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Palmerston North to Picton

Te Araroa days 58-69

By Nature Is Calling

January 29^th, 2020

Day 58 - Palmerston North to James Burton's House

Start: 8:40 @ km 1470
End: 20:30 @ km 1508
Hiked: 38 km

Before we started to hike, we were able to weigh our backpacks. Our base weight - that is the weight without water and food - was already 10 kg for Leah and 10.5 kg for Mathias. Why? We don't fully understand, we thought we would more be below or around 8 kg. Well with food and water for the upcoming section this added to 17.9 kg for Mathias and 16.2 kg for Leah. Proportionally to the body weight, Leah is carrying way too much... But then, we do not really know how much body weight is left at the moment ;)

The trail took a while until we really got out of Palmerston North, but mostly was pretty nice going through park areas and only a little road walking. Then it headed up and passed the official half way point of the trail (1500 km sign). The trail changes every year a little, so for the 2019/20 season this was actually not quite yet the 1500 mark. That followed just before a pretty new little shelter and we made a celebratory 1500 km wrap with cheese and olives. We decided to try to go on and try to get to the next hut and besides taking the wrong start after the shelter and wasting 20 minutes, we made good progress on the next downhill (we were almost jogging *g*), but there were some river crossing coming up, that slowed us down. We soon realized that we wouldn't be able to make it to the next hut and stopped at a nice grassy area, when it was 20:30, as it was turning dark. We had to use the headlamps to make dinner, so it was probably a good decision after a long day.

Day 59 - James Burton's House to Outdoor Pursuits Center

Start: @km 1508
End: @ km 1533
Hiked: 25 km

We awoke feeling quite happy; thankful that the rats and possums had left us (and our food) alone during the night. Also, our tent was magically dry. Yay! We decided to wait and have breakfast at the upcoming hut, so we each had an OSM bar and were quickly on our way.

The trail up to the hut confirmed our decision to stop when we had last night. There were lots of steep ups and downs and no good space to pitch a tent. Our legs were not moving as fast as they had yesterday, but we didn’t really feel rushed. We figured we could always stay at the outdoor pursuit center if we decided not to go on any further. The trail was precious but great: lush greens, shade, soft forest ground; most of which was running alongside a river.

When we made it to Tokomau Shelter (the hut we had originally hoped to get to the night before), we stopped to enjoy a leisurely snack; tomato paste, cheese (yes, we’re carrying cheese in this weather for multiple days), and olives on wraps.

Most of the walk today was through forest, with some little roads in between. In the forest we passed muddy patches - as always - but this time Mathias misjudged one of the patches and went right into the mud, submerging his right shoe. That sucks! And that should not happen, as we got quite good differentiating the 50 shades of brown for all the different kind of muds. Did you know that Eskimos have 50 different words for snow? (they don't) We wouldn't be surprised if Kiwis had 50 different words for mud.

We then continued along the green pathway, which eventually led us to a stile, which led us into a pasture of cows. The cows didn’t really seem to care to much about our presence, so we got to walk stress free. We also saw a group of campers who we later learned were students from the Outdoor Pursuit Center, just up the road.

We arrived at the Outdoor Pursuit Center around 5 pm and decided to stay there for the night. We were greeted by John, the owner; who welcomed us with a big smile, good energy, and some nice cold drinks.

John was very knowledgeable about the area and talked to us about the upcoming section in the Tararua Ranges. He informed us about the coming weather, which didn’t look ideal for the day we were planning to cross the summit (high winds- which weren’t safe). He recommended we push it on the second day to go up and over the summit. We also had the option of pushing it farther on the first day, but he said that might be a bit tougher.

We then ate dinner (of course we were hungry) and enjoyed hot showers. We opted for a cabin for the night as we wanted to have an early start tomorrow. We gave each other foot, leg and back massages with Anti-Flamme (a New Zealand anti-inflammatory creme) and then passed out for the night.

