Day 74: Emerald Water

December 23, 2019

Kilometers: 1803.5-1830.5

Pelorus Bridge Campsite to Middy Creek Hut 

With our early bedtime last night I ended up getting about 10 hours of sleep. I never sleep that much but even with the huge sleep I was still a bit tired this morning. My nomad posse packed up our belongings and headed back up to the cafe for breakfast. I had an egg and bacon pie and  an apple strudel. We asked the woman at the cafe what the weather forecast was looking like for the next week in the mountains. It hadn’t changed, it looked good except for some rain on Christmas Day. I’d rather get coal than have it rain.

The morning consisted of 14kms road walking. It started on sealed road but quickly turned to gravel. Once again, it wasn’t very exciting except for when the road was close to the Pelorus River. We crushed the road walk, averaging about 6kph. 

We finished the road walking section around 11am and took a snack break. We didn’t stay for long as the sandflies were quite bad. 

We then started the Pelorus River Track. The first 3kms were an easy track running next to the river. The water color was clear but also had a very unique greenish blue color that was beautiful. We got to a spot called emerald pools and decided to stop for a swim and lunch. The water was cold but refreshing. 

While we were swimming Lizzie and Ada caught up with us. After we all ate lunch we were back on the trail. It started with a 200 meter climb to a ridge running alongside the river. This section of the trail contained many suspension bridges, each varying in length and sketchiness. We also passed by Captains Creek Hut and signed the intentions book, which is done so search and rescue can narrow their search looking for you in the case of an emergency. 

We made it to Middy Creek Hut around 4pm. The sandflies were bad here as well but the hut provided some relief. I took a bath in the river and was able to see the first suspension bridge we will cross tomorrow.

I made couscous and gravy for dinner. If you can believe it I am starting to get tired of all these repeated dinners. I had some chocolate for desert. We all brought way too much chocolate because of Christmas and are struggling to eat it all. People are trying to pawn it off on each other at this point so they don’t have to carry it. 

We are all going to bed early because we have a huge day tomorrow. We have two huge climbs, one to start the day and one to end it.