Knowing where you were, how long was left, and how much energy you might need to make it there in one piece was impossible to judge. River crossing after river crossing we clambered in and out of the water. Many times sure it was the last one before the final half an hour to the hut. Many times disappointed to walk on and see ‘one more’ giant orange triangle pointing us into the water. And knowing we’d need to dig even deeper to make it.
“Cookie…. I don’t want to end up as one of those documentaries where…” I gulped “…where they find the footage.” … I tried a smile. There wasn’t enough energy in my face to muster it.
It looked like on my map the track crossed the Wairoa River about four times, the last just before the hut. So after the forth crossing I told Nicky we’re probably only about half a mile away from the hut and making great time. Alas some of the crossings are in quick succession, so quite hard to spot on the map, so four more crossing later we weren’t entirely sure how far away we were..
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