Day 60 - Outdoor Pursuits Center to Dracophyllum Hut

Start: 7:00 @ km 1533
End: 20:00 @ km 1557
Hiked: 24 km (ascend 1950 m, descend 1030 m)

Today was the day that we finally really went into the Tarrarua Ranges and that meant lots of uphill. We took a break around every hour to drink and have a little snack, so we wouldn't run out of fuel, that worked out pretty good. We had big plans, as John yesterday told us that the weather might get worse and that we should try to push over the summit within two days. So we wanted to go passed Te Matewai hut that would usually be the stop for today and go over the next hill to Dracophyllum Hut.

We made good progress and had a lunch stop at Te Matewai. Leah was "excited" about how many flies could fit in an outhouse. Yes, there are still things that can disgust us.

After climbing the next peek, we were drenched with sweat, but very happy about the amazing views we had. Mathias whistled every epic melody that came to his mind: Game of Thrones, Star Wars, ... unfortunately he couldn't remember any Lord of the Rings tune.

The last bit to the hut then was forest again, less views, but more fallen trees that we had to climb over or around. We were exhausted when we got to the hut. It was a long day and we had pushed it hard. Brittany (who we had seen many weeks before when we crossed a harbor with a boat) and Erin (new to us) already were at the hut, which was unfortunate, because the tiny hut only had two beds. So we had to pitch our tent and luckily found a spot just big enough to do just that. While Mathias pitched the tent, Leah prepared dinner: mashed potatoes. Today the first time with "pumpkin roasted garlic' soup mix which turned out to be yummy! We'll try to get that again.

The sun set covering the forest in a beautiful red and we soon went to bed.

Day 61 - Dracophyllum Hut to Waitewaewae Hut

Start: @ km 1557
End: @ km 1570.5
Hiked: 13.5 km (ascend 900 m, descend 1630 m)
Leah dropping her poles: 10 times

We started with some nice weather and good views over the Tararua Ranges. The scenery was breathtaking and we both realized that hiking in the mountains makes us most happy.

After 5 km we stopped at Nichols Hut for a snack. Clouds had come in and the visibility already was a little worse, but in between clouds we could still get a glimpse of how nice the view was from that hut. We took a five minute nap, Leah used the outhouse that had the same amazing view as the hut (if you left the door open, which of course she did) and we continued to our big ascent to the Mt Crawford summit before having an even bigger descent to our hut.

The clouds got thicker and the winds picked up. At times we were not sure if it was a good idea to be that exposed and if it was safe. But we decided that the Ridge was wide enough that even a gust would not blow us off the mountain so we continued going from marker to marker, sometimes having to guess as the visibility wasn’t great.

Unfortunately there was also no view from the summit, but we felt like real adventures as we stood there, the wind beating us in the face.

From there it was a long and steep, really steep downhill that made us feel our knees and other joints. That was also the reason why we decided to have a short day, because more than 1000 m downhill in a day always hurts.

We arrived at Waitewaewae hut (aka YTYY-hut) which was directly by a swimming hole in a river and after some snacking and relaxing we jumped in. It was so cold, but also so nice.

We had some time to chat with the other people in the hut: Tessa from the Netherlands, Thea from the UK, David (NZ, but also spend a long time in Germany) and a kiwi dad and son who just were there for a short trip. The dad told us that he walked the TA in 2012, one year after it opened and at that time it was still „wild“: hardly any markers, no trail angels, so much less infrastructure.

We had dinner and got ready for our first night sleeping in a hut. Exciting.

Day 62 - Waitewaewae Hut to Parawai Lodge

Start: 8:40 @ km 1570.5
End: 14:40 @ km 1580
Hiked: 9.5 km

Our first night in a hut wasn’t too great. It was too hot in our sleeping bags and there were animals running over the metal roof right above us, as we slept (tried to sleep) up in the loft. Leah hardly got any sleep. Mathias some, but not great. Noteworthy is that with all of the people in the hut, nobody was snoring!

We only had a short day ahead of us, as the location of the next huts/camps would either be too short or too long for a day. We choose too short.

Part of the track was fairly new as a slide in the river made the original path which followed the river in the water impassable. You could tell it was new because many fallen trees were blocking it and it was a constant choosing of over, under or around with some tricky parts where it was muddy, slippery and steep at the same time. Our pace was quite slow, but fortunately we made it through without hurting ourselves. We even found the not so well marked last part of the track to the hut. (And by ‚we‘, Mathias).

