Route: Lewis Pass –Ada Pass – 3 Tarns – Matakitaki – Lake Thompson – Waiau Pass – Blue Lake – Sabine – Blue Lake – St Arnaud
Lewis Pass – Ada Pass (3 hours)
We started near the Mariua River on the St James Walkway just before noon. This is a well constructed, benched walkway, so do not let the sign-posted times (5 hrs) discourage you. Ada Pass is barely over 1000m, and there is isn’t a clearly discernable climb to the “Pass”. It barely deserves such a title. The walk however, is scenic regardless of the “tourist track” feel.
Ada Pass Hut – Campsite near Tarn [M31:653807] (3.5 Hours)
After a generously long break at Ada Pass Hut we departed intending to camp at, or near “Three Tarns Pass”. We picked a route up the true right branch of the Mariua near the footbridge. As we started to bush-bash, track conditions and the speed of our travel were somewhat different to the walkway. Although, the bush-bash was relatively short we sometimes found ourselves walking a slightly worn trail, but still often managed to find ourselves “pioneering” a route through. We then sidled through some lumpy tussock before dropping into the stream and following the stream bed up to the head of the valley. We scrambled up the final ascent over steep scree which led to a large, unnamed tarn. This was a lovely spot and it was getting late in the evening so we pitched our fly and camped for the night. Overnight there were strong wind gusts for a few hours in place of the perfect weather we had the previous day. We were pleased that we had secured the fly well using large rocks. By morning, the gusts disappeared and we had another day like the Nelson region is famous for – sunshine, clear blue skies and not much wind.
Campsite – Bob’s Hut (7½ hours)
After a ¾ lap of the tarn admiring the beauty of the emerald colours, we picked our way up to “Three Tarns Pass”. The view of the three tarns from the pass confirmed we had navigated successfully. The tarns were pretty but, not quite as spectacular as we anticipated that they might be. We suspect that the apparent low-water levels were due to recent dry weather. Nonetheless, it was another scorching hot day and far too tempting, so despite the short distance traveled it was time for a swim, which we followed with lunch as we admired the mountains surrounding the tarns. 
As we had now spent more of the day resting than walking we thought it was about time we made our way down the West Matakitaki to Bob’s Hut. Various route guides for this descent seem to be at odds with each other. We made our way down the true left, as per the route guide that we were following, through tussock, speargrass and metre deep, leg swallowing holes. We had soon had enough of this travel and decided to head for the river bed where there was no speargrass, and what turned out to be much faster travel. The cool river was a relief as it was a very hot day with no shade to be found, as proven by our chocolate melting to liquid. Not being able to afford such wastage we placed it in a plastic snaplock bag to recover tonight. After dropping to the stream bed we picked up a loosely cairned trail which eventually led to a marked route over a forested bump on the true left of the West Matakitaki. We then criss-crossed the river flats before picking up the route on the true-right leading towards Bob’s Hut. Thankfully, the river levels were low and ensured that the crossing over to Bob’s Hut was straight forward.
Bob’s Hut is a lovely spot, and if we had more food we probably could have spent the next day there.Bob’s Hut – East Matakitaki Campsite [M30:753941] (5½ Hours)
We crossed the Maling Creek and made our way down the river. We soon found our way into some lovely forest which was a relief because we had found some shade! Not long after we were at the three-wire bridge over the West Matakitaki. This was Victoria’s first three-wire and she made her way tentatively over without her pack and left Craig with the pack ferrying duties. After traveling through bush and a well-worn track we arrived East Matakitaki Hut for a late lunch. Regardless of its location in the sun on the river flats it was much cooler inside than out. As it was yet another stinking hot day we had a swim in the freezing river and rested at the hut until the early evening. It was apparent from the hut book that some had found this journey easier than others. We particularly enjoyed the comments from a party from Adelaide who said “All I can say to all you Kiwi tramping freaks is thank goodness you were on our side during 2 world wars … are there any normal people in this country who feel pain whilst tramping?”.
East Matakitaki – Lake Thompson (7 hours)
We broke our cycle of sleep-ins and awoke early for the last section of the bush-bash up the East Matakitaki before it became a scramble over large moraine rocks (avalanche debris?). We then picked up the stream that led to the “Upper D’Urville Pass” where we climbed up more moraine including the occasional clamber. About 2/3 of the way up there was a tarn surrounded by huge rocks where we had a bite to eat before we picked our way up to the pass. The descent from the pass looked a tad scary but, it wasn’t too difficult to pick our way between the bluffs, onto some scree and down to the long tussock sidle towards Thompson Pass. It was at this point we saw a chamois, gracefully trotting through the tussock land of the upper D’Urville Valley.
