Ending the week on a Wednesday afternoon is always a good feeling, but this time was even better as Owen and I were headed to the airport, destined for Nelson and then onto St Arnaud for four days tramping in Nelson Lakes National Park with Dad and Jo.
Starting our tramp straight from the motel car park was a novelty and a welcome change – no stiff legs from an early morning drive! With four days of fine weather ahead of us the plan was to traverse the St Arnaud range as far as we liked before dropping into the Travers River in time to make our 3pm water taxi on Sunday.
After leaving the motel at 8.30am we were soon making our way up the St Arnaud track to bushline. The weather wasn’t looking as good as what the forecast promised – low thick cloud surrounded us, but we remained positive that it would break up soon. An initial gradual climb led to where we turned off from the loop track and continued along a steep zigzag track to bushline. We were lucky enough to spot some Kaka along the way making a real fuss as we walked past. Much to our delight, the climb seemed to pass in no time and within 2 hours from the start we broke out above bushline.
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| Scroggin stop at bushline |
