November 16th and 17th: Herekino forest track
We woke up that morning to intermittent heavy rain-typical, it must have known we were going to be starting a monster track. Both Herekino and Reatea the two tracks coming up had a reputation for massive suck factor. Down trees, steep hills, and mud awaited us. Bring on the rain NZ, we can take it. We did leave a bit later than what we should have (11am). Waiting between rain storms and taking our time in the warm kitchen eating eggs and boild potatoes (new favorite hearty breakfast) didn't help us get out the door in a timely manor. Still we got out there, and the suck factor surpassed our expectations.
Yes it was beautiful, and being in a semi tropical rainforest did have a cool appeal to it. But when I imagined hiking through the jungle I envisioned a hot meander through dense vegetation with lots of wildlife. In reality we slogged through shin deep mud, on a "track" that more closely resembled a game trail. And I've never missed switchbacks so much in my life! This trail went straight up the mountain and straight down. Most of the "hike" was controlled skating and clamoring to grab ahold of any plant to stabilize our graceful decent. We did not see any wildlife but that was ok since the trees made up for it.
This is where we first saw a Kauri tree. The Kauri are prehistoric giants, thousands of years old and larger than school buses in some cases. Before people came to the Island there used to be many Kauri, but most of them got turned into boat material and large tables- seriously we've seen a lot of fancy tables made out of Kauri. Weird.
Anyways it took us two 1/2 days to get out of the mud pile since the first day was started late and the second day was only half spent in the forest. All I can say is, I've never been happier to see a beautiful, dry, dirt road. I could have kissed it.
Cody and I had heard a story about a hiker that had gone through the forest and had such a rough time that he fell and broke his trekking poles. Well the story was true and we found one. Cody made a shrine out of it with a possum skull.
November 18th: Road walk to Reatea Forest
The road walk was largely uneventful apart from a finding that a TA marker was pointed in the wrong direction. We went a ways before I consulted the GPS- then turned back around up the hill to find a pair of hikers with a map out at that exact junction. They informed us it was pointed the wrong way, which we had just found out...the hard way. After introductions we discovered we had a celebrity encounter.
Mina Holder from the UK is attempting to be the first female to thru run the whole TA (1800 miles) in 80 days. Follow her at Run NZ on facebook. We had run into her and one of her support crew Adam. Both were very nice down to earth people. They ran off after the conversation and we plodded doggedly along, with heavy packs and clumsy walking sticks. Before leaving Cody did fix the marker that was pointed the wrong way.
We continued down the road making our way to Reatea Forest where we'd find a place to camp at the start of the trail. It was about 7:30 pm when we decided to look for a place to stop. Walking past a run down shack with trash and broken cars in front we decided this was the spot to filter water. Bad idea...
Here is where we had our first mountain hippy encounter. A dirty, emaciated red bearded youth came out to great us. His clothes were torn and his fingernails had grown creepy long and we're very dirty. The guy could hardly string a sentence together but he did make clear that he could offer us a place to stay for some cash to get his "camping facility" up and running. The "camp ground" was piled up with trash and old cars. Cody gave him a couple bucks hoping he'd buzz off but unfortunately he didn't take the hint. Another skinny old hippy joined us as we were filtering water, this one had dreadlocks and walked with a staff. Cody asked what they did for fun, since it wasn't clear how they were successfully surviving way out in the remote mountains of Reatea. The older one replied "well I'm about to take a bath in my WW2 bathtub, that's fun." That was enough to send us further up the road in search of a cleaner, less creepy campsite. We found one closer to the trail and far away from any dirty hippies.
November 19th: Reatea Forest
Welcome to hell.
