Days 54 and 55

Day 54 (November 19)

National Park to Kaitieke War Memorial (28km) Well, back on the trail today!! I must admit after six days of not hiking and spending time with family and friends it was incredibly hard to get back into the TA. During the time off I travelled to Palmerston North with Marie and Hayley and watched Leyton play in the National primary/intermediate schools cricket finals. A real thrill to see him and his team, having qualified to represent Northern Districts, play the other five finalists from around New Zealand. I got the train back to National Park and was met by cold, wet and windy weather there. An early night as the last night in PN had not been that early given I accidentally met up with the cricket team’s parents who did their best to lead the old granddad astray! Despite the weather forecast being for a clear warm day this morning was actually wet and cold so not the best weather to resume in. Further adding to the general bad mood was some b....rd stole my bottle of fresh OJ from the fridge at the backpackers! So water and muesli bar for breakfast. The trail today follows Fishers Track/Road, seems this was once a road possibly back in the horse and cart days, and remains designated as such, despite being grass for lengthy sections. Quite a spectacular walk as it descends towards the river as it is cut into the side of hills allowing views of the track ahead.

Start of Fisher’s Road/Track while its still a road

Gravel ends but the form of the road continues

House from when they were trying to settle this land

I decided as it was not a particularly long day to stop for a late morning cup of tea and was happily enjoying this and snacking on some left over Squigles when a guy on a mountain bike arrived along. Interestingly he owns the TA Bike App (the cycle the length on NZ trail) and was out rerouting/GPS plotting this section. He took a photo of me to use either in the App or for some magazine articles he was writing. Problem is I can’t for the life of me remember what the magazines were so if anyone sees it let me know. A funny thing did happen that unfortunately I didn’t have the speed to photograph. As I was walking along a very your fawn came running out the bush beside the road, tripped in the shallow drain and rolled completely over before getting up a running straight back where it came from. Eventually I reached the end of the grass section of “road” and it was then gravel road through to the Kaitieke War Memorial, where I intended to set up my tent. It seems the locals have accepted TA hikers camp at this spot and the local farmer has even extended his water (presumably the stock water) to put a tap on the fence.

Horse sculpture made of horse shoes at memorial

I arrived here early afternoon and decided it was a bit early to set up camp, given the road was quite busy with cars, so spent a few hours sitting in the sun having a read and resting. The war memorial was interesting as it is located on a road corner in the middle of nowhere. It seems this area was once a thriving community when the government’s ill conceived attempts to settle this land with returned soldiers was in full swing.

Just as I was about to cook my dinner a local couple drove up and stopped for a chat. They were enjoying a box of Corona on the way home (as you do in these parts!) and offered me one. How could I say no to such a generous offer, so enjoyed a nice cold beer with my rehydrated beef curry! One thing that was either interesting, or perhaps downright depressing was at the corner where I was camped there was a road sign advising Owhango was 20km away. Now I have walked five days and covered over 120km to get from Owhango to here and in the process ascended 3200m and descended 3500m. Just shows how the TA doesn’t always take the direct route!

That bloody sign rubbing salt into wounds!

Day 55 (20 November)

War memorial to Whakahoro (26km) Despite being camped beside the road I got a good nights sleep. It did get pretty cold overnight and I woke to a thick fog settling around me. On cold damp mornings it always seems to take that extra bit of will power to leave the warm cocoon of my sleeping bag, get changed into the, inevitably, cold and slightly damp hiking clothes and exit the tent. This morning was no different, I only have about 26km today and managed justify the delay in getting up by half an hour based on deciding I didn’t want to get to Whakahoro too early.

Beautiful clear day once the fog cleared

Nevertheless I’d had a cuppa and muesli bar and was underway a bit before 7.30. The walk today is all road, initially sealed for the first few km then gravel. Once the fog cleared a hot sunny day, another opportunity for me to wear the Chinese market gardener hat. Despite its questionable place in the fashion stakes it really is the real deal when it comes to keeping the sun off me on a hot day. While it was a road walk today the scenery of towering cliffs on one side and the river gorge on the other did make it impressive and helped pass the time.

I’ve started doing on the last couple of days is listening to an audio book, just as another way of passing time during some of the more tedious road sections. The first book I’m listening to is Obama’s recently released memoir, A Promised Land. I am finding it fascinating on a number of levels. His basic humanity, that I’d admired since reading his first book before he became president, continues to come to the fore. Also his eloquence and the manner in which he expresses himself and his view of the world around him is such a contrast to what we hear from the current president. Arriving at Blue Duck Station early afternoon I made a beeline for their cafe and had a toasted sandwich which was fabulous , being accompanied by a large salad. The one thing I really miss food-wise on this journey is salad! Blue duck Station is a fascinating place, it is a working farm (probably pretty marginal) that has branched out into tourism and has accomodation spread over the farm for about 50 people. The cafe which is at the road end is primarily for guests but welcomes TA walkers and others who venture this far.

Not sure what you do if you arrive with a cat??

During the afternoon a group of five arrived at the bunk room having, it transpires canoed from Taumarunui. I should have realised it was going to be interesting sharing with these folks when the first of them strutted in and told me it was totally ludicrous they were expected to carry their gear from the canoes up such a long steep track to the hut. Noting the river here is in a quite deep gorge and the bunk room and camp area are on the first bit of flat land, I had on the top of my tongue suggesting he write in the hut book a suggestion for DOC that they could perhaps raise the river level in this area to make the walk easier. There was tension in the air, with the grumpy guy thinking he was the leader while the others were not falling into line. He did say to me “it’s like travelling with children”, an attitude that, I’m sure, will endear him to his companions over the next four days. This really was free entertainment of the best sort! That had apparently gone as a group to New World in Taumarunui to get supplies for the four days, but without a list or plan so had essentially grazed the shelves. At the shelter they proceeded to unpack a really strange mix of food and try to make some semblance of a meal plan from it. Unfortunately I had to head off halfway through this fiasco to have dinner at the Blue Duck Cafe. I was lucky because, while I’m staying in the adjacent DOC hut the lady at the cafe offered for me to join their guests for dinner. A real treat of lamb stew, vegetables and even brownie and iced cream for desert (not as good as Marie’s famous brownie, but pretty close!). When I got back two of the group were eating salad sandwiches while two were debating whether they had enough gas to heat up some precooked sausages. Asking how much gas they had it transpired they had one large and one XL cylinder. I told them that would last me over a month so thought they were probably safe cooking tonight. The grumpy guy had meanwhile eaten his cold dinner and was asleep, snoring loudly! This is the first DOC hut I’ve encountered that has electricity and lights. Unfortunately, despite my saying I was off to bed the four remaining members of the group didn’t get the message and continued to bugger around with their food etc with the lights on until after 10pm. They then made a strategic mistake and all went outside at which time I turned out the lights. Seems perhaps they had no lights apart from their phones as in the morning the hut as in the same chaos, including food and dirty dishes as when I went to bed!