OFF the BEATEN TRACK
IT'S SEPTEMBER. First month of spring. My plan is to storm up the Umukarikari Track in the last of the daylight and camp on a shelf at the bushedge. Sure, I'll be in darkness for the last hour or so, but I've done this before. And up there, I'll be perfectly positioned to photograph the sunrise on Ruapehu.
It's windy in the darkening forest, the bush flails, branches crack. As someone who has lived in Wellington for a quarter century, I don't mind wind. But in the mountains, it's unnerving.
The wind is rattling me now. A tops campsite will be exposed and I'm not sure my tent can handle
