No Fixed Abode: Appraisals

Sat 06 Feb 2016 - Arthur‘s Pass - Bealey Spur

Just as we retired to bed last night we heard a strange dang, dang, dang sound then realised we’d crossed a railway the other side of the river to our campsite and the noise was the crossing lights. A few moments later a long freight trundled slowly past with engines revving madly. During the night a further three trains past each with the clanging of the crossing lights.

We woke sleepily to find all the mountains in very low cloud, which was a bit of a dampener as we’d planned to do a summit walk. Deciding instead to have a bit of a grockle day we dallied over breakfast watching and endless flow of kayakers being dropped at the river bank beside us, fiddle about for a while getting their kit ready (some much longer than others) then paddle off down the fast flowing river. Next week is the famous coast to coast race from Greymouth in the west to Christchurch in the east. Competitors have to run, cycle, run, kayak and cycle the 243km in one day and we’d seen a sign last night stating the place we stayed was for the kayak section so we assumed these kayakers were checking out the river in preparation.

They kept us entertained for a good while and by the time we were ready to leave the sun was burning the clouds away revealing a clear blue sky behind. We decided to do a short walk, 6km 2.5hr according to the booklet, up the Bealey Spur trail to Bealey’s hut so we drove the short distance to the car park, packed a few things in a small rucsac and set off in our t shirts and shorts.

The first km or so was through the forest, which kept the sun off us, but the steady incline and a good pace worked us into a sweat. Eventually we came to some cliffs over a steep sided valley with fines views of the surrounding mountains and the river a looong way below. More climbing brought us out of the forest and onto a small plateau with amazing views of the main valley we started from and mountains all around - some still with snow capped summits.

We tarried a while admiring the views then plunged back into the forest. By now we’d been walking for 1.5 hrs, eaten our cereal bars, our only source of food, and still not reached the summit. Were these more of the famous kiwi miles we thought. After another 20 mins we eventually reached the hut - a small green corrugated metal shack with not much else to see. Four Kiwis were already there eating their lunch and chatting about the mountains. During the conversation one young woman suddenly remarked that she’d just remembered she had her performance review next week. Glenn turned incredulously and enquired what had brought that into her mind in here. She then became sheepish as she was further mocked by her companions. After a while they discussed the route down and speculated it would take 2hrs or so. It was then we realised the timings in the guide booklet were one way! Oops. Nothing else to eat and only a fraction of our 1.5 litres of water left!

With hungry tummies we set off back down sipping cautiously at the water in the, now, bright sunshine. At the viewpoint plateau we sat for a good while resting and gazing at the fantastic countryside before setting off for the last trek through the trees. Arriving back at the van at 1530 we immediately set about murdering our lunch with the van doors flung open so we could see the mountains.

Much nourished we cruised back into the village and just caught the visitor centre and shop before they closed at 1700. We now had a favourable forecast for tomorrow’s walk and milk and meat for the day after. With the necessities out of the way we crossed back over the pass to take some photos of yesterday's journey that the weather had prevented then tested out a couple of overnight sites before settling on Klondike - a little further from the railway line than last night!