Christmas!

December 24th: We were miles away from home in a foreign country and yet we still managed to have a very typical Christmas. We slept in, ate, lounged around, ate some more, and enjoyed the company of our fellow hikers. The Owners of the Holiday Park had promised us a Christmas day feast of wild New Zealand boar so we all eagerly awaited the following day.

We each shared our versions of celebrating Christmas in our respective homes. Crackerjack (who we renamed Prego) told us that in Germany children left out their shoes so Santa could put a little treat in them. Jokingly we concluded that Santa probably wouldn't go anywhere near the hikers shoes.

Maybe Santa Dog will bring us treats?

December 25th: Christmas Day!

We checked our shoes the following day...no treat! South Pole Santa (yes in NZ its South Pole Santa) must have put us all on the naughty list.

Cody wanted to share an American family tradition with everyone so he downloaded A Christmas Story for us all to watch. We shared our movie with 2 other Americans, three Germans, and three Brits (all TA hikers)

After the movie it was time to feast! Phil proved to be an excellent cook. The wild boar had been roasting on a spit for over 4 hours. It was fabulous! All except for the vegetarians dug in.

Santa Dog got plenty of treats

That evening we had a match between team Germany and team Britain/USA. We played trivial pursuit (The 40 year old Australian version) During the first round of beers team Germany won (mostlt by shear luck) But the Brits/US beat them during the second round, guess we got our second wind.

All in all it was a very good Christmas spent with like minded people from all over the world.

Waitomo to Taumurunui

December 20th: We were lucky enough to get a ride from Tom our temporary dorm mate back to where we had left off in Te Kuiti. Tom was from the UK but had been working in New Zealand for a while. While here he purchased a car, model name Demi. He referred to her as Demi Moore (the cougar version that married Ashton Kutcher). She was a very smooth ride.

Once back in Te Kuiti we deliberated on what to do from there. There was 2 days worth of road walking and crappy trails ahead of us; which neither of us wanted to do. We decided to call up a ride since hitching was the next trail head was not an option since it was so remote. We ran into the three German TA walkers crackerjack, owl, and cake. Two out of the three Germans wanted to take the ride with our shuttle from ArtDoc. We were picked up by the owner Monica who gave us a very informative tour of the Maouri aspecs of the town.

It had been getting late and threatening to rain so we all decided to stay at her B&B at a 10$ campsite instead of staying at the trailhead. Coincidentally Margret (another TA hiker) and her Dad were going to be staying there too. It turned out to be a very pleasant stay, the ArtDoc was a treasure trove of artwork and music. Maurice and monica were both artists, Monica especially. She turned out to be a semi famous and very talented Jazz singer.

Their hospitality was amazing, but the best part was learning about the alternate trail that was next to the Te araroa trail. It's called the Timber Trail and it's a new cycling trail that opened up in 2012. We were intrigued because it was supposed to be a developed trail (something we hadn't seen ages) and it was supposed to have 32 bridges. Four of which were suspension bridges, and one as long as 141 meters. It was no contest, we planned to take the timber trail and four of the other TA hikers were going to do the same thing. I think we all needed a break from the terrible trail conditions of the TA. Here is the website for the B&B that we stayed at.  www.artdoc.co.nz



December 21st: We had an amazing breakfast that Monica prepared the following morning.

They gave Cody a heated neck pad, he could barely move from his injury he got in the cave.

Then they gave us all a ride to the trailhead. We hiked till about 6pm to the first camp. Bog inn hut.

Cody skiing his way through the mud to the bog hut.  Ironic.


Otherwise it was the best trail experience we've had in New Zealand.

The swing bridges were just a bonus; this was the first well manicured trail we'd been on.

Better trail, bigger trail markers

December 22nd: The next day we slept in late, then had a wonderful day following the Timber Trail. Which happend to be an old rail line for logging back in the 20's.

Mini railroad spike

Had fun crossing more swing bridges and even saw an eel that had some how made it from the ocean to remote waterfall in the mountains.

We found the eel in the pool behind Cody

It took 3 years to develop an 18 mile section of the Timber Trail (54 miles total) We met the people who had done most of the grunt work along the trail while it was in development. These guys still maintain the trail on a volunteer basis. They are awesome! They're Grandad's used to work on the railroad while it was still in logging operation.

December 23rd: More swing bridges, then we ended the trail early at 1pm. We were saved the road walk and picked up by a shuttle to Taumarurnui. Probably had the most horrible post office experience I've ever had in that town. I asked for tape to reseal our bounce box, which got me sent (with tape) to the back of a very long line then the window closed practically in my face once I got to the counter. I was able to send off the box with the next teller. Merry Christmas to you too!

We had to stop in at the grocery store at the for some provisions for Christmas. Day before Christmas shopping- bad idea.

