The trail from the Top Wairoa to the Mid Wairoa hut is said to be very difficult and exposed. This was definitely the case – in addition it was quite slippery.
Today we had decided to hike to the Tarn Hut. This meant 2x 4 hours DOC signs. And if they are not true, it always happens again …, then we will literally be left in the dark.
We were happy to leave the Top Wairoa hut in the morning and after a short while we came across our first obstacle: a river crossing. Nothing unusual on the TA but this one was pretty exposed! The current in the river was ok but you still did not want to fall in, otherwise you would have landed in a small waterfall. On the other side of the river you had to scramble up the path again. The path crossed the river a few times. The trail on either side was mostly quite above the river, so you had to go up again after each crossing. The trail was mostly quite exposed and slippery there. We were often afraid to slip and then slide down through the steep forest into the river …
We were glad when we finally arrived at the Mid Wairoa Hut. There was a nice picnic table in the sun which we claimed for us. Yeah, break time! But not for long, because we wanted to go further to the Tarn Hut. Â Luckily, from there on the trail was easy and so it was not bad that we had to cover the last few meters in the dark.
The Tarn Hut was a nice little hut with a closed (!) fire place. We were alone in the hut and were happy to cook over the fire 😊
