Today – 20km from Red Hills Hut to St Arnaud

Total- 1935km

Today was the day we got pies! From the hut there was a tempting short route that went down an hour and a half to the road, then into St Arnaud.

The TA however, took a 4 hr route on a Mountain bike track then 8km into town. We left the hut and did a nice little climb , the first of three that morning. Comparitively, compared to the monster of the day previously, this was easy tramping.

The track was nicely graded and shaded, and had some great flat rolling sections.

There were even switchbacks ! The topic of conversation switched between food and food continuously.

The morning was pretty hot, there was a lot of sweating going on.

Iben and I powered up the last climb and joined the boys for a snack before beginning the next 5km on a gravel 4WD track to the main road.

The next 8km were classic road shoulder walking, one of the few sections in the South Island.

But we were on our way to town! Once we got there it was pies and cold drinks and wedges all around.

I said goodbye to the team and went down to the lake for a chill arvo of relaxing and swimming as I waited for Tom who was coming to pick me up.

The Richmond Ranges were an incredible section, probably my favourite so far and challenging, demanding tramping which we were blessed to have great weather for. The heat was intense!

Off to the West Coast for a few days to celebrate Tom’s birthday and get some rest.