Day 39. Pirongia - Waitomo
I awoke. It was late in the night, but I had an urge to walk like never before. I didn't bother with food at this time. I packed up my gear and stepped out into the 950 metre unsupervised winds. There was enough light for me to see the trail, but dark enough to make every step uncertain. I don't recall checking if I took the right path from the hut, but decided to continue forward. I felt the cold cling to my body, and had a sudden moment of panic. I didn't want to walk, now I wanted to sleep. I tried to tell myself to go back to the hut, but my body refused. I pulled out my emergency blanket, and slid into its minimal warmth. The winds continued to push, stronger than ever, and I felt the cold stab me again. Get up! I told myself. You're going to die you idiot, get up!. I knew I was in trouble. What the hell provoked me to be out in this madness?
Get up!
Get up!
GET UP!
I pulled myself awake in a single sudden breath. I was in the hut. It was a dream. A cold lingered in my sleeping bag, but nothing too terrible. I could see the light starting to come in through the windows, and decided to do the last thing I felt like doing at this point. I got out of bed, cooked breakfast, packed up my gear, and hit the open trail.
I was lucky enough to have clear sky for the two days I spent in Pirongia forest. Within 20 minutes I was taking off layers to prevent myself from sweating too much. I made it to my first high point quite fast, and thanks to the beautiful weather I had stunning views of King Country. I had a big day planned today. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Waitomo, but I kept the idea in mind. The mud on this side of the forest was much worse than normal. It was deep, and thicker than I expected. More times than once did I stab my kauri mountain walking stick into the mud and have to give more than one hard pulls to get it out. Most of the time I can jump on rocks, fallen tries, or even grab vines and use the momentum of my weight to swing to the other side, but here the mud was unavoidable.
The forest was beautiful. The light came in through the trees and a felt the urge to stop and take photos. Eventually pulled myself to keep moving. As I continued through I spotted a dark black figure ahead of me. I stopped, and realized we were staring each other down. It was a bull. I tried to see if it had horns - an indicator of a wild bull to a farmers bull - but it moved to fast. It made a run for it in the opposite direction of me, but as soon as it panicked the entire forest came to life. the trees to my left started shaking, followed by the trees to my right. I froze in place, and watched as the bulls hidden around me broke into stampede. The forest soon became calm again, and I carried on my way forward.
By the time I finished Pirongia forest I came to a road. I had a large amount of road walking to do before I made it to my next track so I got on my way. Nothing of excitement to talk about here. 15-20 km of road walking later I came to farmers track. The farmers tracks on Te Araroa can be anywhere from semi maintained to poorly maintained. This one was semi poorly maintained, but I would take this over the open road any day. I was surprised by how long the track took for me to finish, and by the time I reached the other side I could see the sun starting its slow decent below the horizon. I saw a farmers house and decided to go ask if it would be possible if I could camp on their property. Nobody answered the door, so instead of waiting I filled up my water from the nearby garden hose, and made the decision to push to Waitomo. It would be all road walk since the Mahoe track is closed to lambing, and I'm taking a detour around it, but a beautiful roadwork none the less.
The sun soon set and I was walking in the darkness. I felt a sudden fear of last nights dream coming to life, but knew I was just being dramatic. I walked on, and on. I looked for the moon, but tonight was a moonless, owned by the Persieds. The meteors burned above me, and I soon found the last thing I wanted was to hide in the confounds on my tent. I walked in the darkness, with a torch light to guide me, but found myself stoping and staring at the beauty above me.
The first car I saw on this road came driving past, and stopped at little bit ahead. They were quite shocked I was walking at this hour, and were happy to give me a ride into Waitomo. It wasn't much longer before I found myself in a pub with a burger, chips and beer.
Before I went to sleep I took one last moment to take in the night sky. Its my dad who made it tradition to watch the Persieds. Every year we would lay on the deck at our lake, and count the shooting stars. It doesn't matter where I am, the night sky will always make me feel at home.
Get up!
Get up!
GET UP!
I pulled myself awake in a single sudden breath. I was in the hut. It was a dream. A cold lingered in my sleeping bag, but nothing too terrible. I could see the light starting to come in through the windows, and decided to do the last thing I felt like doing at this point. I got out of bed, cooked breakfast, packed up my gear, and hit the open trail.
I was lucky enough to have clear sky for the two days I spent in Pirongia forest. Within 20 minutes I was taking off layers to prevent myself from sweating too much. I made it to my first high point quite fast, and thanks to the beautiful weather I had stunning views of King Country. I had a big day planned today. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Waitomo, but I kept the idea in mind. The mud on this side of the forest was much worse than normal. It was deep, and thicker than I expected. More times than once did I stab my kauri mountain walking stick into the mud and have to give more than one hard pulls to get it out. Most of the time I can jump on rocks, fallen tries, or even grab vines and use the momentum of my weight to swing to the other side, but here the mud was unavoidable.
The forest was beautiful. The light came in through the trees and a felt the urge to stop and take photos. Eventually pulled myself to keep moving. As I continued through I spotted a dark black figure ahead of me. I stopped, and realized we were staring each other down. It was a bull. I tried to see if it had horns - an indicator of a wild bull to a farmers bull - but it moved to fast. It made a run for it in the opposite direction of me, but as soon as it panicked the entire forest came to life. the trees to my left started shaking, followed by the trees to my right. I froze in place, and watched as the bulls hidden around me broke into stampede. The forest soon became calm again, and I carried on my way forward.
By the time I finished Pirongia forest I came to a road. I had a large amount of road walking to do before I made it to my next track so I got on my way. Nothing of excitement to talk about here. 15-20 km of road walking later I came to farmers track. The farmers tracks on Te Araroa can be anywhere from semi maintained to poorly maintained. This one was semi poorly maintained, but I would take this over the open road any day. I was surprised by how long the track took for me to finish, and by the time I reached the other side I could see the sun starting its slow decent below the horizon. I saw a farmers house and decided to go ask if it would be possible if I could camp on their property. Nobody answered the door, so instead of waiting I filled up my water from the nearby garden hose, and made the decision to push to Waitomo. It would be all road walk since the Mahoe track is closed to lambing, and I'm taking a detour around it, but a beautiful roadwork none the less.
The sun soon set and I was walking in the darkness. I felt a sudden fear of last nights dream coming to life, but knew I was just being dramatic. I walked on, and on. I looked for the moon, but tonight was a moonless, owned by the Persieds. The meteors burned above me, and I soon found the last thing I wanted was to hide in the confounds on my tent. I walked in the darkness, with a torch light to guide me, but found myself stoping and staring at the beauty above me.
The first car I saw on this road came driving past, and stopped at little bit ahead. They were quite shocked I was walking at this hour, and were happy to give me a ride into Waitomo. It wasn't much longer before I found myself in a pub with a burger, chips and beer.
Before I went to sleep I took one last moment to take in the night sky. Its my dad who made it tradition to watch the Persieds. Every year we would lay on the deck at our lake, and count the shooting stars. It doesn't matter where I am, the night sky will always make me feel at home.
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