By Kate Morris, 13 May 2023
As of March 2023, Kate and Daniel had never visited Kime hut (because of reasons BEYOND their control, therefore NOT a skills issue, thank you very much). Countless attempts had been thwarted by gale-force forecasts, flatmates with COVID, more gale-force forecasts, etc.
They decided to make one final attempt to reach the-hut-that-shall-not-be-named on the second weekend in May. If they didn’t succeed this time - they would never try again. It was make or break. Glory or defeat. Everything was on the line.
9-11 May: Four trip members pike. Fifteen trampers turns to eleven.
13 May, 08:55: Chris hobbles into the Hunter carpark and immediately declares that he doesn’t think he can come. “It’s my knee”, he says. I look at his left knee. It is twice the normal size. We leave him in Wellington to have a restful weekend.
11:20: Twenty minutes up the hill, Alex stops. His knees are hurting, and he can’t go on (I hear that kind of thing happens when you’re over 22). He walks back to the car with Jackson. The party is down to eight.
12:07: Angelique, looking at her camera screen instead of the track, trips on a root and twists her ankle. She valiantly keeps walking, limping slightly.
13:32: Gijs is getting cold. Accustomed to the tropical Netherlands, he’s wearing just a cotton shirt and a thin hoodie. I suggest that it might be best if he stays at Field hut for the night instead.
13:54: We reach Field hut and stop for lunch. Isaac goes poking around the dark corners of the bunks, and has a nasty encounter with the infamous Field Hut Rat. He has scratches down his face and is frothing at the mouth slightly. We leave him at Field with Gijs.
14:29: Just out of the bushline, the wind picks up. Vic leans off the track to look at a particularly large vegetable sheep (google it) and topples down a small cliff. We activate the PLB. Some nice people in a helicopter collect her and Angelique from Table Top. Down to four.
15:44: Low cloud begins to roll in. Tommy says he knows a shortcut, via Penn Creek. He strides off into the mist. We never see him again.
17:16: The winds are near gale force, the visibility is down to zero. I hear a scream, and turn around to find Anthony gone. He tripped and fell down a waterfall. Or at least that’s what Daniel tells me. I didn’t see it happen.
17:33: As darkness blankets the southern Tararua Ranges, Daniel and I collapse at the door of Kime Hut. We made it. The fog lifts. We can see the lights of Wellington twinkling in the distance.
P.S. just kidding… mostly.