Te Araroa Day 60, Home to Island Bay

Starting km: 1721
Finishing km: 1733
km covered today: 12

This day marked the day I reached the southern terminus of TAs North Island section (though as I wasn't doing the Wellington region quite in order, it wasn't the day I finished my personal north island walk.)

As with much of the rest of the Wellington section, I'd walked pretty much all of this one before.  Though I'd never actually gone to the trouble to look around the park where it finishes to see what (if anything) was at the endpoint.  As it turned out there was a nice brass plaque stuck a bit oddly right in front of a slightly more informative plastic map.

As I'd walked this section before and was in a bit of a hurry to get it done to head back home and meet Sarah (and other friends) afterwards, I really didn't take many photos of what is actually a very pleasant walk.  But there are a few that I got right at the end.

Te Araroa Day 58, Porirua to Home

Starting km: 1687
Finishing km: 1721
km covered today: 34

I'd done almost all of the official Te Araroa route for this section multiple times, so I decided to modify it and walk somewhere new.  Instead of following the high ridgelines of the Northern Walkway and Skyline tracks, I followed the Tawa valley track, then some residential streets before returning to the official track on Lambton Quay (Wellington's main shopping street.)  I'd spent literally years walking over the brass Te Araroa direction signs embedded in the paving bricks of the street, so it felt really special to walk this section as part of my Te Araroa.

While walking, I spent most of the time listening to podcasts.  I'd spent virtually no time plugged in or listening to anything on while walking before arriving in Wellington, so this was a bit of a novelty.  I especially enjoyed catching up on The Long Way Home, a Radio NZ podcast documenting one walker's experiences on Te Araroa.  Fortunately I seem to have been having a luckier time of it than its host Bruce Hopkins, who has been plagued with a wide variety of misfortunes along the way (but who has also seen some of the same kindness of trail angels and camaraderie amongst walkers as I've been experiencing.)

Te Araroa Day 56, Waikanae to Paekakariki

Starting km: 1642
Finishing km: 1664
km covered today: 22

I'd planned to spend a while in Wellington, spending time with Sarah and other friends, eating and drinking lots of nice food and just generally living it up.

But there was still a bit of walking to do to cover the 91km between Waikanae and the terminus of Te Araroa's North Island route in Island Bay.

The first day of walking was one of the longer ones, but was pretty pleasant and easy.  It started with a train out to Waikanae and that brisket sandwich and beer that I'd missed out on when I came down from the Tararuas (as well as a very pleasant chat with my mate Kieran, who was busily at work in the brewery when I stopped by.)

The remainder of the day was spent on a nice trail alongside the Waikanae River (and later it's estuary) before 12km or so cruising down the beach to Paekakariki, where I ran into another mate, Gwilym who was about to hop on the train at the same time as me, so I had pleasant company for the ride home.

One of my favourite things about living in Wellington is how regularly one runs into friends and acquaintances over the course of a day, and my time back in the city, even the time spent while doing official TA walking, was proving it.

Te Araroa Day 51, Nicholls Hut to Waikanae

Starting km: 1600
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!

Te Araroa Day 50, Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre to Nicholls Hut

Starting km: 1569
Finishing km: 1600
km covered today: 31

I'd set myself up for (at least the possibility of) a long day headed into the Tararua Mountains.  As such, I departed at 06:15, leaving a thank-you note for my fine hosts at the Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre (it was soooo nice not having to pack up a tent in the morning!) before leaving.

The day began with a short road walk to the start of the track into the Tararuas (complete with a sign from the local Rotary club warning walkers of the need to be well prepared, leave their intentions with someone reliable and to travel in groups of at least four [two out of three ain't bad.])  The toilets were, interestingly, over a stile in a field full of bulls.  I'm pretty sure they were more curious than aggressive, but I still walked with a mix of slow, quiet patience and quick scrambling towards the end when visiting them.

Following a short section along the river, I met Yvonne and Leigh (who had left earlier than I) before starting up the Gable End track.  Up indeed!  And up and up and up.  800 vertical metres of climbing later, Yvonne and I were above the bush line.