We got to the hut and met Thea who was already there. We had some snacks and looked into the „Intension book“. It’s basically a guest book for the huts where you also write down when you left and where you intended to go, so that in the unfortunate case that some mountain rescue team has to search for you, they get some information. This makes it also fun to read on the trail because you see a bunch of familiar names and when they’ve been here. We saw for example that Julia and Sarah where here yesterday for a break and then continued on at 15:00. It made us hesitate a moment whether we should push on, it’s never a nice feeling to feel „less bad ass“ than others on the trail, but on the other hand we were happy to get a little rest and have some time to write for the blog and also start reading up on the South Island, because we will have to send a bunch of food packets ahead once we’re in Wellington and for that we need to know how much we intend to send where. And after hardly getting any sleep last night Leah was happy about a nap in the hut.

We also finally ate the outdoor meal cheese cake that Mathias got for his birthday. Just a powder that you add cold water to and wait a moment. It tasted surprisingly good. Maybe we’ll get that again some time.

Later in the evening a familiar looking German couple arrived at the hut. We remembered that we saw them on day 0 at utea park when we were about to start the track and they already had three days done. They had to hitch to Wellington and taken a few days, because he needed new shoes and his shoe size was 50. Not that easy to get shoes for that size it turned out. As they just came from the big city their dinner was amazing and they brought a whole cake that they were happy to share. Two times cake in one day. Almost feels like Mathias‘ birthday!

We went to bed and hoped that the second night in a hut would turn out better than the last. Otherwise we might have a problem on the South Island where we will sleep a lot more in huts. One way to help ensure a better sleep, was to turn ourselves 180 degrees. Where our heads had been, was a window just above filled with spider webs and spiders moving about. We opted for our feet to be under that instead.

Day 63 - Parawai Lodge to Waikanae

Start: @ km 1580
End: @ km 1609
Hiked: 29 km

We were the first ones to get up in the morning. Trying to be as quiet as possible we quickly grabbed all our supplies for our morning oatmeal and went outside and prepared breakfast. While we did that the rest of the people woke up too and after breakfast we could quickly pack our packs and head out.

The trail started over a nice suspension bridge that had an unmistakable sign that showed it would break if there would be more than 15 people on it. After that we made use of the flush(!) toilets at the little car park and celebrated that these even had soap to wash your hands. Classy.

After a little bit of road we started the ascent to Pukeatua (812m). The ascent was slower than expected and parts were pretty muddy. Mathis didn’t feel it today and then the summit was a little disappointing as there was hardly any view, but we had a short stop there anyway.

A lot of downhill followed. First it was quite nice, but later we expected to get on a nice old forest road. Reality though gave us a steep logging road that had been used for heavy machinery when the forest around us had been recently clear-cut. Not beautiful but the upcoming reentry into civilization motivated us.

The transition to civilization was made easy for us by letting us do it in baby steps: first we stopped at a little cafe that was also a pottery shop and kind of an animal farm with lots of chickens that watched us eat our potato wedges and drink our sprite.

Then after crossing the 1600 km mark (where we forgot to take the traditional picture) and another 5 km we arrived to the town of Waikanae and had wonderful burgers and Mathias a great IPA. Leah was very exited that the veggie burger option had a mac’n’cheese paddy and avocado and hot sauce. A quick stop at Countdown and we left town again.

Another 5 km along a nice river path and we arrived at the place for the night: El Rancho. Some Christian campground that was pretty nice and even let us borrow towels and give us soap. There we quickly saw Tessa again and also Thea stayed here for the night. We did laundry and Mathias tried to get some smell off his backpack with baking powder. We’ll see how that works out.

Day 64 - Waikanae to Plimmerton

Start: @ km 1609
End: @ km 1643
Hiked: 34 km

Lesson one of the day: using baking powder against the smell of a backpack is quite messy. Without a vacuum cleaner or actually showering the backpack it stays in all the cushioning and will be released over the next days and weeks turning Mathias’ pants and shirts white. But smell wise... it’s a little better.

