Rain

Ever the eternal optimist, even I had to concede it was raining.

Here the river looks relatively benign. Two hours later the main rock you can see was almost topped by waves of water. We made the right decision to cross the pass yesterday. It wasn't a place to be in bad weather.

With two short days in front of us, we had options. Rather than belt off down the valley early, we decided to hold off for a couple of hours and gauge what the weather, river and side streams were doing.

We didn't have to cross the main river visible in the picture. Even so it was alarming to watch its rapid rise. Towards mid-morning we made the decision to head off and see how we found the side streams.

When you look at a map, the main side streams are marked but not the  minor ones. Within 5 minutes we reached the first 'minor' side stream. It was a raging torrent of indeterminate depth, dark, swift and potentially deadly.

I tried to poke one of my sticks in but it largely disappeared. We quickly decided even if we got safely through this, we'd be stopped - sooner or later, but something we couldn't cross. Likely we'd be stuck, unable to move forward or back. Stuck wet, getting progressively colder and not having much fun.

We turned around and headed back to George Lyon hut. We collected fire wood, chopped it (there is a wood shed with chopping block and axe) to reveal the dry inside.

The main D'Urville river was now at least 2m higher and rising. Discoloured and wild and we could no longer use it as a water source. Keeping the hut in its original early '70s mode means no water tank is installed.

But the hut has heavy old pots, pans and one bucket. With the roof well washed clean of rat, mouse and possum poo, we lined all available containers up along the rivulets of water pouring off the roof.

We lit the fire we'd only recently cleaned, hung up wet gear and unpacked. I was frugal with my food throughout the day. Carrying extra food is the norm but you never know how long it will rain for.

As it turned out we only spent another night at George Lyon hut. The day passed playing cards and finding entertaining things to do with a piece of tin foil.

When the rain stopped the land drained quickly and the river quietened down. Even so, we could hear boulders moving down the river well into the night.

If it rained again overnight, that could change everything.