This was, rather irritatingly, followed almost immediately by 300m of steep descent (which felt like a lot more), giving back way too much of the climbing we'd just done.  Then by 200m of climbing (which, unusually, felt like considerably less) to regain much of that.

Lunch at the Te Matawai Hut was followed by another looong climb up to the 1432m summit of Pukematawai.

And things only got tougher from there.  The next section of track included lots of steep (if not terribly long) ups and downs on rough, sometimes loose trail.  This wasn't anything terribly surprising for the Tararuas, which are full of this sort of track.  But it was nice to have absolutely beautiful weather (almost no wind and just a bit of cloud, which was surprising for the Tararuas, which probably average 60km/h and have 200 days a year with rain) and Yvonne nearby, just in case something unexpected and unpleasant happened.

It was something of a relief to get back into the bush, but the tough walking didn't end, with more steep, bumpy track.  The forest was also often thin enough to leave you exposed to long falls if you slipped at the wrong time.  But I still felt good, strong and, though it had already been 9 hours of walking, not too tired on arriving at the Dracophyllum Hut.  I'd been looking at this Hut on maps of the Tararuas for years, amused by its 2-bunk size, so I was really happy to have an opportunity to get my photo with the cute little structure.

The final leg of the day's walk was actually the shortest, and probably the prettiest.  Most of it returned to thicker forest instead of the wide expanses of the open ridge tops, but it was the moss-covered, gnarled and twisted stuff that's known as "Goblin Forest" in the Tararuas.  I think some of the sections on Dracophyllum Ridge give the area around Hell's Gate, further south in the Tararuas, a run for their money as my pick for loveliest forest in New Zealand.  The trail continued with its ups and downs through another 5km of this forest along the ridgetop, sucking more energy out of me (and Yvonne, who had been nearby for most of the day's walk) and continuing to abuse my knees, which had already taken a good pounding on the earlier sections of the walk.

The final 300m of climbing up to the summit of Nicholls was getting pretty tiring, but I also knew that it meant we were nearing the Nicholls Hut.  When we arrived at the trail junction sign, I was tired enough and my knees sore enough to remark to Yvonne that the steep descent down to the hut below, listed as 5 minutes on the sign, might be one of the very rare occasions when a walk would take me longer than listed on the DOC signage.

When we arrived we found (as expected from entries at the intentions book in previous huts) five people already at the six bunk hut.  Not that it really mattered.  Everyone was friendly (and suitably impressed by the long, hard, 11h55m of walking Yvonne and I had done), the weather was nice enough for many of the occupants to be spread out on the tussock around the hut, and there was still plenty of water in the tank and daylight to cook dinner.  And though I ended up being the one to sleep on the hut floor, the day's hard, but satisfying walking (plus my earplugs... essential hut gear!) ensured that I got a sound night's sleep,  the hardest day of the hardest section of the north island behind me.

Te Araroa Day 49, Burtton's Track to Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre

Starting km: 1539
Finishing km: 1569
km covered today: 30

More nice walking this day.  The morning was a walk along the Burtton's track, a ~100 year old track named after it's original constructor, pioneering farmer James Burtton.

The track was through a mix of bush, grassy river flats and gorse-y, spine-y river flats with a few stream crossings and a small number of climbs up above the river to detour around gorge/bluff sections.  It was generally pretty well built, maintained and pleasant.  And knowing the history and original constructor of the track made the bits that weren't more satisfying as, instead of cursing some nameless, faceless person who designed the trail with all these stupid, unnecessary ups and downs, I could curse an actual, specific person.

After Burtton's there was a short road walk which passed alongside a dam on the Mangahao River that I'd long seen on maps of the Tararua mountains, but had never actually visited.  I met Yvonne there and we had lunch by the dam, which was disturbed by a group of teenage boys in a huge 4WD who seemed intent on showing off by repeatedly driving up and then down a steep slope nearby and then parking with one wheel on a big boulder over and over again.