After hiking a few kilometers we met up with the ocean again and walked along the beach for a bit. We realized that we had forgotten to celebrate the 1600 mark yesterday and decided to make a 1612 sign instead, quick, because we had big plans. Quite some kilometers to hike and now that we’re back in civilization we also wanted to take advantage of it. And we did.

We started by having nice breakfast muffins in Cafe 6 in Raumati Beach. After a little track in the back land due to a land slip on the main track we got back to the coastal track and followed it into Paekakariki, where we found the next treat: a cafe that made awesome pizza. We were glad that we had made the decision to get two full pizzas and feeling nice and full continued to one of the highlights of the TA: the Escarpment Track. A relatively new edition, only established in 2015, we think, that leads up and down along a mountain range with awesome views of the Tasman Sea and lots of swing bridges connecting the different hills. The stairs up and down were exhausting, but we made a good pace. Oh, and the wind was very strong, sometimes making us a bit worried about getting blown off the staircases or suspension bridges... we are getting closer to “windy” Wellington it seems.

After that we were getting into later afternoon and starting to think about our place for the night. We had thought about free camping, but couldn't really find a great spot. Someone had mentioned a spot near the water, which sounded lovely, but it was off track and we weren't sure if we wanted to sign up for the extra kilometers; so we looked to airbnb and found something in Plimmerton which was still 6 km away, but that was doable and the thought of a nice bed, towels and a shower motivated us.

Just before getting there, we stopped at a little four square supermarket and got hummus, cheese, crackers and ginger beer for dinner. Then of to the Airbnb. When getting there, Leah spotted a carpet with a pattern similar to what she had bought in Bhutan when we were traveling there and she spoke to our host about it. Turned out that Joan and Alan, who we were staying with, had spent 3 years in Bhutan because Alan was working for a New Zealand international aid organization and helping the locals with some earthquake safety checks for buildings and similar things. They were excited that we were excited about this, so we got a lovely slide show and lots of background information about Bhutan and their experiences there. Thank you. And the bed finally felt great as well.

Day 65 - Plimmerton to Johnsonville

Start: @ km 1643
End: @ 1669
Hiked: 26 km

Wow what a nice sleep! Sleep is an interesting thing on the trek; we never really sleep all through the night. We usually wake up multiple times for a variety of reasons: mooing cows, yelling children, aches and pains, needing the bathroom, needing to put in earplugs, needing to take out earplugs, needing water, too hot, too cold... it keeps it real, I suppose. But when you get a good night’s sleep, you celebrate from the bottom of your soul!

Breakfast was simple but great; toast, butter, jam and Leah‘s favorite: peanut butter. Oh and Mathias had fresh french pressed coffee. We spoke with Joan and Alan about the earthquake that had happened the night before (the one Mathias thought didn't happen, but Leah was able to prove with a little help from the internet.).

We started the hike along the Tasman Sea on a nice path. There were many people out and about with their dogs; some were throwing balls into the water and the dogs were running and diving for them with such excitement. Oh dogs, we love 'em. It was a beautiful start to our day heading to Wellington. (This was before we decided not to go all the way to Wellington. Leah has two Skype job interviews coming up and needs to be in a place with reception. We can't leave Wellington until Thursday, so what is the rush?)

At one point, we passed through a cute little park filled with tons of kids. Nice to see families out and about! We continued on until we made it to Porirua . We were looking forward to a nice stop in a cafe and were disappointed to realize that everything was closed on Sunday. So instead, we grabbed subs from Subway (and cookies, and a smoothie) and tried to work out a place to stay for the night. Again, there didn't seem to be options for camping along the way so we looked into getting a place through Airbnb. First place, denied. The girl let us know she had friends in town and no longer had an extra room. So we tried for a second place and waited for a response.

