Te Araroa day 30

A night in Geraldine avoiding the rangitata river hazard which cannot be safely crossed. Great burger at the running duck cafe, followed by scrambled eggs, bacon and toast this morning and a couple of lattes to get me ready for today's adventure.

Bush stream track, only around 9kms but a bit of vertical climb, how hard could it be. This was the day I would have not one, but two near incidents.
I was walking with Jane and Alex, we followed the river, as it meandered between the steep slopes on either side. I lost count of the number of river crossings we did, but they were becoming increasingly challenging as they day went on. Not just the flow of the river, but also the slippy rocks underfoot and the difficulty in finding a good foot placement. The river crossing course was proving worthwhile. We become more careful picking spots to cross.

Incident number one. I very nearly ended up floating (hopefully) down the river. I was trying to link up with Jane, to help her across, when my foot slipped and I nearly lost it completely, was up to my neck, just managing to regroup and resecure my footing. Just a bit wet but not damage done.

Shortly after we realised we had passed the point where we leave the river, we could see an orange marker high on the hill, rather than cross back over the river we thought we could make it back to the track by following a stream. As we ventured up and across the rocks incident number two occurred.

I was following Alex and Jane who had already made it up a steep rocky part. I stepped towards a large rock and grabbed it to pull myself up. Everything seems to go into slow montion, the rock, perhaps the size of my pack pack, came away, and feel towards my knee and leg. I thought that was it, my leg was going to be crushed and I would fall back down the steep slope. The scene seemed to flash before me. Somehow, the rock disintegrated into a hundred small rocks and simply fell to the ground around my leg. I couldn't believe it, felt link I was superman or somehow made of steal. Or perhaps just damn lucky it wasn't a solid rock.

It took me some time to recover, I was shocked and surprised, was certain it was not going to end well when I felt the rock fall. I guess I can just thank my lucky stars and be a bit more careful next time I reach for a large rock.

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