Legs and Borders

"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. Man...

Today was more of an obstacle course than a trail. Sliding on or trying to manoeuvre around mud in long grass, hanging for dear life to tree branches on downhill sections, scrambling up and down exposed rock ridges, using tree roots as ladders to climb and descend, rock hopping river crossings, no water for the first half of the day, all the water during second, you name it! It was still fun and memorable day. Tararua's proved that they mean business, it was definitely the most challenging section on Te Araroa so far. In the morning I've hiked to Nichols Hut, topped up my water (which at this elevation was rain water collected in the huts tank) and had a breakfast consisting of Gruyère cheese, dry dates and tortilla. I managed to meet the last person leaving the hut, he said that it was 11 people sleeping here yesterday.  If you look closely you can see Nichols Hut on the next picture. From here, trail climbed to 1462m...