I'll spare you most of the details and just touch on the highlights of the day. Tons of down trees which were difficult to get around especially for Cody who wears two full knee braces. The trail was pretty much all mud and has some of the highest peaks in the north Island. When Kiwis decide to make the trail go up it goes straight up. And of course it will bring you straight down in a hurry too. Not good when the trail is overgrown, obviously never maintained, and is 97% mud/ bog. We were in up to our knees in some parts. Luckily we could still make out Mina and Adams footprints sliding around the track and it was reashering that someone else had alreafy made it tgrough successfully. It was a very long day that did eventually end at 8:30pm. We moved about a kilometer an hour through the forest (.621 of a mile) I had a bad slip and slid a ways down a hill; luckily a sharp branch broke my fall. Dont worry, it did not break the skin but I did get a pretty nasty bruise from it. We were both very happy to be done with Reatea.
While exiting the farm at the base of the forest we ran into one of the trail makers. Robert on his horse when we stopped him, he had been making his rounds about the mountain checking his possum traps. A burlap sack strung to his saddle was proof of his profession and the days good catch.
He told us that possums had come from Australia and that they were taking over NZ. Which is surprising because their numbers are low in OZ. Anyways possum hunting is encouraged and apparently profitable. So Robert and his 28 year old horse spend most of the year trapping possums which then get turned into hats and jackets. Their fur actually is quite nice, and if you look up the Australian possum you'll find that unlike American possums they are actually really cute. Aside from Roberts possum hunting he had volunteered to help make the Reatea trail. I didn't want to say this but it could use some touching up, and a few switchbacks too.
November 20th: Jacksons wet weather bypass
We hiked a short bit to get into town where we were promised a small store for resupply. The two had a very nice little Maori radio station and the DJ (his name was G) took us in and let us listen while he was working. We'd herd only American Music since coming to NZ so it was refreshing to here some local music. In this case it was Kiwi reggae. G told us that some bad weather could possible come in by the next day so we decided to take the Jackson wet weather bypass instead of the forest track coming up. G offered to give us a lift through the bypass and both of us gratefully took him up. Wanting to get to Kerikeri (the next big town) before bad weather.
Keeping to the trend, G drove like a kiwi up the dirt road to the Puketi DOC campground. When Cody asked him if he was ever a rally car racer G responded with yanking the E brake in a sliding skid across the dirt road. We had a lot of fun with him. Very cool guy who knew a lot about the culture and history of the Maori people.
The campground in Puketi forest was beautiful, and had more Kauri trees! We also met up with Mina the trail runner again and had a nice long chat over tea. We traded trail stories about what we'd seen and experienced separately on the trail. That might we had our first possum encounter, which was more cute than annoying. The little thing first tried very hard to sneak up on us but we could hear it Russell ing around the trees and falling or landing heavily with and occasional thump. It finally got up the guts to creep up to the pots which were just outside the tent door when Cody told it firmly "no!" A couple of times then it finally went away. I found that the possum cuteness factor outweighed it's annoying antics to get our food.
November 21st: hiking to Kerikeri
We hiked onto KeriKeri which was
promised to be a largeish town where we could get a proper resupply for food. The original plan was to stay in KeriKeri Kerikeri that night and take a zero day to give our knees a break yes even mine were hurting. Mina the runner also suffered knee trouble after the Reatea stretch. Both Cody and I are YHA members which gives us a special discount for those hostels. Kerikeri didn't have any, but its prettier neighboring beach town did so we decided to hitch down and take a zero day there (in Piahia) to stay at the YHA for 2 nights. Spoiled I know.
November 22nd: zero day
Welcome to the Germans party zone. Cody and I didn't get much sleep the previous night because our hostel was overrun with partying Germans on holiday. It seems like every hostel we have come to has been overun. And what is with Germans and techno? They blasted terrible music till about midnight. Then the cops came to arrest some drunk people singing loudly in the streets. Then at 2 am some Kiwis decided our window was the perfect place to stand next to for a very loud drunken chat. Finally Cody and I did get some sleep despite the Germans.
Our zero day in Paihia was nice, we planned the next leg of our journey, charged batteries, did laundry, watched an ocean swim competition, ate A LOT, and enjoyed beautiful rainbow filled sunsets on the beach.
