overland track part 3

It snowed fairly steadily through the night, so we decided to press on to the next hut which was only 3 hours walk (we hoped). Terry had to be convinced to not head back on his own, but for better or worse to press on with us until the end. Terry had joined our party from the beginning and probably wouldn't have begun the walk if he hadn't teamed up with us. We now felt responsible for him and didn't want to send him back through terrible country on his own, without knowing if he ever made it, at least not for another 5 or 6 days. His main reason for heading back was that he was really not prepared in terms of gear. Terry was a sculptor who lived in Kings Croos and his clothing, boots (blundstones which let in moisture) and sleeping bag were really designed for a much tamer place. We promised to lend him as much extra gear that we could spare, so off we went.
Although there was snow, ice and water in abundance we made pretty good time to the hut in 2.5 hours. It was good to get out of the cold and discover a really nice hut (Windermere) which overlooked the lake (when we could see it). We debated about whether or not to press on to Pelion Hut which was another 6 hours away. We really didn't want to be caught out and set up the tents as the weather was foul. Anyway, the heater was working. In the end that clinched it as we couldn't be sure that the heater would be working at Pelion (which it wasn't!) and we didn't really want to continue to be wet and cold. It ended up being a good decision as the weather really came in as can be seen by the amount of snow outside the hut. Even so, it didn't prevent a healthy dose of hut fever from creeping in. There is only so much that you can do during an extended session in a hut when it is snowing outside.
I had expected the huts to have a lot more people in them, but the weather had prevented that. Later on we found out that no other group had come through our end for 3 days, most being told they were not allowed to come through, so we were not going to get any company soon. Luckily we had left when we did.
The next day began well with quite beautiful scenery with everything covered in a blanket of snow. What a privelege to experience such a place! Even though it was pretty it was tough going. Dan did a great job in ploughing new ground through the snow, but I found it hard to walk in his footrpints as he is too damn tall. As we decended towards frog flats through the forests the snow turned to rain. Guaranteed to keep you dry hey! Wet weather gear is only able to handle so much, especially went bucketloads of moisture are coming from your own body in the form of sweat. Breathable is a realtive term :-). Bring back the snow anyday. Four hours of pouring rain, mud, puddles and roots. Ah roots. They are not good things to trust your feet too. After a while you just trudge through the mud and water not even bothering with finding dryer ground. It is much easier and you are already wet anyway.
It was a welcome relief to finally reach Pelion Hut and I was quietly thankful that we hadn't tried to push through the day before. Pelion Hut is a very large new hut able to sleep about 60 people. Unfortunately, due it it's size it is very cold and we were very wet. When the heater is not working there is no way to dry clothes in a room that is struggling to stay above zero. At times like that it would be better not to have a thermometer in the room. At least our sleeping bags were warm and dry. All except Terry's.