Boundary Hut to Greenstone Hut

Holy moley, Greenstone hut is a shock to the system.  This thing has 20, 40, 80,000 bunks.  There are two sleeping rooms, a living area, a kitchen, two full industrial sinks, a wrap around porch, detached bathrooms with real plumbing, a tool hut, a separate warden hut, and an associated friggin campground.  It's hostel-packed, too.

 I just spent the day hiking through some gorgeous valleys.  Rugged peaks, serpentine rivers, and a lot of sun exposure.  (Thank you hat!)  There were crystal clear creeks with world-class swimmin' holes and an abundance of little lizards.  The trail was 90% (poled) open ground, with rocky footing and low scrub and tussock.  The trail was reasonably clear, if faint at times.  The weather's been windy all day, and though there were some battling rain clouds this morning, only a few drops were blown off the face of the mountain towards me.  All of the moisture cleared up by noon.

I met one SOBO on the trail who warned me about the climb from Lake Hawea and the Top Timaru track.  He said the rest of the South Island should be smooth sailing.

So now I'm here at Greenstone with 70 asian folks (eating MREs), 30 newbie kiwi backpackers (eating ramen) and the drone of tourist planes.  While I'm glad the newbies are out enjoying the trails around here, it's really, really funny to hear them complained about what (as compared to TA track) is perfectly groomed and maintained trail.  It's weird to not be the only person in the hut tonight, but I do like the feel of the sun on my legs while I lay out on that wraparound porch!  At least the hitch tomorrow should be easy enough.