Day 60 – Sabine Hut to St. Arnaud

When I woke this morning, I was so wide awake that I just couldn’t get back to sleep, so I tiptoed out of the bunkroom of the hut, packed, and was on my way by five thirty in the morning, a personal record and well before it was light enough to see the trail.  Hiking by flashlight is not much fun, but I was especially excited to get on the road because I would reach St. Arnaud today, and wanted to make sure I arrived before the post shop closed so I could get my food drop.  Lucky for me the light soon arrived.  In the dark I was constantly second guessing whether I was still on the trail, but once there was light I made fast progress.  The track was well maintained, with some very long boardwalk sections where the ground gets muddy.  Even so, there were still some major mud pits along the way that threatened to suck me in.

By noon I was well along the way, maybe an hour from the trailhead, when I came across another tramper heading the opposite direction.  He was starting on an eight-day trip with an easy day to Speargrass Hut, just a couple hours behind me.  We struck up a conversation about Te Araroa – he is one of the few people I’ve met who is actively aware of the trail and keeping an eye on its development.  We got deeper into conversation and before long we were each sitting on our packs, he rolling a steady procession of cigarettes which he smoked as I picked his brain about New Zealand’s economy, history, and politics, answered questions about my Te Araroa trip, and asked about this guy’s job, which was really interesting.  He works for an agricultural research firm, and is investigating the possibility of using alternate feed to reduce the methane emissions from sheep and cattle.  You’re probably aware that methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, much more effective than carbon dioxide.  It’s produced in large quantities by the gut bacteria in the stomach of stock.  Evidently they’ve had some success, and different feeds do produce a decrease in methane emissions, but there are obstacles to adoption, like the fact that cattle don’t grow as quickly on many of these alternate feeds.  I enjoyed lazing around on the track chatting, and before I knew it an hour and a half had passed.  I wasn’t too worried.  I figured if the post office was open today, it would surely be open until at least five, so I was fine for time.

When I reached the trailhead, around two, I found a construction crew re-grading the metalled access road.  They wouldn’t permit anyone through because it was too dangerous.  So they had a kid with a radio posted at the trail, and he called for a guy with a car to drive through the construction zone and pick me up.  Even better, I thought, now I’ll definitely get to the post office before five.

The fellow with the car dropped me off at the St. Arnaud DoC site around 2:30.  Cool, I thought, I’m on time!  I’ve even got some time to peruse the topo maps here and get information for the next leg of my trip.  I bought a couple of maps, and asked about the Richmond Range, but no-one at DoC seemed to have much info on it.  They fielded questions almost exclusively about the Nelson Lakes National Park.

Now I ambled off in search of the post office.  A Rural Post van drove by and I waved, thinking “He must have just done a dropoff, that’s great, more chance that my package is there.”  I asked around and was directed to the fire station.  It turns out that the “post shop” is only open from 2:30 to 3:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when the delivery contractors for Rural Post show up to sort the mail into people’s boxes.  That van I just waved at *was* the post shop, and I had missed him by minutes! I would have to wait two full days before I had another chance to pick up my food box.

I ran back in the direction of the DoC info site, thinking he might still be parked there.  Four hundred meters with my pack still on was exhausting, and when I got there he was gone. I asked at the tiny shop in town whether the postman mentioned any package when he came through.  They said no, but gave me his phone number.  I called – no answer, left a message.

Dejected, I checked into the Alpine Lodge Backpackers and set about my town routines: shower, call Roxane, eat two dinners, check internet.  Late in the evening I get a message from Luanne who, with her husband, runs the rural post route servicing St. Arnaud.  The good news is that they don’t have any package for me, so I don’t have to kick myself about idling at the DoC centreduring the short window when I could have picked up my package.  The bad news is that they don’t have any package for me.  So I’ll have to either wait until Wednesday and see if they have the box by then, or try to stock up at the painfully modest town shop.  Haven’t decided yet, but tomorrow is forecast for heavy rain, so I’ll take at least one zero day, and see how I feel by Wednesday.