We headed to Elsdon and saw signs for Colonial Knob, our next feat. The trail notes said: 4km/1hr. The park sign said: Colonial Knob - 1-2 hours. Side note: times given on the trail are all over the place. Sometimes we do portions that say 7-8 hours in 5 hours. Sometimes we do portions that say 2 hours in 4 hours (but really, who went from Nichols Hut to Waitewaiwai Hut in 2 hours?!). Mathias said signs should just say 1-11 hours; 1 hour being the ultra fit runner and 11 hours being the family with kids throwing a birthday party. Anyways, Leah led this uphill portion and was pushing it hard. We got up pretty fast: 28 minutes to be exact. Leah was stoked! We walked up to the lookout and took some photos; we were lucky with the view. Leah checked her phone: Second Airbnb place, denied. Apparently the host also had friends in town. Perhaps I should not have stated that we were TA walkers; people know we rock up smelling less than desirable. Mathias tries for Airbnb #3. When we got back on the trail, we realized that we were not yet at Colonial Knob. Hmmm. We continued one and still made it in 52 minutes. Wooo Wooo!

From Colonial Knob we began heading to Mt. Kaukau. The wind picked up and was blowing quite hard. It was pushing us around a bit as we were in quite an exposed area. Not tons of fun to be pushed around by the wind, but whatcha gonna do? So we continued on. Soon we came to a road. The sun was so intense at this point, like the asphalt was literally melting. It was sticking to our poles and the bottoms of our shoes. And we were thirsty.

Oh, did I forget to mention that we did not bring enough water? Because, we didn't. We've been so used to checking this, but coming into civilization kind of threw us off. Basically, we were just stupid. There were many places we could have refilled before heading up to Colonial Knob, but just hadn't thought about it. We knew there was a equestrian shop about 10 km ahead where we would be able to buy something to drink. And then, luck was on our side. We walked by a driveway where a kid and his dad said hello and asked us where we were coming from. They were impressed. Then Leah asked for water. Hallelujah!

The luck continued. Mathias heard back from Airbnb #3: success! We walked a bit more and then came off the track in Johnsonville and headed to our home for the night. We dropped our bags, walked to town to grab some Indian food, stopped by the grocery store (to get breakfast for tomorrow) and headed back home. We sat on the couch and watched rugby (and having never watched it before, tried to figure out the rules) and gave each other massages.

Day 66 - Johnsonville to Wellington

Start: @ km 1669
End: @ km 1683
Hiked: 14 km

Another good night of sleep. Yippie! The weather outside looked less than desirable; gray and drizzly. But you pull up your big girl and big boy pants and head out anyway. We actually called an Uber to take us back to the trail, not wanting to walk an extra 3 km uphill that doesn't even count.

We picked up just where we had left the trail the day before. It was a steady incline up to Mt. Kaukau. The wind really picked up and was the strongest wind either of us have ever hiked in before. To us, it was quite dramatic (it was pushing us around- especially Leah); to Kiwis, it was moderate at most. Unfortunately we did not have a view from the top, but we did have what felt like an adventure in the wind. We came down (still in strong winds) from Mt. Kaukau and made our way to Ngaio, a small suburb of Wellington, where we stopped for some coffee and food.

Afterwards it was a nice walk into Wellington. The track led us into and around the Botanical Gardens, which were very nice. From here we made our way to the post office where we picked up the parcel we sent ourselves from Palmerston North. Then a quick stop at Bivouac to buy 10 backpacker meals (this will only be a portion of what we need to prepare for the South Island). One of the guys working there offered us a room to stay at his place (Kiwis rock!), but we had already set up an Airbnb for our time in the city.

We arrived at our place, apologized to the owner about our scent, and took showers. We headed back out into the city to do a bit of shopping and eat some dinner (Mathias got an awesome margarita with passion fruit and mango - Leah was feeling a bit sick, so just had a quick sip and decided she needed to return and have one when she was feeling better).

Then it was time to pop on over to an internet cafe (aka gaming center) to work on the blog. ;)

Day 67 - Zero (Tues)Day in Wellington

We started the day with a nice breakfast close to our Airbnb, but already during this, it was time to start our big mission: today was the (first) big planning day for the south island. The upcoming stretches after Picton are quite remote and it is recommended to send food parcels ahead, so that in the little towns we come by, we can restock with everything we need. So we had to see how long the stretches would roughly take us and what we needed to buy. Mostly groceries, but also toilet paper, sun screen, ...

