Mount Somers conclusion

Our last day of hiking on Mount Somers started early as the other groups in the hut wanted to be on the trail by 8. Four teenagers do not move quietly at 7 am but it worked well for us, they were a very effective alarm clock!

It was another beautiful day, we could not see the sunrise but we watched the light on the mountains change from deep pink to light peach and finally a clear deep blue, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We made it onto the track around 10am, a little slower than we had hoped but we had spent an extra hour talking politics with a Kiwi hiker who was enjoying a lazy morning on the veranda.

The track was mostly uphill for the first 5 hours. It was much easier to head up hill on day three, the views just got better and better. Most of the day was spent just below the alpine walking into and out of creek beds, skirting scree slopes and staring down sheer cliff edges with nothing but a few intrepid cacti between us and the bottom. However, in the heat of the afternoon the last big push up hill seemed to last forever - we marched upwards through dry pine forests filled with small birds and strange fungus for about an hour. New Zealanders do not believe in switchbacks. I think the birds were mocking me as they flitted from branch to branch just ahead of my slogging pace. Eventually I made it to the top and flopped down next to Iain, sure I would never make it up another hill again. Of course, after crackers and peanut butter and a LOT of water we were both ready to tackle the last part of the hike and I felt very silly for my drama!

The afternoon saw us finally heading downhill. I have no idea what elevation we had gained in the previous two days of hiking but the last few hours were spent creeping down a goat track that followed one narrow ridge all the way to the valley floor. We had finished off our water with lunch and had hoped to find more as we crossed creeks later in the day. Unfortunately, the trail kept us on the highest point of the ridge, and while we could hear the water crashing in the valley below us we didn't find any until we reached the car park at 5:30pm.

We were stunned when we stumbled into the car park, one minute we were hiking through the pines and ferns and the next we could see the backside of our wonderful van. We damn near ran the last few meters scrabbling around in the packs for our keys so we could chug some much deserved water. We caught our breath and congratulated each other on making good time then headed towards the river we crossed on our first day for a very, very cold bird bath. It felt amazing to scrub off the salty sweat and dust but the sand flies had us running back to the van soon enough. After a few minutes of reorganizing, we hit the road.

We decided we'd done very well considering the lack of physical activity we'd had in the previous 4 or 5 months and so we deserved a hotel room and a big dinner. We found a funky old bar hotel in a small town on the way to Dunnedin and an even funkier Irish cafe/pub. The lamb, steak and heaps of potatoes were heaven, and we enjoyed watching part of the Olympics while sipping cold beer/cider. It was a wonderful way to end our first hiking trip in New Zealand.