My restless legs kept me up until finally at 12:30 I got up to pee and use the opportunity to stretch my legs. I snuck quietly up to the main building and found someone asleep on the bench outside (I found out later it was Billy; apaprently he found the dorm a bit suffocating and preferred sleeping outside). I quietly snuck in through the sliding glass door, only to find a guy fast asleep on the couch in front of the TV, the last few scenes of Return of the King playing out, unwatched. Poor guy...some people just aren't cut out for an entire LOTR marathon.
Back in bed I finally managed to sleep but woke up just before 7 to hear Billy saying farewell to someone. I was still a bit groggy or else I would have stuck my head out of the tent to wish him good walk. I managed to get up myself at 7:15. Kevin was up, as well as the guy who had slept on the couch. Turns out he's an American guy travelling with a friend, and the two of them are planning to go on a day hike today. They must have offered to give a lift to a couple of other travellers whilst at the pub last night, as the friend grew increasingly anxious while we were all variously breakfasting and packing up our gear when there was no sign of their supposed fellow-hikers. Couch-sleeping guy was pretty relaxed about the whole thing, and kept telling his pal to chill out "it's a vacation", but his friend was having none of it, and getting steadily hotter under the collar he eventually went to wake the others up. I might have gone to wake them up too if it were me, but I wouldn't have got nearly so worked up about it. I decied he must be quite a stressful travelling companion and reflected on that fact that solo-hiking you can pick and choose who and when to hang out with, but ultimately do whatever you want when you want. Pretty selfish and spoiled really!
There was no sign of Sam so I went to pack up my gear, dawdling so that the tent would have time to dry a bit (I swear heavy dew + condensation is wetter than rain!). Fabrice and Jose drove past on their way out and stopped to say farewell and goodluck. I wished them all the best and was a little taken aback (in a nice way!) when Fabrice thanked me, saying it wasn't every day you meet someone who inspires you to do something...apparently Billy and I have inspired a future thru-hiker! Cool!
After thanking Stephanie very much for everything I finally set off. It's a short hike today so I wasn't too concerned about the late start. The trail today begins with a short walkdown Fullers Rd, before diverting through farmland and following a farm track down into a valley before going up through a paddock and going over a stile into scrub. A curious hand-written message on the trail marker on the stile pointing to the next marker along the fencline appeared to say that that was the old 2014 route and that the new route followed the fencline to the south. After my experience coming down the wrong route from the summit of tamahunga I was wary of following the apparent 2014 route, so I followed the fenceline to the south but it led nowhere with no markers. I returned to the stile. In order to buy time to think I had a museli bar break. The farmer in the paddock below spraying his weeds must have been amused at this hiker stalled at his stile, wandering up and down the fenceline. He (and I) were soon distracted however by the sound of a couple of hundred motor-X bikes which suddenly appeared over the ridge by the road and set off through the paddocks on that side. Apaprently there is a rally. They took about 20 minutes for them all to drive through, by which time I'm happy to say I'd made a decision and set off up the supposed 2014 trail (the only option really). It turned out to be a rough narrow and partially eroded little track that zig-zags up through the scrub to the crest of the ridge, runs along it a short way, and then goes down the other side. Here it transpires, is where the new 2015 route diverges off...along a brand new, horribly slippery clay-base cut track that zig zags down the ridges (rather than plunging straight down the hillside like the 2014 route apparently does). I found myself wishing I'd risked the old route as I slipped and slid, and semi-skiied down the greasy track, and cursed profusely when I did inevitably slip over (about the only things I was pleased about at that point was that I hadn't a) twisted anything or b) slid over the edge and gone tumbling through the not-very-dense forest).
Emerging at the bottom into grassy paddock once again could not come soon enough and I flopped down under some kahikatea trees to have a mental health break and another museli bar. Happily out of the clay and back in the nice sunshine I was soon able to appreciate that I was sitting in a picturesque little valley between punga-clad hills, filled with long green grass and lovely tall purple fox gloves (I know they're a weed, but they do look pretty against the long green grass).
Composure and ability to enjoy walking regained I set off again, up the next ridge and through the famed 'Te Kuiti Tunnel of Gorse' now mercifully trimmed back to enable you to walk through without needing to don gloves and raincoat to avoid being prickled to death.
Out the other end the trail emerges onto a grassy ridge that comes to a point, where there is a good view out over the farmed valley below. The trail then follows an old grassy farm track down around the point to the valley floor, passing through one large sheep paddock. Near the bottom a random string fence had been erected that I decided later was probably the farmer's attempt to direct hiker along the most direct route through his paddock from marker to marker (as the fence was open at the far end and not really sufficent to contain any stock). The sheep had obviously caught the string of the fence around their feet on occasion and walked off, trailing the fence out all over the paddock. As I approached, one sheep did just that as it fled, dragging the fence out for about 40m before I was able to grab the string and slowly (after dumping my pack and all other scary-looking paraphenalia) walked toward the sheep, reeling in the string. Happily it was able to detangle itself just before I got to it so I didn't have to attempt any sheep wrangling. It occured to me the sheep were just going to do the same thing when the next hiker came along so I spent ten minutes reeling in the strung out fence and re-hanging it on the temporary posts. I then resaddled with my gear and followed the fence down to the next trail marker. It turns out the fence was on a coil that had no break, hence why so much of it had bee strung out over the paddock--whenever a sheep pulled, more fenceline just unravelled from the coil. I contemplated tying it off, but decided if a sheep got tangled in it again it would just ende up trails fence posts as well as fence after it, so left it as was. Surely the farmer would check and rectify the arrangement soon.
