The Hump Ridge Track

Hi!

We did another tramp in the bush! Translation: We did another multi-day walk in the forest/wilderness. It was lovely. This time we went south of Tuatapere to the Hump Ridge Track. I would highly recommend it. It was a 3 day, 2 night track and we saw everything from mountains to sea. The first day was the toughest, we climbed from sea level to 915 m elevation, and most of it was in the second half of the day. However, the views made it completely worth it.

Part of the track was on the beach

Jared up close and personal with a fantail

Drinking straight from the stream

Stoat caught in a trap

We got a good shot 1 hr from the hut, but by the time we made it to the hut the clouds had rolled in and we couldn’t do the alpine loop track. We crossed our fingers we would be able to the next morning. 

That night we met a bunch of fellow trampers on the hike. One of the couples was from Canada, so it was good to talk about stuff from back home.

Where we stayed the first night

We got lucky and had a clear morning. We hiked up to the loop track and got some great shots. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for both of us.

We had some good views throughout day 2 as we descended through the bush. Here we are at Luncheon Rock.

There are three old wooden viaducts along the trail that were used back in the sawmilling days to carry logs over the ravines. The hut manager told us they were the only ones still standing in the Southern Hemisphere if not the world.

Jared walking the trail where the road had been cut for a sawmilling road. The forest is starting to reclaim it

That night we stayed at the Port Craig Hut. The very cool part about it is that it is right on the beach and there is a resident pod of Hector’s dolphins there. We braved the sand flies and headed down for a closer look. I am so glad we did because we could see all of their fins coming out of the water. So we decided to go in and try to swim with them! I was in first and a dolphin came right up to me! I was so over-stimulated; I didn’t know what to do. It circled around me and then swam off. Jared was right behind me, but we didn’t see another one for about 20 minutes. I am glad we were stubborn and waited around (in the rather cold water) for them to come back. They swam around us and one even swam underneath Jared! They left and came back again, always swimming up to us, checking us out and then swimming off. They didn’t seem too bothered by our presence and were actually pretty curious. It was such a cool experience. I apologize for the fact we don’t have any pictures so you will just have to take our word for it.

The third and last day we walked out with the Canadian couple we had met. The walk was quite easy in comparison to the first day, only a few climbs. We walked on the beach for part of it which was also nice. We were pretty happy to be done by the end of the day; the entire walk was 52 km in total. I think we are good for walks for a little while!

Until next time!

Reminds me of the Burmis tree at home