December 6th
Orongo Rd(546.3)-Te Kuiti(566)
Mileage: 19.7mi/31.7km
Campsite Elevation: 556ft/169m
Elevation chart courtesy of Guthook Hikes Te Araroa App.
Today was full of ups and downs through farmland with what seems like the least amount of road walking we’ve done in weeks. It finally feels like we’ve settled into a groove and it feels more like thru-hiking! From following Why Not’s TA journal from last year, we had a heads up on a section that was quite brushy and had a lot of small elevation changes that she mentioned annoyingly paralleling a road. On the Guthook app, there is a way to load the aerial version of the maps and it’s come in very handy out here at times. We could see the dirt road clearly paralleled the path along the fence line, so we all took that and were so glad to have a moment to take in the scenery. We could still look out and see the Pirongia Range that we were on top of two days ago and that’s pretty cool.
The Pirongia Range in the distance.
Later in the morning, we hit a tunnel of gorse for awhile that was somewhat cut back, but still unavoidable to touch at times. Good thing Becky had long sleeves and pants on! She still had a slight reaction and rash as it easily pokes into clothing, but thankfully nothing major. They really need to cut back these areas for people who are allergic because the reactions are pretty bad.
The final 5km into Waitomo was road walking and I got to talk to Jan and Jasmin more as we headed in. The Waitomo Glowworm Caves are a major tourist destination and many hikers stop off to do the pricey tour. There are various levels that include taking a boat in or even rappelling down waterfalls. My sister came here on her honeymoon and I thought about doing a tour, but since we saw glowworm caves in Waipu already (and it was a huge tourist trap in Waitomo) it wasn’t as appealing. Waitomo was about two blocks long in the heart of it and it was all about the caves with tons of buses and tourists.
Waitomo
Our lunch spot.
I had shorts and short sleeves on, but poor Becky had to wear pants and long sleeves because there was more gorse. We were totally dripping sweat and quite worn out. Terrible timing for this section for sure. There was a fairly new wooded stretch that was basically hacked into a hillside on clay-like mud. That will be interesting after a couple years of erosion and trampers. We did hit the 900km/560mi marker and that was cool.
The brush cleared a bit, but we still had hours of tall grass cross country to do for the day. The ground was very uneven with many divots from when cattle had walked through it in mud. Not great for both of us who have weak ankles. It was taxing and super slow going. Even the cattle were huddled in shaded spots.
We read in the trail notes that during sheep shearing season, there is a road detour around this section that easily led to town. It was really tough mentally to be so close to town and have the road within sight and not walk that instead. In a moment of weakness, we headed in the direction of the road, and ran into some locals that convinced us to stick it out after saying that they see many hikers doing it each day. We had felt like we were the only ones stupid enough to do it because there was absolutely no evidence of others or a path in the grass. We continued on and just accepted defeat at that point.
It just wasn’t our day, as just before the last two big steep ups, we must have missed a marker. We were on track, but it was off just enough to have us exploring the wrong side of a large steep hill and getting closed off by electric fences. We just wanted to be done and were so close. We could see town, and it was really defeating to have this happen so close to it. You can see all the ups and downs on the elevation chart.
Just as we were about to give up and take a road, someone drove by and pointed to where the trail was…off the track and on the other side of the hill just down the road, argh! We stuck it out and made it to the top of the final climb quite worn out and a good 1.5hrs later than anticipated. This photo doesn’t make what we did look all that difficult, but it’s here for us as it was the end of a very rough afternoon.
Finally done with the last climb!
Te Kuiti
When we got to town the owner of the local hostel (Casara Mesa Backpackers) picked us up. Don picks up hikers because he is a long 3km out of town. He was kind enough to drop by the grocery store and we got what we needed for dinner and breakfast to eat in. We’re getting the hang of this eating in thing at the hostels. It was awesome at the hostel. Just one other hiker was there (Pete who I haven’t seen since my third day). He has an ankle injury and has been waiting for it to heal here. Only two others are here and it’s so nice and peaceful. We have been around way too many people and this was just what we needed. It was just $15NZ/$11US to camp on the lawn and have full use of the facilities including shower, laundry, and unlimited awesome wifi.
Casara Mesa Backpackers and Pete.
The trail in the first photo looks absolutely horrible. That’s tough going for sure. No wonder you’re commenting on how difficult it is at times. Good luck Erin, and of course Becky!
You got me curious about the Guthook app so I had a look at the TA sample. Brilliant! Wish I’d had something like it on my long walks as I carry a mobile anyway. Do you carry a map or trail notes anyway or is this all you need?
Yes, I still carry the maps and notes. Becky’s job is to read the notes that are helpful and we never look at the maps.
I stayed at Don’s hostel with my girlfriend over New Year in 2012/13. Lovely, relaxing place. I hope you enjoy the Pureora Forest. Unless things have changed, I’d recommend not sleeping in Bog Inn Hut – it has a serious rat problem. There’s a nice place to camp in the woods out the back.
Absolutely beautiful. I think a few of those pictures could pass for Windows wall papers.
Hope you won’t be seeing anymore Gorse for a while. What a bummer for Becky. Plus with alergies,that is a tough road to hoe.
Hey, Wired! This sounds like a really tough journey, but, as always, it is fun to follow along vicariously with you. Matt and I are headed to New Zealand in a few weeks and will be doing a few of the Great Walks on the South Island. We are vegetarian and wanted to bring some dehydrated meals with us from the States. We looked at the customs website to see if we can bring food into NZ with us and can’t find anything that looks like we can not. Did you bring any food into NZ with you? Do you know if that is allowed? Do you have any other advice on things we should definitely bring with us from the States (besides all of our hiking gear, of course)? Thanks for any information you can provide.
Alison,
If you are bringing food with you then you must declare it on arrival. If you don’t you risk a fine and confiscation. Generally speaking if you declare all food items they will only dispose of any item that poses a bio security risk. The following may help http://www.mpi.govt.nz/travel-and-recreation/arriving-in-new-zealand/items-to-declare/
Thanks for the link and advice. We will definitely declare everything on arrival. We can’t wait to get there!
a comment to Alison (above), the dehyrated meals in NZ are expensive ($13 or so!) and as far as i could see, there’s only one veggie option!!
Erin, i haven’t read your blog for a while as me and Chris have been off exploring the Great Barrier Island (amazing forest and beautiful dolphins in the sea, following the ferry!) and Coromandel. being injured has been a good opportunity to explore beyond the Te Araroa.
I went to the doctor about my knee and she said it will take three months or keyhole surgery to recover (i have a torn miniscus)…so we’re still not back on the trail!!! at some point we’ll be back! it’s been great to catch up on your progress 🙂
lisa
Yikes! We know vegetarian meals can be hard to come by outside of the US, which is why we are hoping to bring some of our own–a little variety definitely goes a long way! Thanks for the tip!
Oh no! I’m sure you’ll be back once it gets healed. Good to know you all are taking advantage of all you can while it heals.
Hi Alison, all I heard was to bring over things that are prepackaged and labeled so they know what it is. I was worried they would take something I made for myself, so I didn’t bring anything like that.
You two are amazing and doing so well! Ride those ups and downs 🙂
Ah, there is no middle ground on Outlander … it is a love or hate affair! So much romance over two centuries….
I actually did the rappelling into the caves thing at Waitomo maaaaaaany many years ago now. It’s a s**t load of fun but yeah, it’ll make your bank account cry in a corner.
Ha, my sister did it for her honeymoon years ago!