All in all a very nice day. Now if only those Germans could let me go to sleep. Who's bright idea was it to give them fireworks anyways?
We woke up that morning to intermittent heavy rain-typical, it must have known we were going to be starting a monster track. Both Herekino and Reatea the two tracks coming up had a reputation for massive suck factor. Down trees, steep hills, and mud awaited us. Bring on the rain NZ, we can take it. We did leave a bit later than what we should have (11am). Waiting between rain storms and taking our time in the warm kitchen eating eggs and boild potatoes (new favorite hearty breakfast) didn't help us get out the door in a timely manor. Still we got out there, and the suck factor surpassed our expectations.
Yes it was beautiful, and being in a semi tropical rainforest did have a cool appeal to it. But when I imagined hiking through the jungle I envisioned a hot meander through dense vegetation with lots of wildlife. In reality we slogged through shin deep mud, on a "track" that more closely resembled a game trail. And I've never missed switchbacks so much in my life! This trail went straight up the mountain and straight down. Most of the "hike" was controlled skating and clamoring to grab ahold of any plant to stabilize our graceful decent. We did not see any wildlife but that was ok since the trees made up for it.
This is where we first saw a Kauri tree. The Kauri are prehistoric giants, thousands of years old and larger than school buses in some cases. Before people came to the Island there used to be many Kauri, but most of them got turned into boat material and large tables- seriously we've seen a lot of fancy tables made out of Kauri. Weird.
Anyways it took us two 1/2 days to get out of the mud pile since the first day was started late and the second day was only half spent in the forest. All I can say is, I've never been happier to see a beautiful, dry, dirt road. I could have kissed it.
Cody and I had heard a story about a hiker that had gone through the forest and had such a rough time that he fell and broke his trekking poles. Well the story was true and we found one. Cody made a shrine out of it with a possum skull.
November 18th: Road walk to Reatea Forest
The road walk was largely uneventful apart from a finding that a TA marker was pointed in the wrong direction. We went a ways before I consulted the GPS- then turned back around up the hill to find a pair of hikers with a map out at that exact junction. They informed us it was pointed the wrong way, which we had just found out...the hard way. After introductions we discovered we had a celebrity encounter.
Mina Holder from the UK is attempting to be the first female to thru run the whole TA (1800 miles) in 80 days. Follow her at Run NZ on facebook. We had run into her and one of her support crew Adam. Both were very nice down to earth people. They ran off after the conversation and we plodded doggedly along, with heavy packs and clumsy walking sticks. Before leaving Cody did fix the marker that was pointed the wrong way.
We continued down the road making our way to Reatea Forest where we'd find a place to camp at the start of the trail. It was about 7:30 pm when we decided to look for a place to stop. Walking past a run down shack with trash and broken cars in front we decided this was the spot to filter water. Bad idea...
Here is where we had our first mountain hippy encounter. A dirty, emaciated red bearded youth came out to great us. His clothes were torn and his fingernails had grown creepy long and we're very dirty. The guy could hardly string a sentence together but he did make clear that he could offer us a place to stay for some cash to get his "camping facility" up and running. The "camp ground" was piled up with trash and old cars. Cody gave him a couple bucks hoping he'd buzz off but unfortunately he didn't take the hint. Another skinny old hippy joined us as we were filtering water, this one had dreadlocks and walked with a staff. Cody asked what they did for fun, since it wasn't clear how they were successfully surviving way out in the remote mountains of Reatea. The older one replied "well I'm about to take a bath in my WW2 bathtub, that's fun." That was enough to send us further up the road in search of a cleaner, less creepy campsite. We found one closer to the trail and far away from any dirty hippies.
November 19th: Reatea Forest
Welcome to hell.
