee for N.D and chocolate thickshake for me (one of us needs a little more sugar in the mornings 😛 ). Making our way to Perlous Bridge we had the first of our bounce boxes eagerly awaiting us. Having pre-packed these months ago with food and other goodies for the more remote parts of our South Island adventure, neither of us could remember exactly what the contents were and on opening the box wondered how we were going to fit it all into our bags.

The Richmond Ranges is renowned for being a tough section of the trail but all worth it when you experience the extraordinary scenery. And boy did the views deliver!

We started the next section along the Pelorus River Track which encompasses 44 kilometres of trail from the river cafe through to Hackett Hut where the official start of the Te Araroa Richmond Ranges Trail begins and continues for 94 more kilometres to SH63 and then St Arnaud.

The third day we crossed from the Pelorus River section to the Richmond Ranges; but not without traversing multiple slips, fallen trees, high river detours, Browning Hut and Hackett Hut first. While on this track we caught glimpses of Nelson city below and waved to Jeni and Gary who would be our delightful ‘trail angels’ at the end of the week. From Hackett to Starveall Hut we crossed Hackett and Weka Creek multiple times, each time hoping it was the last as we would ‘submarine’ our shoes, adopt a wide stance, unclip the bag straps and waddle across. Fortunately the river wasn’t too forceful and we safely navigated across 9-10 crossings, ranging from mid-thigh to waist deep. Little did we know it’s normally only ankle deep this time of year. On making it to the hut we sadly had no view but did get reception which N.D took full advantage of to watch Israel destroy Whittaker while I enjoyed one of my favourite dinners on trail… potatoe and gravy 😛

That afternoon after some scree and rock scrambling, a lot of sweat, a bottle of sugared water and many muesli bars N.D and myself summited Big and Lil Rintoul mountains. At 1643 metres tall Little Rintoul was the first achievement which then involved a very steep descent to only climb further up to Mt Rintoul at 1731 metres tall. The views were spectacular 🙂 . The entire Richmond Ranges could be seen, the sky was bluebird clear, the wind had settled and we basked in the achievement of climbing these big maunga and what we were being rewarded with as a result!

Day five started similarly to our previous mornings with an early ascent, this time of Mt Purple Top followed by a steep, steep descent en route to lunch, but not before stopping for second breakfast and elevensies. This was becoming quite the trail trotting and snacking routine in the Richmonds; morning climb, lunch descent and you guessed it, afternoon river crossings. All with two hourly, sometimes hourly if I could convince N.D muesli bar stops and go go juice sips. This day did not falter from the routine. After a lunch stop at Mid Wairoa Hut where N.D took a quick dip in the river (little did he know he would be swimming in it later rescuing my pole) we began our river crossing afternoon up to Top Wairoa Hut.

Sadly what started out as a great morning turned into a horrible day for myself for a few reasons. The trail up to Top Wairoa Hut was more technical than the previous with cliff edge traversing, multiple river crossings, narrow step holds, some rock climbing, navigating around a lot of fallen trees and slippery rocks making it a slower trot and requiring more concentration. Despite my best efforts I managed to slip and fall in the stream while crossing and let go of my left trotting pole. Helplessly I watched on as it quickly floated down stream joining the much larger Wairoa River thought to be lost forever. Very fortunately N.D hadn’t given up as soon as I and charged past me, stripping off to his undies and diving into the river eventually saving my pole! While I was chuffed to have my pole back and relieved I hadn’t seriously hurt myself, the slip into the stream did shake my confidence and I proceeded to find the rest of the trail quite intimidating and started to slip down mud banks or trip over tree branches more and more frequently. When I asked how N.D was feeling he exclaimed that this was his favourite track to date because of the terrain variation and technical aspect. To make matters worse while in my mood slump and with track hesitation I managed to get stung by a wasp. 😦

It was during this moment that I realised I could let this afternoon trot ruin the rest of my day or accept the fact that yes this is challenging and scary at times but that’s part of the Te Araroa trail! I want to broaden my hiking experience and gain new skills, there’s no harm in being scared of something you don’t know and by the end of this I should feel more confident at it. In the mean time I can take the track slower, I have N.D here as reassurance and without being on this track I wouldn’t see these amazing views 🙂 oh and N.D also got stung again by a wasp and is still smiling so I can at least try have a good time!

Upon making it to St Arnaud we were very happy to have completed the Richmond Ranges, chuffed at the views and trail we trotted, pleased at our decision to walk bigger distances and less days so we could eat more food and over the moon when we saw Gary and Jeni arrive to whisk us away to Nelson for a rest day! Thank you so much Gary and Jeni :).