That evening we stayed at the Holiday Park and was promised a boar dinner for the 25th. All together there were 11 TA hikers at the Holiday Park for Christmas. It was starting to look like it would be a real celebration.

Huntly to Waitomo

December 14th:Huntly to Hamilton

We ascended 1000 stairs today! Yay!
The track was muddy and steep but of course that's nothing new.

                              Trail of roots

Cool thing of note this track relied on volunteers to carry gravel bags to the top for trail maintenance. When we came by there were no bags to carry up. Oh darn.

Final set of stairs

After the track we got a hitch from a very nice lady who drove us right to the hostel we had booked.

December 15th: Rainy day in Hamilton

A weather warning for severe rain kept us one more day in Hamilton. We hid in our room for most of the day while it poured outside. Only coming out to resupply at the nearest grocery store.

Wanted to throw in real quick the inn keeper at YHA in Hamilton is amazing. Yvonne is very quick, funny, and extraordinarily kind. I saw her give up her own mattress for some guests to use at the fully booked in. She had also let 3 German TA walkers camp out on her living room. Just more evidence that Kiwi folk are the nicest people in the world.

Fun fact about Yvonne, she used to run a mini rehabilitation site for wood pigeons. Apparently they can over eat themselves to the point of where they can't fly. Or they can eat themselves drunk off of fermented berries (Puriri.) Knowing that now makes these birds seem 10x as awesome.

             Yvonne and the German TA walkers Cracker Jack and Owl

December 15th and 16th: Hamilton to Pirongia Mountain

We left Hamil-hole (term used by locals) and set off for Mt. Pirongia early -ish the next morning. Ending the day at a beautiful picnic area at the start of the Pirongia trail.

Coolest thing about today was finding a hedgehog!

The next morning we explored some nearby caves before heading out on the trail. We found cave Weta in the caves which were the first that we had seen. No we did not feed them.

After a fair bit of steep climbing we then dove in head first into the mud. The whole day was a steep muddy climb, obviously the heavy rain the previous day did us no favors.

We had planned on hiking the trail section of Mt Pirongia then hitching to Waitomo once we came across the nearest road.

Well things don't always go according to plan...

At the highest point of the trek we met 3 guys dressed in city clothes and inproper shoes. They had little mud on them, and since we were covered head to toe that looked like a good sign for the track to come.

They said that they were heading down to the carpark which was about 4 hours away and that it was muddy but not as bad as what we went through. That was exciting news, and they had a car at the end of the carpark....
Maybe we could hitch a ride. We let the guys walk ahead of us and had a snack and enjoyed the view at the top of the mountain. Mistake # 1, don't assume anything.

We headed down the track then came to a sing that said carpark 4 hours...but it was on a track that the official trail didn't take. Wanting to catch up with those guys, wanting a ride, and keen on getting out of the mud and onto a supposed easier track We followed the fresh footprints they'd left behind.

We were about halfway in before we realized the terrible mistake we'd made. The trail started off ok then turned steeply down. Steep is an understatement, it was damn near a mud slide covered in tree roots with soupy swamp mixed in. This track brought a whole new level of suck that we'd never experienced before. After the mud came the trail re route that took us up a rock slide. After that came the chains. Why on earth is it a good idea to have a trail literally on the very tip of a peak? Not much room to move around with backpacks on. The chain was to aid you in your rock climb up the peak.

We were on the wrong track, and those 3 city guys sure as hell didn't climb this track. By the time we hit the chains we were 85% complete with a road in site displayed on the GPS. That was our comforting thought...until we got to the road.

This is O'Shea road. Which turned out to be a mixture of trail and farmland. It never ends!

We finally came to the "carpark" which looked like it could hold one car. It also was on a very remote residential road for farmers. Not very official looking at all. No trail signs or markers really you were just supposed to know that you could access this trail through private farmland. Weird.

After the trail from hell we hitched into town and then began hitching in earnest trying to get to Waitomo. We had booked a cabin for the night and were 45 kilometers from our destination.

We had told ourselves we would be out there till it was dark since our 95$ room was at stake....and we waited...and waited. No one was willing to pick us up. It was almost 9pm and probably the wrong time of day to catch a ride.

Rob and his dog Bluey pulled up in a pickup and asked if we needed a place to camp for the night. He explained that he'd been by in a work truck 3 times before and had seen us hitching. He seemed like a nice normal guy so we hoped in and headed 5 minutes up the road. Finally admitting defeat.

He offered us his spare bedroom and let us use his fancy shower while he was away on errands. Really nice guy. Turns out he'd done A LOT of traveling in the states and had been in similar situations as us and wanted to lend a helping hand. Like paying it forward for all the times he got help while traveling.

Next morning he was heading to Waitomo anyways so he'd take us then.

