Day 51: Ongarue to Taumarunui (30km, 8 hours)

It took a while to get to sleep last night, my legs were aching so much. But by morning I was feeling a bit more human. I woke at 5am to the sound of some of the other hikers packing up for an early start.

Today was another road walk, though thankfully not as long or exposed as the one before the Pureora Forest. I packed up, had a quick chat to some of the other early rising hikers, and headed off at 6:45am. The route today is basically a 25km road, initially gravel then tarseal, taking me though farmland all the way to Taumarunui.

I was prepared for boring, and for sore feet. I was right on both counts.

Making friends along the way…

… and more friends

… and an enemy

10am pic: the gravel has changed to tarseal

Getting hot. Found a handy shady tree

Fast forward to early afternoon, and I was entering Taumarunui. The first dairy I passed had ice cream!

Rum and raisin - mmm

I stopped in town for a burger and chips at a cafe, which I’d been dreaming of on the walk in. Sadly, both were underwhelming. My final destination was Taumarunui Canoe Hire, about 4km further south of town, where I needed to arrange my kayak hire for the Whanganui River later down the trail - but they also have a convenient camp site. It was getting hot, but I arrived there just after 3pm.

It’s a lovely campsite - just me and one other tent today. There’s a shower, fresh water and and a place to charge devices, what more could a hiker want? I had a shower and shave, checked over my feet (burst a few blisters), and had tuna, crackers and plums for dinner. 

My camp for tonight

Well, I’ve made it through the first stretch of this trip, Te Kuiti to Taumarunui. And, a day ahead of schedule. Tomorrow will be a well-earned rest day - although there will be plenty of planning, shopping and blogging to do, so I’ll be kept busy. But my poor feet will certainly enjoy not having to hike!

It’s New Year’s Eve, and lying in my tent, I’m thinking back on my last few New Years. 2 years ago today I was in my tent at the Whangarei Heads; 1 year ago I was listening to holidaymakers playing Abba from my Huntly Holiday Park cabin. Tonight, it’s very quiet, just the sound of the river below the campground. How time flies!

Good night all - and happy new year!

Today’s route

Day 50: Piropiro to Ongarue (42km, 12.5 hours)

Surprisingly, after grumpily listening to kids riding quad bikes around the campsite, I got to sleep around 9pm and slept soundly. It was quiet around the campsite after all. 

I was off at 7am - the goal today was to reach Historic #10 Campsite, 26km away. It was a relatively east walk to start with. 

More bridges!

Nice gently trails - mostly slightly downhill!

Cyclists occasionally passing by

I also realised that much of my hiking to date had been a bit of a slog, and I made sure to take more breaks today to appreciate my surroundings. “Psithurism” by Michael Woodman (Thumpermonkey lead singer!) is one of my favourite albums of 2022, psithurism being the sound of the wind in the trees. The songs are too complex for me to sing along too very well - but I appreciated the stillness, and listening to the forest.

Psithurism

Yet another bridge!

Along the way, a milestone: 1000km since Cape Reinga. I’m a third of the way down the Te Araroa!

1000km since Cape Reinga!

Today I was thinking a lot about the days ahead, in particular about tight deadlines involving the Tongariro Crossing and the Whanganui River kayak. I was making good progress today, so I started to wonder - maybe I could continue on past my planned campsite, and carry on the remaining 18km to the end of the Timber Trail. I know a number of TA hikers do it; and it would give me a valuable day up my sleeve to give me more options later. I was feeling reasonably good when I reached #10 Campsite, so decided to try and give this a go. 

Lunch stop - Historic #10 Shelter

The local water supply

Time for a proper lunch

I knew I would need plenty of energy, so I stopped for an hour and cooked up one of my evening meals for lunch - Thai chicken curry. Then at 3pm I was back on the trail.

Lovely views - but not much tree cover at times, and the sun was searing

The last bridge, I promise!

Some much appreciated shade

Several kilometres on, I started to think my decision was rather rash. It had been cool and shady for a lot of the morning, but by late afternoon it was blisteringly hot, and the trail was more exposed. I had energy from my lunch, and the trail was easy and downhill - but my feet were aching badly. Not much psithurism now, I was focused just on putting one foot in front of the other. 

There was one last treat in store on the trail - the Ongarue Spiral. Today’s route in the Timber Trail follows the tram line used by loggers to haul logs out of the forest many years ago, and part of this was a spiral railway line. The rails are long gone, but the trail follows the spiral, and loops back under itself through a tunnel. Not long, but pitch black inside.

About to pass through the Ongarue Spiral tunnel

…and out the other side

After this, just pain. It was about 9 km more to the campsite at the end, and the last 6km especially were very hard. The sun was searing even though it was early evening, my feet were painful and my legs ached. I needed to sit by the trail for a while to recover, and let the sun sink lower.

Recovering by the trail. Still searing hot at 7pm!

Eventually at 7:30pm I staggered into the Ongarue campsite, the end of the Timber Trail. Today was easily my longest daily effort, 42km according to my app, and 12.5 hours.

There were a lot of tents in the small campsite, it turned out many were TA hikers - most had decided to cycke through the Timber Trail rather than walking, which is why I didn’t notice them en route. They shouted me a ginger beer (the best I’ve ever had!), but I didn’t have the energy to stop and chat. I set up my tent amongst theirs, and collapsed straight into my sleeping bag. What a day!

So many TA tents!

Today’s route 

Day 49: Bog Inn Hut to Piropiro Flats Camp (20km, 5.5 hours)

I was woken at about 2am by the sound of mosquitoes. I slathered on my 80% DEET and that seemed to keep them at bay. After that I had a great sleep, and woke up at 7am.

