Everything was still wet from yesterday. But it was a good idea to leave the wet rain gear in the hut so it wasn’t that wet anymore.
We started quite late at around 10.30am. Selma got up earlier and had left half an hour before us. At that time of the day the weather was still bad. There was no rain but it looked like it would start at every moment.
Luckily the sky cleared later on when we caught up with Selma. We decided to dry our wet clothes in the sun. (Yes there was sun!☀️)
It was a long way down in the valley with a lot of river crossings. The Timaru river is somehow grey so you can’t see to the bottom of the river even though it might just be a few centimeters. Until today we always tried to keep our shoes dry but the trailnotes told us that we have to cross the river 10 times so we just left our shoes on. On the first crossing it was difficult to do the first steps but it was better to cross it with good shoes.
On a short break another NOBO Hiker passed us. We have never met him before. He told us that he had a few rest days in Wanaka. He was struggling with his knee but therefore he hiked a lot per day. Today he wants to get to the Top Timaru Creek Hut but started at the Pakituhi Hut.
We were walking down in the valley not fast but not to slow. Time went fast. On the 6th river crossings we saw quite fresh footprints from Selma. It was already 7pm and the hut was about 3 hours ago. The valley was in complete shadow.
We met Selma half an hour later at a nice flat spot just beside the river. She wanted to camp there. We decided to join her.
We had a nice dinner party on our foot print. Pro tip: if you have a Thermarest you can tie it to a role and than sit on it. It got cold in the night when all the stars came out.