We woke to the sound of rain on the tin roof of the hut, and although the forecast was for the rain to clear through the day, we were worried that there would have been just enough rain to churn up the mud that the Rakiura Track is famous for.
As we had breakfast and packed up to leave, the rain started to ease up and we decided to head out. Luckily the advantage of walking through such dense forest is that the light rain was barely able to penetrate the thick canopy. After an hour or so the rain stopped altogether and we were able to get a couple of glimpses out across the forest.
The second day of the Raikura Great Walk takes you across the island, the track meanders through the forest, at times following old saw mill roads and at others winding steeply up the wooded hillsides. Although much of the original forest was harvested in the late eighteen hundreds, the climate here has allowed a lot of vegetation to regrow.
We stopped for lunch beside one of the many rivers we crossed as we made our way over the island. Leaving the river behind the trail started to climb until it became a steep, staircase straight through the forest. This section of the track followed an old log hauler route and at the top of the incline we stopped to catch our breath and take a look a the old equipment. Unusually, the two steam haulers had been abandoned here when milling finished in 1931, rather than being removed.
We made our way down the hill towards the north coast, making the final turn towards Port William Hut where we would be staying for the night. We could hear the waves breaking on the rocks below us, but it wasn’t until some time later that we finally got a glimpse of the jetty at Port Willam through the trees.
We arrived at Port William hut and after getting settled and having a quick snack, we made our way down to the beach to relax for the rest of the afternoon. The easier tracks and the slightly shorter distances between the huts on the Great Walks meant that we are often able to finish the hike a little earlier in the day and enjoy the extra time to take in our surroundings.
We returned to the hut for dinner, which had great views out across the bay we would be hiking around the next day.