Moving on the trail followed a farm track a short way, passed and happily not through cow and bull-occupied paddock, then crosses an empty paddock and then a swing bridge into the Pehitawa Forest Reserve. This appears to be one of several small patches of preserved forest amongst the otherwise ubiquitous farmland in the region, this one in particular being special for its preserved stand of large kahikatea trees (aka white pine). It was a pleasant walk through the mildly swampy (though not muddy, yay!) section, taking in the large buttressed-root trees and assorted other natives along the way.
Beyond the reserve the track crosses another paddock and then a road, before crossing more paddocks as it climbs another ridge. I sat by a gate and had lunch at the top looking out over the town of Te Kuiti below. from that point the town is scarcely 3km away...but TA is not done for the day. Instead of heading straight into town it heads along this ridge and then climbs down and up three more ridges before finally heading down into town from the southwest. The route is mostly through farmland, and going up ridge #1 I entered a paddock of cows, only to have a bunch of them flock over to me, hotly pursued by some very randy bulls that started trying to mount cows right in front of me. With all the animals seemingly a little overexcited I made a quick escape over the stile back into the previous paddock. While I stood and debated an alternate route the cattle started a great choral bellowing which brought the entire herd trotting down to the fence. It was then I realised that I was standing next to the gate between them in their well-grazed paddock and a paddock full of tall long, un-grazed grass on my side. Clearly they thought a person standing next to a gate must be about to open it and were bellowing in expectation of a springy fresh pickings. Na-uh. I could see the next trail marker on the far side of the paddock at the top of the ridge so I jumped a fence into the neighbouring paddock and followed the fenceline up, probably trespassing on a neighbouring property but happy to have a fence between me and the twice-excited cattle.
I got to the top to find the only way through was back into the paddock to follow the fence along. Happily the animals didn't seem inclined to follow me up the ridge, and I was able to walk along with only a few stragglers to contend with. But what do I find when I get to the far end? The trail only crosses the fence and heads back down into the valley again to pick up a farm track...I could have simply followed the fence at the bottom, through a paddock I was already in, to get to the same point, without ever having disturbed the cattle of climbing the ridge. This was not the first, nor the last, 'TA wtf?' moment for the day.
The last one came when, down the farm track and over ridge #2 I came round the corner to spot ridge #3. Funnily enough ridges look steeper when looked at from another ridge than they do when looking up at them from the bottom (I think it's because you know you have to climb all the way down only to climb back up agian). So I got to the approach to ridge #3 and had to have another mental health break. I sat under a tree in a sheep paddock and had a snack, looking at the map to try and see if I could be sure that this was the last ridge for the day. Thankfully it was, and as a bonus it proved to be a much easier climb up (following a grassy track I couldn't ee from the bottom) than anticipated. And the view was nice. But I was definitely ready to head down and be done for the day.
The last part of the walk goes through a reserve of mostly well established exotic trees, including some enormous concuqer-type trees, with large leaves and, at this time of year, small green, under-developed spiky conkers. I must have missed the last trail marker leading to town as you're supposed to emerge at one end of town next to the New World, but I came out in the middle of town and had to backtrack up the road to the supermarket.
Feeling more than a little subconscious about my hiker odour I dumped my pack in a trolley and set off through the aisles to resupply. Going passed the meat section a tray of honey soy chicken nibbles caught my eye, but it was far too big for me to eat it all. Instead I opted for a chicken breast, a packet sauce of honey soy and an assortment of fresh veges. I'm having chicken stir fry tonight!
Shop done I phoned Casara Mesa Backpackers. I'd spoken to the lady there the day before to book a room and she'd said to give her a call from New World and she' come and pick me up--a good service, since the hostel is 4km out of town. I called and spoke to Don. Within minutes Ushi was on her way and by the time I'd finished a can of Fresh Up Fizz (my new favourite thing to get as soon as I get to town) she pulled up in the carpark. Turns out she is Swiss, but has been settled here in NZ for many years. On the surprisingly long drive to the hostel I was even more grateful for the lift!
There were three other people at the backpackers when we got there, all TA hikers: Taylor from the US, and Lars and Romena from Australia (though Romena is originally from Germany). Taylor was out but I sat and chatted to Lars and Romena for a bit before going to shower. I emerged clean, dry and refreshed just as a car pulled up and Sam bundled out. So she did set off from Waitomo today! Like me she had a bit of trouble with the walk and a farmer, seeing her struggling, offered to give her a lift. Turns out he's the farmer who's fence I fixed and had watched me do it and commented to Sam that he was impressed at the care hikers were showing as they crossed his land. Yay! I'm glad to have helped give TA hikers a good name with local land owners (though I'm not sure the farmer will be quite so impressed when he sees close up the rough job I did of bundling up his excess fence!).
Poor Sam is both a bit hung over and coming down with a cold. I had plenty for dinner so I offered her some and we sat and ate together, chatting about NZ, Scotland and the differences between them. After diinner Lars and Romena joined us at the kitchen table, soon followed by Taylor, and we all sat and swapped tails of the trail. Maybe it's because she's Scottish, has a dry sense of humour and knows how to tell a story, but listening to Sam was hilarious. She's had quite a number of misfortunes along the way (is 'doing it hard' as they say), some self-inflicted and some not, but all extremely funny in the telling. I'm glad to have a few stories to share...but also glad I haven't had as many mishaps as Sam.
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