Day 19: Waiau Pass basecamp to Anne Hut - 'the longest night and day'

45km 14.5 hours

I think i got four hours sleep. Last night, the wind was blowing a gale. We were like in a vortex with the wind changing direction constantly. My tent has an air vent that has a velcro opening to keep it closed when not in use but the velcro was no match for the wind. It kept ripping open and the only way to close it was from the outside of my tent so i think I did that about 5 times in the night. My tent was flapping, i was actually scared it was going to blow away even with me inside it. At some point the tent was virtually horizontally on top of my head flattened before bouncing back up. Thank heavens for flexible resilient tent poles.

At least I was inside all very warm in my quilt. I'm so happy with having spent the money on good gear. I haven't regretted any purchase and after last night, i have used every thing i have in my pack. Just not the plb yet and I'll try keep it that way.

I wake up this morning to Tim calling out from his tent, 'I smell like brie!' puzzled at what i heard i call back 'the cheese?' Tim, 'yes'. Still puzzled 'Why?' 'No shower for days and sweat'. Connie, and i just laugh in absolute disgust.

I'm sitting there in my tent, trying to put on my wet socks. I hate it, I say. Tim calls out proudly 'mine are dry'. I question how are they dry after a night like we just had. 'I slept with mine in my sleeping bags so that it dries overnight'. No wonder you smell like cheese, i declared almost gagging at the thought.

The weather wasn't much better today, but we had to do the pass. So we tried to pack up, our tents flapped around like kites. I tried boiling water but the wind kept blowing my flame out on the gas cooker so i gave up and had luke warm porridge and coffee.

It was gale force wind, there was poor visibility, we were still so hoping that Chris had made it on the other side.

River crossing and wet feet 10minutes into the day the climb up the pass was one of the most craziest things i have done. Climbing vertically for hundreds of meters on rocks, and hoping that i'm not going to slip down. Almost too afraid to stop and look back down so i just kept going up.

After the first steep section Tim, Conny and I took a quick pause to celebrate making it that far. All so proud and pumped for each other. There is always time for a timer photo. The fact that Conny, who is a ski instructor in Austria said she is wearing everything she would wear on the slopes over there in winter reiterated the fact it was cold!

I made it to the summit and the German lady was hiding out behind a rock up the top waiting for us because she didn't want to go over the side alone. Smart. I looked back down from where i came and its like i was looking into a volcanic Crater with Conny and Tim just reaching the top.

It was a white out over the other side and the wind was ripping up and over. There was discussion about who goes first and i was not going to wait around to freeze on top of the mountain. So i was like, i will and without any second thoughts just stepped off the side and got going leading the way. I figured all i had to do was find that pole and go pole to pole again.

You could just see the orange marker through the clouds. There was snow and ice all around. It was so rocky and steep and slippery. It wasn't hiking. It was mountaineering, it was rock climbing down mountains without safety. Lowering yourself down trying to make it down each part. I can see why there are so many rescues on this paths in bad weather.

But we made it. We got down out of the clouds, Connie and i pretty stoked with ourselves and we see three hikers walking up towards us. We stop and ask whether they had seen Chris, thankfully, they had been at the hut with him last night. We were so relieved. These three guys were walking from Kaikoura over to Greymouth doing an west to east crossing over three weeks which is pretty cool. Maybe in the future...

At the bottom, the sky cleared and we stop, we eat our cliff bar for energy and admire this incredible valley we're in and look back up at what we just made it down. Maybe it was the adrenaline maybe stupidity but we were feeling so good that we decides maybe we should go all the way to Anne hut today and do a 40km plus day. Test our bodies.

Reaching Waiau Hut ar 3pm we had lunch, we had a big lunch knowing we needed the energy. We got changed, we washed our face and we pretended it was like we were starting a new day. We take a celebratory photo to acknowledge the pass we just did and at 3:40pm we set off again for another 26 kilometers.

We presumed it would be doable as it was flat alongside the Waiau river. I had done a lot of work around this river when i was working for Canterbury regional council so it was so nice to be up in the head waters. It is such a beautiful, clear and blue river i was amazed every time I had to cross it how clear it was, i even saw trout. I understand why the landowners were so passionate about protecting it.

At 7pm we stopped, the sun started setting and we were like in a tussock grass field of gold. We got our food bags out and ate snacks as we knew we still had a long way to go. We wanted to reach the hut before dark. But as the sun set we still had six kilometers left. We made it into a dark valley and we're coming down to a river and i was dreading that it be a river crossing because River crossings are okay during the day, just not at night. Luckily, it was a swing bridge. So we hopped off the swing bridge jumped down the stairs and then walked right into a muddy swamp that we didn't see. We decided then it was time for the headlamps to come out. What were we doing? I thought to myself. Connie seeking reassurance after us earlier, discussing australian snakes and spiders that there were none here.

We were walking through waist high grass with our lights above a riverbank. It was never ending there were no lights at the hut and i think we missed an orange marker. So we just started to make our own way. I remember on our 18 hour adventure race last year at 1am, Jared leading the way went quiet and it was a tell tale sign something was wrong. Now it was my turn but i refused to be quiet i continued chatting to just make out like everything was fine but i was exhausted. I didn't want to miss the hut. All the stars started to appear which Conny took great delight in admiring while i tried to find the path and not freak out at bushes moving in the dark.

As I look down something fluffy ran across my path. I kept walking and thought to myself, oh, a red panda. But then i was like, i'm in New Zealand it ain't a panda. And i realized then just how tired and delirious i probably was if my first thought was a panda. I'm hoping it was just a fluffy possum with a good thick coat.

We see the dark silhouette of a hut up in the distance. We had made it! We high-fived, we jumped up and down, we had done 44 kilometers.

From Waiau Hut book, Chris had written he was aiming for Anne Hut tonight so we assumed he would be here. Then i thought if he's hear alone we are going to give him an awful fright turning up in the dark at 10pm. We creak open the hut door and go in the hut and we hear a 'hello?'. We excitedly say, 'Chris?' Yes was the reply in the dark. And we screamed, 'It's Conny and Renay.' 'what the #$@& was his reply. We were so happy. He was alive. And he was so happy about seeing us because he thought that we had done the pass but never got across.

We light the remains of a candle that was left in the hutt and we catch up about the insane past two days and that tWaiau pass. Before going outside and having one last look at the stars. I saw shooting stars. I saw meteors and all the star formations so clearly. They were just so beautiful. I think I stood there looking up, in absolute shock and stunned at the night and day we had just had.

It was near midnight by now. We'd spent the day discussing so much, laughing, reflecting and listening to tunes. I don't think I'll ever have another 48 hours quite like it again.

I had only the energy to cook porridge for dinner. We had a 20 bed hut all to ourselves so we all got multiple mattresses. We went to bed, i couldn't stay awake anymore but my garmin was telling me i'd walked 45,000 steps and i had burnt 4,963 calories. I was trying to see if i could clock it over to 5000 but my eyes couldn't stay awake.

That was enough for the day. I was out to it as soon as i had put my head against my pillow. Inside, warm and safe. I said good night to conny and she thanked me for two days of crazy adventures and I said how proud I was that we actually made it.

Ren x