(Bernie) Unlike our neighbour (a professional travel writer) we managed a good sleep in spite of the howling gale rattling the tent all night (not smug at all of course). However we did not see the dawn as I had no intention of opening the tent flap in the gale! By 6am though the call of nature dragged me out of the sleeping bag and into the morning. In the hut everyone was up and about and you could not hear or feel the wind! Luckily the Department of Conservation instruction that campers should NOT be permitted to use the hut facilities  was no applied in practice (at least not here, at this time of the season. Others tell that it is strictly enforced elsewhere).  We could therefore brew our coffee and our porridge, and eat our breakfast in relative comfort.

Taking down the tent involved a complicated dance with the 2 of us unpegging and clutching and folding down the tent before it was ripped from our hands.  We managed to avoid any part of the tent blowing over the ridge and down the valley (chasing a tent sheet in the strong wind would have been a real challenge) and hurriedly brought everything down from the ridge to the hut where our belongings were strewn out ready for repacking.  The only thing missing was the bag to our platypus water filter.  David went back up the ridge and unbeleivably the very small and lightweight bag was caught in a bush and he brought it back triumphant.  We were complete!

We only had a short day today so we took out time and we ambled off relatively late at around 9am.  By this point the wind had decided to die down somewhat. We were on the dry side of the mountain, walking across arid desert-like conditions, with multi-coloured rocks that showed their volcanic past.  Now we were walking round the opposite (i.e. southeast) side of the volcano – a looming presence above us still and almost totally free of cloud in the blue sky. Although the forecast was for rain by lunchtime the skies remained bright and sunny.  Our legs were tired from the previous long day and all the climbing but we were moving well and made good progress.

For reasons unbeknown to us, but presumably because it had missed previous lava flows, the scrubland which was devoid of vegetation ended and we reached a pretty wooded area.  Crossing a fairly large river (on a bridge, not wading!) there was a sharp but extended climb through the trees.  When we emerged out of the trees onto the ridge, we were greeted with dramatic new views of a snowy Mount Ruapehu.  It was then a gentle amble down to the hut, our destination for the day, just a 3 hour walk.

Arriving at lunchtime and setting up tent was peaceful and slow.  We camped in a clearing in the bush, just beside a river.  It was quite cool in the shade but hot in the sun – a huge difference. 

We then walked out to a set of mountain springs that emerge from the hillside, with water that has taken hundreds of years to percolate through the rock and then make its way back up to be extruded.  It was a special place – and supposedly a place that two blue ducks had made their home.  That may well have been true but the ducks were off somewhere else for the day when we visited.  However it was peaceful and beautiful. 

Back to the hut for more chat, food and chat.  One of the features of these walks is that one picks up a group of people who all follow the same trail at the same place – so we caught up with Mary and Polly and Cat and Brandon, as we had the previous evening.  Another talk from a warden – not totally inspiring and mostly about her life as a warden which was sort of interesting, but honestly not that interesting.  A guide to the volcanic history or the local wildlife would have been gripping – but we got what we were given.

Then back to our books and sleeping bags.  After just 3 days on the trail the enjoyable rhythm was settling in – just as when we are cycling.  It was strange to think that tomorrow we would be back in civilisation (of sorts that is).