All night he entertained us with stories about his travels in America. We had a lot of fun going through old scrap books on his livingroom floor.

Rob and his awesome blue heeler Bluey


December 17th: Private cave tour in Waitomo

That morning he made us breakfast!

Then delivered Cody and I to the Holiday park in Waitomo. Leaving us with a promise of a cave tour on his families private land later that afternoon.

You know those experiences that you have that you know will stay with you for the rest of your life? Today we had an experience like that; it ranked as one of the best times I've ever had.

Rob picked us up and took us to his family farm for a private tour of the cave on their property. Just the scenery around the cave was jaw dropping.

The entrance to the cave looked like a scene from jurassic park. A gigantic opening strewn with plants and a small stream running through it. Rob had bought large flashlights for our expedition. His dog Bluey also came along for the trip.

We walked through a tunnel that was large enough for a cathedral to fit in. It took about 15 minutes to reach the other side. On the way we saw many cave eels hanging around pools in the stream. Cave eels are white unlike the black river eels we were used to seeing in New Zealand.

Reaching the other side of the cave was truly special. After a 15 minute walk in pitch dark you see this sunlit green opening that leads to a larger stream.

We walked along the stream for a ways, throwing rocks and sticks for Bluey to chase.

After the cave Rob continued to play tour guide and took us around the family farm. We enjoyed a beer and chat with his brother.

His brother now owned the family farm. 1,000 acres of land for sheep and cows to graze on. It was very steep land; apparently they had trouble hiring drivers to collect the hay on their hills. Rob explained it all pretty simply, because they grew up on the land they knew how to work it so it wasn't that steep to them. I made a connection to NZ trails, which are steep with no switchbacks. We thought at first that their trails were just crappy on the north island. Now we know the truth...it's just what Kiwis are used to and all the trails will be like this. The scenery here is beautiful, but I sure do miss the trail standards back home.

The natural bridge was another wonder. It was just a limestone bridge that was created by water.

December 18th: Waitomo to Te Kuiti

Today we planned on hiking Waitomo to Te Kuiti a short 17km walk through farmland- We've now learned to dread farm sections. They are usually lacking in trail markers and the "trails" vary greatly. Most of the time there is no trail and you're dependant on the orange triangles to guide the way... that's where things get tricky. We hate it when farmers put markers in inconspicuous places. Like the side of the hill buried in the grass. How are we supposed to see that?!

Luckily today we'd planned on leaving most of our stuff in the room and hitching back from the grocery store to our room. Effectively killing 2 birds with one stone by getting the resupply and trail miles done with.
The hike through farmland to Te Kuiti was probably the worst we've had yet.

Unmarked, steep, slippery, muddy, bushy, and a new one...prickly!

t

About a whole kilometer squeezing through a tunnel of pure hell.

I believe it's called the Matagouri bush or "Wild Irishman"

Once we got out of the farm track and into town we resupplied at the New World supermarket in Te Kuiti then hitched back up to the Waitomo caves.

That evening we went on a night walk from 8:30 to 11 in search of glow worms. We found plenty, they just proved very hard to photograph. I need to work on my night time shots.

December 19th: Cave Tour in Waitomo

Today we went on the Black Odyssey Tour with Black water rafting. It was awesome!

We repelled down into a 110ft very narrow cave entrance.

Zip lined in pitch dark passed glow worms.

Tubed in freezing river in the cave wearing 10mm thick wet suits.

Climbed up water falls and squeezed through narrow tunnels.

Glow worms are fascinating bugs. They are actually maggots that produce a glow from their bottom to attract bugs into their webs. After 9 months of life as a cave dweller they spin a cocoon around themselves and eventually emerge as flies. They have 72 hours to find a mate outside if the cave and have been known to get it on for 48 hours straight. Our guide then put in that 48 hours was not uncommon for kiwi men-yeah right.

We're staying at a mixed dorm tonight, this is our first time so should be an interesting experience. So far our bunk mates seem pretty nice. One Germans couple and two Brits that might give us a hitch into Te Kuiti in the morning.

Stay tuned for pictures of the cave tour, they are all on a thumb drive and I have to transfer them over when I have a computer. 

Auckland to Huntly Trail Day 27-30

December 9th: Auckland to Clevedon

Wanting to get as far away from Auckland before walking we took a bus out of the city to a smaller suburb close to an actual trailhead.

We resupplied at a countdown in the mall - still not used to supermarkets inside malls.

We stayed the night in Clevedon, had fish and chips and camped close to the main road in town. You'd think the traffic would die down in a sleepy little town. Oh no... logging trucks go 24/7. We got very little sleep.

December 10th: Clevedon to Wairoa Dam

Running on no sleep we headed into the Hanua Range happy to finally be back in the Forrest. The afterglow didn't last long. As normal, the trail went straight up and straight down the mountain range-no switchbacks. It wouldn't be so bad if it was dry but at that moment the trail was very soggy. Mud up to the ankles so we skated up and down the trail with occasional breaks to walk over slippery tree roots.

