Legs and Borders

"There are always a few people who are in the woods at night, in the rain (because if there were not the world would have ended) an I am one of them". Merton Another grindy day in Tararua Range, it looks like I will be arriving in Wellington later than I thought but luckily it's not a big deal. First thing in the morning I had the funniest encounter for a long time. I saw two teenagers walking on the wrong side of the fence alongside the trail. I assumed they were farmers children checking something. They eventually joined the trail and stopped by the river crossing. When I was walking past them they asked me if I knew how to get to Mangaore mountain, I checked it on my GPS but there was no trail leading up there, perhaps they could find other way if they returned to the carpark and went around. They nodded and joyfully went back. When I joined them at the car park, it turned out that Amelia and Jericho as that were their names, were both partying ...

"This campsite needs a name or it's going to end as Toilet Camp" Clei One month in the trail! I've went pass Te Araroa's half way point. It was a grindy day, Tararua's showed what they are made of. I was planning for a big day and many miles. Altitude wasn't looking too bad it was a lot of climbing but nothing too steep. The only thing I didn't take into consideration was mud and stream crossings. Big mistake, and so my finish line was cut back, twice. First couple of miles went really well, trail climbed up and went past a cool looking and well maintained hut. Here I met Clei from France, she couldn't speak much English but we managed to communicate quite well. We both knew that the trail from here will be full of mud which will progressively get worse throughout the day. Clei went first, I finished eating breakfast and followed. At first trail wasn't too demanding but there was a lot...

"Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs" Fran Lebowitz Today, second of my planned skips to allow finishing TA on time happened, I've took a bus over a 60 miles section from Whanganui to Palmerston North. That section was following mainly roads and beaches which I wasn't particularly interested in. From this point on I should be covering Te Araroa to it's end in Bluff. Yesterday, just before going to sleep, I've made the final decision how to tackle the rest of North Island as it involved planning ahead. The main issue was a ferry which every hiker had to take to cross between North and South Island, Christmas-time tickets were selling fast and there were no boats at all on Christmas day. In the morning I walked to Whanganui bus station and took the Intercity. I've arrived in Palmerston North at 10:00am, resupplied at P...