I’d heard some critter on the roof, but other than that there was no sign of rats overnight, and my food was intact. I was off and back on the trail by 7:30.

On my way…

This section of the trail is known for multiple suspension bridges, and I was looking forward to seeing them.

The first of many suspension bridges

Trying not to look down or drop the phone!

Another…

Another…

10am pic: a drink on the go

Another view from a bridge

Lovely walking trails

…turning into gravel paths towards the end

An enjoyable hike today, although the gravel towards the end reminded me too much of my road walking a couple of days ago. My feet were holding up OK, still sore but I was managing the blisters.

Today my song choice was back to a Christmas theme - White Wine In The Sun by Tim Minchin. I’m a Tim Minchin fan but have only just discovered this recently, and it’s easily my favourite Christmas song at the moment (makes me a little teary every time). Other songs highly worth listening to by Tim are Prejudice, Dark Side, Thank You God (for you mum!) and I’ll Take Lonely Tonight. But he’s a genius, everything he does is good!

By 1pm, I saw a sign for the Timber Lodge - the halfway point on the Timber Trail, where the mountain bikers go for their luxury stayovers. But, rumoured to do a mean pizza and beer for TA hikers! (I admit I started singing “I Need A Pizza”, with apologies to Bonnie Tyler). Shortly after I was there.

At last, that coke! (and a beer)

Pizza #1

The pizza was great. I finished it, then paid a visit to Camp Epic nearby - a glampsite for luxury campers, but they let me use their shower for $5 - totally worth it! (I also had a shave and quickly rinsed my hiking clothes). My campsite was Piropiro Flats nearby - a large campsite, but I discovered it has road access so was busy with holidaymakers, some with annoying quad bikes.

Busy at camp today!

But I found a corner spot 

After setting up my tent I couldn’t help myself - I went back for pizza #2 at the Timber Lodge. Equally good! I tried to use their weak wifi to do a blog update, but with the mountain bikers arriving and switching on their devices it wasn’t good enough to do much - the blog will have to wait till Taumaranui. Peter was there, the TA hiker I met previously - he’d decided to stay for the pizza, and was going to hire a mountain bike to finish the trail tomorrow. 

Getting ready for bed, I managed to lock myself inside the long drop loo. Not a good place to be stuck! I was banging on the door for several minutes until someone yelled to give it an almighty shove - which worked. Whew! 

Today’s route

Day 48: Pureora to Bog Inn Hut (18km, 6.5 hours)

I woke to the sound of kaka. Unsurprisingly, their call is “ka-kaaa”.

My blisters didn’t seem quite so bad this morning, but I was still concerned. I slathered on Gurney Goo (an anti-chafing gel) and more hiker’s wool, and hoped for the best.

Starting today, I’ll be following an 84 km mountain biking trail called the Timber Trail. Hopefully it will be well-defined paths (for the mountain bikers) and easier walking than my last two days - though on this first day the TA route does take a detour off the trail to take in the views from the top of Mt Pureora. We’ll see how that goes!

I headed off at about 6:30am. Only to be hit 5 minutes later by a nasty dose of diarrhoea. Luckily there was just before the start of the Timber Trail, and there was a loo nearby! Hopefully it won’t be a continuing problem 🤞.

The start of the Timber Trail

Waving goodbye to fellow TA tramper Peter - he’s heading further than me today

The official map of the Timber Trail. Could be handy!

Unlike the last 2 days, the Timber Trail has wide, well-maintained paths, mostly under forest cover. A pleasant change to walk on. There are even markers every 1km telling you how far you have come!

Nice trail!

10am pic: Salami time!

After a few hours however the TA branches off, and detours over the peak of Mt Pureora. The trail becomes steep for an hour, with roots and steps to climb up - a good cardio workout.

Getting harder…

But, worth it for the views at the top!

Top of Mt Pureora

Looking east to Lake Taupo

… and views of Mt Ruapehu and Tongariro. That’s where I’m heading!

The path on the way down however was very rough. The first few hundred metres were massively overgrown and I needed to fight through bush. The rest was boggy, eroded, steep and very slow progress. I was glad when it finally emerged back on the Timber Trail. 

Do DOC maintain this?

Um… no.

Back on the Timber Trail. This is better…

Back on the Timber Trail it was easier going. I was passed by a flurry of mountain bikers - they tend to do the trail in 2 days, stopping at the Timber Lodge in the middle. The trail was mostly under bush and protected from the sun, but I started longing for a coke, and kept taunting the coke ad (“Yes! Yes! Yes! No! I think I’ll try it first”). I don’t normally drink the stuff - but hopefully when I reach the Timber Lodge tomorrow I’ll be able to get one. 

Eventually a sign marked the turn-off to Bog Inn Hut, where I was planning to spend the night. It was a 45-minute detour off the main trail, a narrow and occasionally boggy track. I was quite pleased when I got to the hut at about 2pm.

Bog Inn Hut

Bog Inn Hut is a tiny rustic hut - only 4 bunk beds, holes in the walls and floors, very basic. Two other trampers were resting there when I arrived, but they left soon after - so I had the place entirely to myself for the night. The first thing I did was crash on a bed for a 2- hour power nap -  I was pretty tired after the efforts of the last 3 days.

Then, time to dry my socks, inspect my feet (holding up well!), and have dinner.

Mmm, cottage pie!

My bed for the night. Beats a tent!

I’d heard reports of rats at this hut, and the various holes in the walls meant mosquitos may be a problem. But it was great to not have to sleep in a tent, so I was prepared to put up with the wildlife (though I hung my food off the ground just in case).  I slept like a baby.

Today’s route