Finishing km: 1642
km covered today: 42
After a tough day's walk in the Tararuas, waking up at 05:15 wasn't entirely welcome. But it did mean that Yvonne and I got up and on the trail well before the higher winds and possibility of rain that the weather forecast was predicting.
Even as it was, the weather for the first, exposed portion of the walk wasn't particularly pleasant. The climb up to Mt. Crawford (at 1432m, the highest point on TA North Island outside of the Tongariro Crossing) was done in mist and ~60km/h wind. However just as we reached the summit, the could briefly cleared giving lovely views out to the north and west, showing off the previous day's walk, and the walk yet to come.
And as soon as we headed downwards from Junction Knob, around 07:30, the wind calmed considerably as well. And even though my knees were still a bit store from the pounding they'd taken on the previous day, the 1100m descent down to the Waitewaewae hut was actually pretty easy. I'd noticed on the previous day that there was surprisingly little birdsong in the Tararuas, and this seemed perhaps even more pronounced on the walk down. I'm not quite sure why...
Down in the valley, we had a quick chat with the last of the previous night's residents at the Waitewaewae hut, and Yvonne and I headed off separately to finish the Tararuas section (as it turned out she left first, but I took the low water route that follows through the Otaki River for a while, so ended up passing her without realizing.)
The walk down the river to Otaki Forks was pretty pleasant. There seemed to have been a lot of complaints about a new trail that had been constructed to bypass a major slip (including by the three locals we'd met in the hut) but this must have been only in comparison with the old trail, because I found it to be quick and easy walking.
On arriving at the forks I was tempted to use the road to walk out to Otaki town, then follow State Highway 1 down to Waikanae where I could get a train home to Wellington. It was just a touch shorter than the trail route, but didn't involve climbing over the 812m high Pukeatua. But that felt a little like cheating, so I decided to stick with the official route.
The climb wasn't actually difficult, but it was mildly frustrating due to the seemingly never ending stream of false summits, and the unexpectedly long walk on forest roads once I'd finished the climb back down.
Nevertheless, it was still only around 17:30 when I got to the roadend. And given that it was a mere 11km of roadwalking to Waikanae, there was no way I was going to stop there and pass up the opportunity of seeing Sarah (my partner), having a hot shower and sleeping in my own bed that night (not to mention the fact that I'd left my cooking pot unwashed the previous night on the assumption that I'd manage to get back to Welly before I needed to use it again and could thus clean it in the dishwasher at home.)
The road walk cruised by, and I saw my first familiar face surprisingly early, some 2km outside of Waikanae when a fellow Wellington brewer rode by on his bike. Once in Waikanae I had to choose between stopping at Salt and Wood/North End Brewery for a brisket sandwich and a beer (which I'd been looking forward to for some time) or getting an earlier train back to Wellington to ensure I'd get to see Sarah that evening before her night shift started.
I chose the latter, and while the trip was slowed by buses replacing the train for most of the journey, I still caught Sarah before she left and got to go to bed warm, clean and under my own roof for the first time in over 50 days.
Welcome home me!
Welcome home Llewy!!!
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