Obsessed with not losing altitude we followed the sidle for far too long and climbed an obvious saddle with a large cairn erected on it. With no view of Lake Thompson it soon became apparent that we had traveled too far up the valley. Being too proud to do a complete U-turn, we set a bearing for the real Thompson Pass and headed straight for it. This went really well until we were blocked by a deep gut when we were very close to Thompson Pass. After looking at the landscape and checking the map we thought that traveling through an alternative pass to the south-east of Thompson Pass [M30:802975] would be achievable. From the top of this pass we felt a relief with a great view of Lake Thompson. The route down was an easy zig-zag around a couple of bluffs, over some scree and down to the lake.
Lake Thompson is such a beautiful spot and as we had all to ourselves it seemed even more scenic. In this fantastic weather we couldn’t manage to leave here so we stayed for two nights. We ensured that we checked out the real Thompson Pass on our rest day and enjoyed swims in the lake and basking in the sunshine.
Lake Thompson – Blue Lake (6½ hours)
As nice as Lake Thompson was, it was sadly time to depart. Unfortunately the weather appeared to be deteriorating and we had no idea what the forecast was as this was now our fifth day. We spent some time choosing between following the stream down, or following the faultline gut. There was a pole near the stream so we chose that way. In hindsight, the route down from Lake Thompson can be traversed either way so we didn’t really need to spend so much time deliberating over the best route down and through the bluffs to join the route up to Waiau Pass.
When attempting to join the poled-route to Waiau Pass, in hindsight, we probably spent too much time trying to interpret our route guide rather than using a combination of the map and instinct. Once we took the latter approach it was quite obvious and the short gap between the Upper Waiau and the beginning of the poled route was found after following a small spur. The sky was getting darker, the clouds lowering. We were slightly undecided as whether to climb the 1870m Waiau Pass in these conditions. We decided to press on and monitor the weather, after all we were now on the best marked route we had been on for days. When we were about 2/3 of the way up, the cloud lifted and we were rewarded with magnificent views from the top. Lake Constance was beautiful, so we found a great posie for lunch overlooking it. The descent down to Constance was over worn scree that seemed much slipperier than the less traveled scree slopes that we had become accustomed to. When we reached Lake Constance we realised that our fitness had improved through our travels as we had climbed over the 1870m pass without raising a sweat.
It was now a nice stroll around the lake before a steep ascent up to a sidling track around the left edge, before descending to Blue Lake Hut. When we arrived at Blue Lake Hut we were startled by the eyes of the nine other occupants starring at us as we walked in. I felt like I was in the zoo! This seemed like so many people, having not seen anyone for over four days.
Blue Lake – Sabine Hut (6¼ hours)
We had a lazy start to the day and set off just before 10am. After a few days away from the well worn trails, walking along this tourist track felt like a road. Although there were some extensive avalanche chutes to cross over high in the valley, the quality of the track meant that travel was much faster than the signposted track times. The Sabine River was an amazing shade of blue, and offered great views as we traveled down the valley.We were surprised to have the wonderful setting at Sabine Hut to ourselves for the night.
Sabine Hut – Angelus Hut - Robert Ridge – Bushline Hut (8½ Hours)
We left early and began with the steep ascent up to Mt Cedric from Sabine Hut. Some parties had complained in the hut book that this track was too steep and not zig-zagged enough. If it was zig-zagged any further then I guess many more parties would complain it is too zig-zagged - you can’t keep everyone happy! Identifying the summit of Mt Cedric is not the easiest task, since the ridge continues upwards Angelus. From Mt Cedric there are magnificent views over Lake Rotoroa and towards the mouths of the D’Urville and Sabine Rivers. As the track continues towards Lake Angelus the ridge becomes increasingly narrow and rugged. This is not the place to be in strong winds. Luckily the weather remained pretty good, although there were occasional moments when the clag drifted over us. The first signs of Angelus Hut can be seen from a long way off with the long-drop structure clearly visible. As the loo becomes clearer, Lake Angelus comes into view and eventually (5 hours from Sabine) the palatial hut comes into view.
We spent two hours at the hut over lunch as more and more trampers arrived. Because the weather was forecast to get worse in the morning and we were running low on food, we decided to push on along Robert Ridge to Bushline Hut for the night. This option had the added benefit of being able to walk out to big breakfast at Elaine’s Alpine Café. In between the moments of clag, Robert Ridge offered fantastic views over the Wairau Valley, various tarns and Lake Rotoiti. The further along the ridge it became wider and less rugged offering fast travel. We turned left at the ski-field and then across to the right at Paddys Track, and followed it past Kea Hut and onto Bushline Hut. We had fabulous views over St Arnaud and Lake Rotoiti. The loo’s would have offered even better views had they been rotated 90° to face the lake!
Bushline Hut – St Arnaud (2 hours)
Another cruisy start to the day, after using up the remainder of our Huntleigh Palmers cream crackers, cheese and jam for breakfast. We had judged our food rations just right (no leftovers) – not bad planning for nine days! The last two hours of our journey were down the zig-zag of Paddys track, before joining the Lakeside track and finally a road-walk to St Arnaud. We were excited to arrive at Elaine’s Alpine Café for yet another well-earned “big breakfast”.