Te Araroa (day 34) - Parawai Hut to Paekakariki Holiday Park / mile 1021

"Kiwi's have eccentricity of Australians and the manners of old England" Will

Out of the mountains and into the beach, last stretch of the North Island, it looks like I will be able to dock in Wellington for Christmas after all.

It feels nostalgic already, even though I didn't like hiking North Island that much. It had a lot of road walking, traversing farmlands and overgrown bushes. But what I really enjoyed was interactions with people. Kiwi's have this quirky, warm and little bit childish charm to them. They are relaxed and open to interactions with smelly backpackers. It's definitely something I will miss while hiking on much more remote South Island.

In the morning I said goodbye to Tararua Range by climbing over Pukeatua peak. It took five hours to arrive on the other side of the mountain where I started the road walk towards the town of Waikanae. About half way through I saw a car about to leave from one of the houses and I asked for a lift to town. Mandy agreed and made space at the back seat for my backpack, squeezing her labrador Keeper in the process. When I got in the car she gave me an apple and Keeper started to lick my face, surely he didn't mind an additional passenger. Mandy was driving to Rotorua to visit her family for Christmas, she hasn't seen them for a long time and was looking forward to it. After a short ride, she dropped me by the New World, we wished each other Merry Christmas and she left.

My backpack was empty, I completely miscalculated the provisions for Tararua's. I went inside and bought a bunch of food. Roast chicken leg, ciabatta, apple danish, four bananas and a coke. Also two days resupply, it all cost 55$. I sat outside the market and enjoyed hiker trash style lunch.
Then I carried on tramping, trail lead along the river, it was a warm summer day and lots of families and friends were having a swim or simply sit by the water. We used to do it a lot during summer when I was a kid, it brough back memories. The trail carried on through a busy beach for the rest of the day. People would have a walk, lit barbeques, do boat rides, build sandcastles or draw in the sand. One guy was drawing a giant Maori heart symbol for the gods, it looked amazing! Many people I was passing by asked about the trail and how it's been so far.
At 6pm I reached the Paekakariki Holiday Park. I saw two older ladies setting up a campervan on the beach so I asked if it's ok to camp here. They said that it wasn't but if I was careful enough I could get away with it. I followed their advice and found a spot just out of the view on a flat lawn by a stream, it saved me paying 20$ at the Holiday Park.

I though that since it's my last day on the beach I might as well have a swim. After few days without a shower it was wonderfully refreshing. Then I went back to the tent, dried myself best I could, said good evening to a few dog walkers passing by and wrapped myself in the sleeping bag. The mixture of birdsongs and the seawaves was very calming and peaceful, just like this entire day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 76) - Lambert Ridge to Hikers Welcome Hostel / mile 1799

Image
Hot, humid, stormy day. My goal was to place myself withing the short distance before the climb to Mount Moosilauke. AT in New Hampshire definitely prooved from the very begining that it means business. The first and second climb of the day:  Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube were steep and rocky, the path was muddy, overgrown and not very well marked, combined with the hot and humid weather I was moving at a snail's pace. Views were quite rewarding though and after the initial struggle trail got easier for the rest of the day. I've seen yet another two bear cubs, no mother in sight this time around which got me a bit spooked. Cubs climbed so high up the tree I could hardly see them from the trail, they were so incredibly agile! I've taken a blurry video of the couple as I thought it was fairly safe to do so, that's 10 black bears I've seen so far on Appalachian Trail.  At one point I took a break  by the road and tried to dry my feet a...
Read more