Got on the trail at 5:30am and watched the sunrise at the Pinnacles with about 20+ people. Gorgeous sunrise over the clouds. Came down from Pinnacles, packed up and walked back to car park via Billy Goat Track. Was a bit steep at end of track but all in all pretty easy. Crossing the dried creek at end of track was easy as. Could be worse if it was rainy and slippery. Walked through clouds most of the morning which felt like nature’s air con. A few nice birds songs but really just flies on the trail. Saw plenty of spots where people pooped and pissed and left TP, people are the worst.

CRH pack out weight 9.07 (no water, but 1 bottle of wine)
KAH pack out weight 11.6 (1 liter of water left)

Nice day for a walk, a bit hot but we started late in the day which was good. Hut ranger Rob warned us of biting weka but the hut is the Ritz. We brought peri peri chicken thighs to grill and they were a ten. We also had pasta with pesto. Best hut meal we’ve ever had. We brought two bottles of wine. I’m excited to try some Astro photography tonight, skies look clear. Early start tomorrow to see the sunrise at 6:27am. Anxious to scramble up the last bit of the pinnacles.

KAH pack weight 12.95kg
CRH pack weight 13.45kg

Pack out weights CRH 10.47 kg (I weighed all equipment I didn’t use and it came out to 2.4 kg, some of that was emergency gear but not all, including rain jacket, first add kit, emergency bivvy, pack liner, extra batteries, candles, stove and gas, gaiters, hammock, map, torch, and more). 10.47kg also includes some water that I didn’t drink. Net out pack weight 8.07kg, pack efficiency 8.07/10.47=0.77

KAH 11.4kg pack put weight

CRH pack weight - 14.9 kg which includes food and 4 liter of water and 0.75 liter of NZ finest wine. Water at hut was supposed to be salty and therefore we had to pack water for in and out trip. Turned out we didn’t need to. Water at hut was fine once boiled. The walk was long and hot. Chris felt that he had mild symptoms of heat exhaustion. The last half of hike was slow and painful, stopped a handful of times. Kathleen spotted a ‘stick bug’ on trail. Didn’t see too many birds. But we did see an extra tiny black and white bird. Once we arrived at hut, Chris took a delicious dip in ocean with giant school of blue mau mau (sp?). Was amazing. Almost got attached by colony of gulls. Met really nice kiwi couple with kids. They have a boat called ‘death trap III’ aka 4m tinny. Kenny recommended we get bit and check out bar called rivertown (sp?) near Bayswater boat launch. Saw a great sunset and spectacular views! We really liked the ginger soy chicken although our hut mates said that one gave them the runs. We were fine.

We saw nearly no birds except a pair of super small fast flying birds with a white breast. Almost half the size of a fan tail.