We both have very different strategies to do such planning, so it felt like a big and intense task, but at the end we had spent a bunch of money and got bags of groceries in return. We brought them back into the Airbnb and started laying them out for the four different food parcels we would send and a stack for what we would bring with us for the upcoming stretch. Now we could go over it again and see what we still needed to buy on the next day.

Also, in very exciting news: Leah finally got a hair cut (something she had been talking about needing since October). Mathias shopped around a bit to see if there were any good deals and found a couple of dry bags to add to our mix. YAY!

Then it was pizza time! It was so hot in the shop, but we managed to eat our pizzas and get out before passing out from the heat.

Leah had her first job interview with a school just outside of Zurich scheduled for the evening that she was anxious about for the last few days. She took some time preparing it and to give her some space during the Skype call, Mathias hid in the bathroom and enjoyed a nice long shower and grooming session. When the interview was over, Leah felt relieved and had enjoyed talking to the team. But then after she laid down, she went into a downward spiral on how things could have gone better and it took a while until we both slept.

Day 68 - Zero (Wednes)Day in Wellington

We slept in and then started with a yummy breakfast at Fidel's Cafe, followed by a little walk through the further away Countdown (supermarket) to do our final purchases for the south island parcels. As it was further away we took an Uber back to the Airbnb, before sorting out and completing our parcels. This process took quite a long time and when we were done, the post office was already closed, so we had to wait for the next day to actually send them out.

We did the - what now was the usual for Wellington - internet cafe blog posting, pizza eating, and preparing for job interview #2. This time Mathias headed out during the interview and Leah had the Airbnb to herself. She was happy with how the interview went. It was helpful, that she had the practice from the day before, talking about education with educators again (most of our conversations on the trail focus around food, kilometers hiked, food, sleep, food). Mathias came back with snacks and wine in cute cans to celebrate the interviews.

Day 69 - Wellington to Picton

Start: @ km 1683
End: @ km 1695.5
Hiked: 12.5 km

It was a sleepless night for Leah last night (okay, not sleepless, but anything under 4 hours requires at least a sigh). This whole recruiting thing has been a roller coaster of emotions. It always is. She know this, but as she doesn’t recruit often, she forgets.

Going on little sleep, we made our way to the post office where we would mail ahead our food boxes. The first few weeks on the South Island will have limited food/grocery options and we will have to carry food for multiple days. Apparently the food that is available is quite pricey in the small towns, so hikers buy it in Wellington and ship it to multiple locations along the trail.

Once we had boxed everything up, we wondered if we had gone a bit overboard. Not only the size of the 4 boxes, but the price was a little shocking, especially for Mathias... who had a little meltdown of his own.

At the Post Office, Leah got a chance to catch up with her Sissin (sister-cousin) Shelby and hear all about her new life in Israel. Talking to Shelby always brings Leah laughter and joy. The conversation continued as Leah and Mathias headed off to complete the final 12km of the north island. Shelby, having lived in Wellington a few years back, got to see glimpses of her old stomping grounds.

The Wellington portion of the trail; the Southern Walkway, was actually quite nice. It always cool to be in nature, on trails within a city! The pathway took us up big hills, through parks and forests, across fields, through neighborhoods, and along the waterfront. When we finally made it to the end, we called an Uber, rushed back to our Airbnb, jumped over to the bakery next door to grab snacks (we still hadn’t eaten today 😬) packed up our things, called another Uber to take us to the pier and away we went.

The ferry ride from Wellington to Picton was pleasant. We found seats inside right up front; looking out into the water ahead. Leah passed out for most of the ride while Mathias walked around and enjoyed the views. We then spent the last hour outside on the front deck. The wind was saying hello, but not too strong. The views were awesome: We are so excited for the South Island and all its beauty.

When we got to Picton we checked into the Fat Cod, our backpackers for the night. We didn’t really think that backpacker hostels would be in our world again (they even made us wear ticket bracelets as people had been sneaking in and sleeping on the couches for free), but we rolled with it.

We popped out and into the little town of Picton to grab some dinner where we enjoyed overpriced fish and chips, fancy veggie tacos and passion fruit pavlova.