Day 34. Huntly - Hamilton

Every morning I wake up at 7 am, and it has yet to get easier to escape the humble warmth of my enclosed sleeping bag and dip into the open unsettled cold. These days I expect rain in the morning. It lingers in pressurized cloud pockets -  roaming the land - releasing pools of heavy down poor on the areas it passes. The rain is unavoidable on most occasions, but usually I'm given time to prepare. 15 minutes of rain, 15 minutes of clear sky. Repeat.

Carol and Dave at the Holiday park in Huntly were incredibly kind to me. They offered me a ride down the road towards the Hakarimata range. Carol refused to bring me to the start of the track though "you need to warm those legs up before you make the climb into the range. Please, be safe.". Carol told me that I could make it to Hamilton if I was fast. I don't know if I was feeling particularly fast, but I'll kept the idea close to mind.

When I reached the Hakarimata track start I was shown the distance to Ngaruawahia. 6 hours and 30 minutes. I don't know what Carol was thinking telling me to go to Hamilton in one day, but I figured I would see how I do.

I met three elderly women at the start of the track and one asked me if I was a TA walker. They didn't seem impressed when they found out I was. I assume these women have probably seen it all, and something like a 3000km walk across New Zealand was amateur stuff. They wished me safe passage and I was soon on my own.

The Hakarimata range is a very lush forest full of Kauri and Remu trees. The track was steep and muddy, but not any different then any of the other tracks I've passed through over the last month. I was on my way, climbing up. The forest was coated with an elaborate floor root system that made it difficult to keep my pase and balance.

I soon came to a lookout point and was given a view of Hamilton and beyond. Mount Rhupehu towered in the distance along with the tongariro crossing. A major challange that has been on my mind since the beginning. I buried the fear for a later time.

As I got into the thicker bush I noticed a particular change in the light. A soft, even, balanced light. When I'm a photographer this light was my blessing, but as a thru hiker this light was not. The clouds became darker, and I felt a cool chill seep through the trees from the south. I stopped, felt the cold again and then began to change into my rain gear. I was putting my rain pants on when the pressurized pocket of darkness released itself on me. As I continued walking my gear became fully soaked. I could feel the water building up in my gortex sleeves, squeezing them released a few drops. The heavy rain lasted for 15 minutes, but the forest collected the water for a smaller shower that lasted most of the day. I kept my rain gear on all day.

After 4 hours I had made it to the peak. I was 2 hours and 30 minutes ahead of the estimated trail time. I'm becoming faster at this. I met a Kiwi couple at the top and we had a nice conversation. They were happy to hear I was from Canada. I was soon on my way down to Ngaruawahia. When I reached the township I was starving! I found a hole on the wall chicken and chips store and had the greasiest meal of my trip yet. I don't regret it for a second. As I sat in the small shop eating my meal a mauri man walked in and ordered some food. He started telling the server that Huntly had lost all power due to the weather. I missed that by a day. He then noticed me, and asked if I was getting on a bus somewhere. "No, just passing through" I told him. "Are you from here?" I asked. "I'm driving south" he said "You need a car. You can't go anywhere without a car". I gave him a smile and said. "I walked from Cape Reinga.". He turned his focus to me, then my bag, then my walking stick, then back to me. "Ha! No you didn't!" He received his fried chicken and ran out the door.

I continued walking down highway 1 towards Hamilton. My estimate was that I would reach the city by dark, but I was planning on staying at a backpacker hostel. After an hour of walking on the busy highway a car stopped. A man rolled his window down and said in a very dry tone "Hamilton?". I got in the car and after an attempted conversation that failed he dropped me off in the city. It was still a far walk to the hostel, but by 5:00 pm I made it to my destination. Over the past 2 days I've almost covered 100km so I decided to give me poor feet a break and take a rest day in hamilton.

It's pouring rain here. Instead of sitting I walked the streets.