Reaching Wairoa Dam was a welcome relief. We crawled into our tents at 6pm, which was lucky because it started raining by 6:30.

Sometime in the night both Cody and I were woken by a loud crash. A huge tree had toppled over. We had seen healthy seeming trees down in the mud and wondered if this tree suffered the same fate since it had been raining so much. I had a quick image recall back to the trees around our tent- all small. Good. Back to sleep at least knowing that we weren't going to get squished.

Flooding the tent is a whole different story though and a very real concern if the rain had been heavy enough. The tent bottom that we have is not optimal for heavy rain and as soon as we got into town we sent off for a replacement. Wish it was here already, hopefully we won't have any massive storms.

December 11th: Wairoa Dam to Mercer

Last night it rained steadily for over 12 hours which was enough to create a marsh like environment around the tent. We cooked breakfast (instant oats) in a light drizzle and proceeded to pack up with our rain jackets on.

Because of yesterday's muddy trail conditions which were very wet before the rain we opted to road walk the last section of the Huana Range since it was described as worse than the previous section in our trail notes.

After a lengthy road walk our day ended in Mercer; a small truck stop town that used to be a biker hangout.

We hadn't many good campsite options and both of us were ready for a good night's sleep undisturbed by highway sounds or rain. Instead of taking the offer of "free" camping we booked a room and slept very well.

December 12th: Mercer to Huntly

It's our 1 month trail anniversary! We pigged out on a stack of pancakes, each had full breakfast platters, and a pile of bacon on rolls for dessert. Yes we are fatty's, I impressed myself this morning by still being able to pack up my pack and load up after all that.

Today's route was a mixture of farmland, stopbank, and major hwy. All of which were equally unpleasant. Farmland and stopbanks tend to be very overgrown and poorly signed. The previous day we had had a problem with the track going into Mercer. Grass above our heads while walking the stopbank...no fun. We did not complete that section.

Obviously walking major highways aren't at the top of our list. Especially with very little shoulder and large semi's rolling by. We have affectionately started referring to these as Mordors because of the ominous sounds they make. Semi's here are split loads or two parts, probably so they can drive "safely" down narrow, windy, highways. Which safety is really just an after thought; getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible and keeping above the speed limit is really the main goal. As you might have guessed we try to avoid them as much as we can.

Not wanting to go through all that again we intended to skip onto Rangiriri (half way point) and continue on a small road to Huntly. About 17 km walk for the day. After about an hour of trying to hitch we had resigned to the fact that maybe luck was not on our side.

Trail magic comes during the time of most need. As a last ditch effort we walked into the towns very small history and art museum. The owner and another lady were chatting away. We asked if they knew of anyone in town that we could pay for a ride. They didn't, but the lady who was not the owner said that she'd take us to the next town. Which happens to be 15 km in the opposite direction from where she was heading. She also refused to accept our offer of gas money. The people here really continue to amaze me with their generosity.

She dropped us off at the battle grounds in Rangiriri right next to a little museum. We decided to educate ourselves before continuing on about the history of New Zealands great battle. British and Maori tribesman fought over control of the fertile land in this region. The Maori used trench warefare and guns that the british had traded with them previously.

   A single shot gun that could then be used a battle axe when empty

Despite their efforts the british were overpowering them and the battle ended in surrender with roughly 40 killed on both sides. The Maori claim (still to this day) that they did not surrender but threw up a white flag for negotiations and were tricked into surrender.

"Does that look like a face that could be tricked to you?" -Cody

We road walked to the next town after our tour. We were the second group to visit the museum in 4 weeks. Talk about a happening place.

Getting to Huntly by 5:30 we had enough time to grab some Indian food before heading to the campsite...And continuing with the trend of this hike, Cody and I left the restaurant feeling like tics about to pop. Definitely well worth it though, best Indian food so far.

TA walkers go here for great Indian food

The campsite in Huntly was very beautiful...and literally right on the other side of the track of the dodgy end of town. Lots of graffiti and shady looking people.

9 AM breathalyzer check on a saturday morning

Saw a 10 year old pick up someone's used lit cigarette off the ground for a puff. Yummy. Walking across the bridge into town we passed a few young teens probably between the ages of 13-16 with arm tattoos. Despite the rough image, people were still friendly. We just didn't want to hang around after dark.

Anyways back to the campground- It's an oasis for sure. The camp hosts were very accommodating and the prices were the best so far. 10$ each NZ. Normally we've been paying 15-20 per person per night for a tent site. Steep I know!

Off to bed soon, my new sleeping pad is working great. Just thankful that it holds air, it's the little things.