A mere half hour drive away from Dunedin awaits us the Silver Peaks Scenic Reserve. DOC (Departement of Conservation) describes the track like this: The Silver Peaks Scenic Reserve provides challenging routes in rugged country, less than 30 minutes drive from Dunedin city.
Sounds good to us and soon we are out walking into the Tussock Grass covered hills and bushy pathways. The path leads us through many ups and downs on a really pretty path and soon we are following a breathtaking ridge line with stunning views over forest-covered hills and snow capped mountains in the distance.
With only food for two days and expecting a hut with a water supply and mattresses our backpacks are fairly light and the walk even more enjoyable. After 4 1/2 hours and a steep descent followed by a steep, muddy climb, we reach the hut well before dawn. No one is there, the hut is all ours. Sadly, there is no wood burner installed so we prepare mentally for a fairly cold night.
Until
More people come. And more. And more. Five small groups later the hut is overcrowded with about 15 people. To our surprise no one is elder than us. Note: Backcountry tramping is a sport much loved by elderly, superfit Kiwis :). The evening temperatures drop less than we expect and we enjoy cooking on the large deck- avoiding the friendly bunch inside the hut. Despite having only 10 mattresses, everyone finds a place to sleep and after a really quiet night and our usual porridge we wave our companions good bye and head off toward the ABC cave, then back to our car in a large loop. Todays walk is even better: The wandering ridge-line more than fulfilled our daily sensory needs. In contrast to our last multiple day hike, the vegetation on this trip is really diverse and changes from grassy to bushy to forest. Native scrubs are home to an interesting birdlife including Wood Pigeons, Fantails and Tuis. For a final extreme contrast, we walk the last few k`s in plated pine forest. Here, we rarely hear or see any birds nor see we much daylight.
Back by our car we are caught up by some keen runners who did the whole 26 kilometres loop running- one of them in about three hours. We are impressed and Louie promises to come back with lighter luggage and running ambitions ;).
