tristan riley

The joy of living in New Zealand is being able to walk out the door and into the mountains. Throwing 4 days food and minimal gear into my lightweight pack, I left my house in central Nelson and headed into the Richmond Ranges, dividing Nelson from the Wairau River and Blenheim.

Day 1 – 7 hours from Nelson City to Pelorus River
Passing Top House shelter, Dun Mountain soon came into view with dessicated scrub and tussock tops. An hour or so downhill is Rocks Hut, the first of the many lovely huts I was to visit. They are dotted everywhere, some only a couple of hours walk apart! Hooning downhill I arrived at Pelorus river for a swim and camp (forgot my head net so chased into the hut by mosquitoes).

Day 2 – 7 hours from Pelorus River to Richmond Saddle
Next day saw a 1500m climb, up a steep ridge to Mt Fell, where cloud descended and compass and map helped me navigate when I missed the cairn and poles marking the route. Mt Richmond is a respectable 1755m high. Ill be back to camp the night on top at some point, in the bunker-like rock shelters. Instead I spent a damp night in the fog at Richmond Saddle hut.

Day 3 – 10 hours from Richmond Saddle to Starveall Hut
Morning cloud filled the Wairau valley as I sat above, enjoying the sun and mist spilling over the valley rim. A 9km off-track section between the saddle and the nearest track to the south took 5 1/2 hours, with a variety of rock scrambling, short scrubby beech bashing and following of goat trails. One giant shark’s tooth of a rock saw a slightly sketchy down climb with nasty exposure in case of slippage. What fun to be had in the Richmond ranges! The ridge is narrow and quite slow going, and as with most tops travel in the park, very dry going (I carried 3 liters of water).

Back on track at Old Man, I headed over Slatey peak and arrived at Starveall hut with a fine view over Tasman Bay.

Day 4 – 4 hours downhill and hitchhike back to Nelson
Lovely swimming holes and rivers to be found in the Aniseed Valley. Hooray for the Richmond Ranges, Ill be back!