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Ahead of us on the left are the trees surrounding the Ada homestead.
We begin the long turn around Mt Federation into the Henry Valley. At this point, the river is still hard against the hill and we need to climb the hill for a bit to get round. Just along here a slip or two has left an exceedingly narrow section of track with a reasonable dropoff below it, and it requires all my concentration to edge along this for a metre or two to the other side. There's still a good pic or two to be had though.
We continue round the hillside through fairly dense matagouri, following the orange track markers.
There's more than a bit of irony in the next pic. The tree bearing the avalanche warning circle appears to have been taken out by one of the boulders from an avalanche.
There's that "sidle" word again.
We turn away from the river, and we immediately begin to notice the wind. It is strong, and it is cold.
Somewhere near here we stop for a packs-off and unpack our polyprop tops.
The river is a good way off now and on the horizon is a thickish belt of cloud. The wind is coming straight down the valley into our faces and there is not a lot of shelter.
Around the corner and we begin a passage through about two hours' worth of matagouri scrub
It's an altogether more austere landscape
Up above, we have the first reminder in a while of a world we have temporarily escaped from. The local landscape, for all its austerity, suddenly begins to feel OK again.
We head on up the valley. Mt Federation looms above us to the right.
Around another corner and there's a long fence across the valley, with, of all things, an electric wire running along the top. We climb the stile.
We've made some good ground this morning and when the opportunity of a bit of semi-shelter presents itself, we take advantage of it.
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