I'll spare you most of the details and just touch on the highlights of the day. Tons of down trees which were difficult to get around especially for Cody who wears two full knee braces. The trail was pretty much all mud and has some of the highest peaks in the north Island. When Kiwis decide to make the trail go up it goes straight up. And of course it will bring you straight down in a hurry too. Not good when the trail is overgrown, obviously never maintained, and is 97% mud/ bog. We were in up to our knees in some parts. Luckily we could still make out Mina and Adams footprints sliding around the track and it was reashering that someone else had alreafy made it tgrough successfully. It was a very long day that did eventually end at 8:30pm. We moved about a kilometer an hour through the forest (.621 of a mile) I had a bad slip and slid a ways down a hill; luckily a sharp branch broke my fall. Dont worry, it did not break the skin but I did get a pretty nasty bruise from it. We were both very happy to be done with Reatea.
No we did not wright "I hate Raetea"
While exiting the farm at the base of the forest we ran into one of the trail makers. Robert on his horse when we stopped him, he had been making his rounds about the mountain checking his possum traps. A burlap sack strung to his saddle was proof of his profession and the days good catch.
He told us that possums had come from Australia and that they were taking over NZ. Which is surprising because their numbers are low in OZ. Anyways possum hunting is encouraged and apparently profitable. So Robert and his 28 year old horse spend most of the year trapping possums which then get turned into hats and jackets. Their fur actually is quite nice, and if you look up the Australian possum you'll find that unlike American possums they are actually really cute. Aside from Roberts possum hunting he had volunteered to help make the Reatea trail. I didn't want to say this but it could use some touching up, and a few switchbacks too.
November 20th: Jacksons wet weather bypass
We hiked a short bit to get into town where we were promised a small store for resupply. The two had a very nice little Maori radio station and the DJ (his name was G) took us in and let us listen while he was working. We'd herd only American Music since coming to NZ so it was refreshing to here some local music. In this case it was Kiwi reggae. G told us that some bad weather could possible come in by the next day so we decided to take the Jackson wet weather bypass instead of the forest track coming up. G offered to give us a lift through the bypass and both of us gratefully took him up. Wanting to get to Kerikeri (the next big town) before bad weather.
Keeping to the trend, G drove like a kiwi up the dirt road to the Puketi DOC campground. When Cody asked him if he was ever a rally car racer G responded with yanking the E brake in a sliding skid across the dirt road. We had a lot of fun with him. Very cool guy who knew a lot about the culture and history of the Maori people.
The campground in Puketi forest was beautiful, and had more Kauri trees! We also met up with Mina the trail runner again and had a nice long chat over tea. We traded trail stories about what we'd seen and experienced separately on the trail. That might we had our first possum encounter, which was more cute than annoying. The little thing first tried very hard to sneak up on us but we could hear it Russell ing around the trees and falling or landing heavily with and occasional thump. It finally got up the guts to creep up to the pots which were just outside the tent door when Cody told it firmly "no!" A couple of times then it finally went away. I found that the possum cuteness factor outweighed it's annoying antics to get our food.
November 21st: hiking to Kerikeri
We hiked onto KeriKeri which was
November 22nd: zero day
Welcome to the Germans party zone. Cody and I didn't get much sleep the previous night because our hostel was overrun with partying Germans on holiday. It seems like every hostel we have come to has been overun. And what is with Germans and techno? They blasted terrible music till about midnight. Then the cops came to arrest some drunk people singing loudly in the streets. Then at 2 am some Kiwis decided our window was the perfect place to stand next to for a very loud drunken chat. Finally Cody and I did get some sleep despite the Germans.
Our zero day in Paihia was nice, we planned the next leg of our journey, charged batteries, did laundry, watched an ocean swim competition, ate A LOT, and enjoyed beautiful rainbow filled sunsets on the beach.
All in all a very nice day. Now if only those Germans could let me go to sleep. Who's bright idea was it to give them fireworks anyways?
We skipped ahead to paihia for our zero day and will be walking a section of trail backwards for a day to make up the part we missed. Then we will hitch back south to paihia again and resume the trail there. It's crazy, but it'll work.
ReplyDeleteWow! The photos are amazing! What a beautiful place! As I look down at the office floor, I see no mud or downed trees. Excellent!
ReplyDelete