Te Araroa (day 18) - The Rauamoa to Te Kuiti / mile 546

Great day on the trail! Weather was excellent, cloudy at first, sunny from midday. Path although muddy and wet to start with transitioned into well maintained trail just after the river crossing at mile 531. My feet were back in action after a bit of cutting off dead blister skin with nail clipper yesterday.

The ranger responsible for catching 'vermin' in the area had a gruesome habit of leaving carcasses right on the trail, perhaps to teach hikers a lesson about death. There was a rotting goat skeleton, a hanging possum in it's macabre head trap hanging off the tree, and a big fat rat in an 'egg' trap, all within 5 metres of each other.

Few miles later I met a hunter walking down the trail, with a scary silver hunting rifle looking like something out of a shooter game. He was hunting deer, I told him I saw few feral goats today, to which he responded that local hunters had a competition running recently of who would kill the most of them. Clearly goats were not good enough for consumption but I didn't enquire why.

I kept on going until I reached Waitomo, famous for it's caves but since the prices to explore them we're starting at 150$, I didn't consider having a look. I made a pit stop here, had a can of coke and a latte for 8.5$ and went on. 

Next section was all over the place which seems to be Te Araroa speciality. Trail was going through a badly marked farm at first, then a muddy forrest (I scored my first slip and fall over here), farm again, then a steep, confusing climb through a thick brush, gravel road and a rollercoaster through a grassy hills with hundreds of grazing sheep.

Somewhere between the thick brush and grassy hill there was also a section of protected forest with unique ecosystem. I met Brandon from Nature Conservation here, he was spraying the invasive grasses with herbicides to stop them from taking over the native forrest. Grasses would grow over the fallen trees, not allowing the beneficial plants and trees to colonize those spots. We talked briefly about "no spray" philosophy of some landowners, who would put signs on their land to make sure people like Brandon would not touch it. He said that everyone had right to do what they will but it wasn't helping the ecosystem.

I didn't found any suitable place to stay in Te Kuiti so I decided to camp just outside the town in a very cozy, secluded area with a bench and access to water. My plan was to visit the town early tomorrow, resupply and carry on walking. I had to take into consideration that the distance to the town after Te Kuiti was over 100 miles so packing enough food was a key. 

Night was bright and full of stars I have never seen before. The campsite busy with noises of nocturnal animals begging their shifts like feral cats, owls and (hopefully) a hedgehog sniffing and digging around my tent. I could also vaguely hear a river of cars and motorbikes driving through the city down below.