Even though they were the only traffic, this made me even more happy than usual to leave the roads and vehicle tracks behind and head up into the first hills in the Tararua Forest park.  The 12km section through the bush was fairly tame compared to the steep and rough tracks in other parts of the Tararuas, but it was still a fun walk.  At one point I caught up to Yvonne as we were about to cross a river.  It was unclear where the track continued on the other side, so she went downstream and I went up to look for trail markers.  She found them first, and while I could hear her voice from above when I returned she was already a few minutes ahead.  I rushed up the hill as quickly as I could, trying to catch up but didn't manage it until the very summit where she'd stopped for lunch.  That lady is in very good shape!

After emerging from the bush there was a wee bit of pasture walking and a few km of entirely traffic-less road before arriving at the Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre.

This place has a reputation that precedes it.  The owners, Sally and John are tremendously welcoming to Te Araroa walkers.  Just about everyone stops here and is offered a cold drink (in my case a beer) or ice block on arriving, as well as (often) a bunk in the lodge, or a big, pre-erected tent to sleep in.  And sometimes dinner with the hosts, or at least the use of the kitchen in the lodge.  You really did feel spoiled on arriving at this place.  I spent the afternoon reading and (later) playing a game of Settlers of Catan with fellow walkers Amber and Mark on their absolutely awesome (I think they said 60g?) portable Settlers Board.  Later in the day Sally took Amber, Mark and Yvonne into town to re-supply and although I already had most everything I needed for the upcoming mountain leg, I took advantage of this to have Yvonne pick me up a few extra odds and ends.

In addition to all the fabulous material assistance, John and Sally offer walkers advice about the upcoming section.  I was very grateful for Sally's suggestion to deviate from the official route and take the safer and less overgrown Gable End track up into the Tararuas. 
But I must admit (even though, on relfection, I don't really want to) that I was less enthused about her reaction when I said I'd planned to head to the Nicholls Hut, some 31km on, the following day.  "Absolutely Not" was her reaction.  She said she'd had a young, super-fit Englishman who'd been walking 50km days up to that point ignore her advice and try it and phone up after leaving the mountains to tell her how foolish he'd been.  Even explaining that I'd lived in Wellington for 11 years and done a fair bit of Tararuas tramping and knew what the trails can be like made no difference. 
All of this felt like an indictment of my knowledge and fitness (though I'm sure it was just my being over-sensitive and Sally's years of experience with TA walkers for whom the coming days would be the first real experience of what tough NZ bush/mountain tracks can be like.  So I shouldn't have been as irritated by it as I was at the time, but hey, honest reporting here.)

All that said, as noted before, Sally and John's hospitality was wonderfully welcome and is deservedly legendary amongst Te Araroa walkers.  And their work at the outdoor pursuits centre with at-risk youth in the justice system is fabulous.  Which is, I think a good (and positive) place to finish coverage of this day :-)

Te Araroa Day 48, Palmerston North to Burtton's Track

Starting km: 1509
Finishing km: 1539
km covered today: 30

FINALLY!  Back into some non-road walking!

Admittedly, some of it was just trails through experimental pasture-lands owned by Massey University.  And quite a bit was on mountain bike tracks.  And some was on recently logged (and thus pretty ugly looking) forestry roads.  And some was on actual roads.  But still.  Virtually all of it was more pleasant than the previous couple of days.

Also exciting (even moreso in fact) was that I went over the halfway point on the trail this day.  Exactly where was unclear.  There were two signs, about 7km apart, both claiming to be the halfway point.  And another more general sign a little past the second one that mentioned a different (longer) total length for the track that meant halfway was still 10km or so away.  If I've got it right, the middle sign (the fancy green one in the photos below) was actually pretty close to being the correct halfway point.

By the time we got to that one, I'd caught up to Yvonne and Leigh, who had had an earlier start to the day.

We walked together and met Jinni (sp?) a young Korean woman who was notable in being the first non Kiwi/European/North American I'd yet met on the trail.

She stopped about a kilometre before we did, but this meant I got to say hi again, when after setting up our tents on a blustery hillside, we realized that the nearest water source was a bit over a kilometre back the way we'd come. 

Ah well, it had been a pretty short day and even with the walk back for water there was still plenty of time to get dinner cooked up (albeit a couple of minutes walk down the trail into the forest to get out of the wind.)

AND I WAS HALFWAY FINISHED!