'Seven to nine hours tramping on the first day' - that description of the Hump Ridge Track nearly put me off. So I decided to see if there were any sweeteners to this three-day walk which starts about an hour's drive west of Invercargill.
1. You can book a helicopter to take your pack from hut to hut so you need only carry a day pack.
2. You can book a guide to accompany you.
3. You can book a 4WD vehicle to take you to Te WaeWae beach, cutting off nearly two hours of day one.
We combined the last two options.
That first day you climb from sea level to 900m, so it was still a challenge. But our guide Marianne from Kiwi Wilderness Walks was a 6-footer and fit. She carried our food and sleeping bags!
It was a level path at first, followed by winding gentle boardwalks through ferns and beech. Then the track steepens and sometimes flights of steps are cut up the banks.
As we walked Marianne told us how the tiny local population worked as volunteers to build the boardwalks and cut the track. Government granted to them but all sorts of fund-raising had to increase this sum. One of the more unusual fundraisers was 'selling' lengths of track to individuals.
Gradually the going gets harder and I get slower. The trees are now more stunted and tree roots become steps as we climb up. Finally we're in a goblin forest, the trees hung with frothy lichen-beards of milky green.
Our first glimpse of our goal - Okaka Hut - is through a gap in trees that have been sculpted sideways by the wind. Alarmingly far. As we near the ridge, tree branches become twisted, whitened and wind-whipped - like deer antlers. Yellow Maori-onion plants appear, alpine daisies, silvery astelia 'bonsai' trees in rocky clefts.
At last, at last, a curving boardwalk sweeps down to the 40-bunk Okaka Hut tucked away in a sheltered spot. It has a large central room, separate kitchen, two wings of four-person bunkrooms, flush loos, cold water showers, a warden's hut-and stupendous views.
Reading the visitors' book is comforting - other trampers have been as wearied by the long climb as I am."The Trust deserves a medal. So do I." "Wow, what a challenge." "Killer climb but worth it for the view."
"I want to enjoy the silence" commented a Japanese visitor. I recalled this next morning when I climbed up before breakfast to the Summit Loop above Okaka Hut. Not another soul. Great sandstone rocks rear up against a mountain backdrop and are reflected in little tarns.
After breakfast, we tramp along the ridge through contorted trees, every now and then emerging onto rocky outcrops and spectacular views. We lunch on a colossal rock, revelling in the sun. Then we meet the mud. Thick brown glue. Boots squelch into it and then make a sucking noise as you pull them out. You grab handholds - branch or bank - to stop slithering. Beautiful boardwalks intersperse, thank goodness.
After many hours we emerge, boots caked with mud, onto the South Coast Track, once a timber tramway for the mill at Port Craig. We cross the first of the tall wooden viaducts which have been renovated by the Viaduct Restoration Trust. They were built originally to open up the western Southland forests to logging.
Soon we cross Percy Burn Viaduct, the Daddy of them all. It's 36 metres high and 125 long - said to be the largest surviving wooden viaduct in the world.
After the third viaduct, we slosh into the narrow muddy ex-tramway track, often in deep dank cuttings, heading for Port Craig, our next overnight stop.
In the 1920s, Port Craig was New Zealand's largest sawmill with 230 people living here. Only the old school-room (now a DOC hut) is left, plus a few rusty wheels, a large piece of machinery by the foreshore and tattered remains of the wharf.
The comfortable new accommodation complex on the coast here echoes Okaka.
The last day is a glorious undulating bush and coastal walk of seven hours. In the bush canopy we see bursts of Southern rata, occasional tuis, wood pigeons, and oyster catchers on the beach.
Most of the track is in the Southwest World Heritage Area, but we walk through the Rowallan Maori lands on that last day before meeting a cluster of holiday homes at the end of the track.
What an extraordinary achievement for a small community - and, indeed, for us!
