Day 1-4: Zero days in Hamilton City
Day 5: Bus to Whatawhata then 9km to Kapua Valley
Day 6: Back to Hamilton for a bus to Palmerston North, and then to Carterton
Day 7-Present: Staying with my parents over Christmas
Total days on the trail: 33
Total 782km out of 3000km
Just a quick update on our progress, or rather, lack of...We have made it to Wellington! Unfortunately we didn't quite walk here and are off trail just very slightly. Hmmm let me go back to where I left off...we were in Hamilton City ready for a couple of days off to "fix" my health. We stayed in a nice motel, but each day came and I still didn't feel better. We went for easy walks around the city, but I just kept getting dizzy, so we kept extending our stay. Glen started coughing a bit at this point too, but it didnt seem to want to develop into anything. We tried to relax in the many gardens available, went to a movie and spent some time reading at the library. We also ate as much iron-rich food as we could, and finally after 4 days we decided I was good enough to carry on.
The plan was to do a simple and short trip to the lodge where we were going to camp that night, then it would be another 2 days to the summit of Mt. Pirongia. We caught a bus to Whatawhata where we had a delicious lunch and a chat with some hikers who were stopped there for a couple of days. They were the first people we met who really did seem to be on our wavelength and were hiking for enjoyment and exploration. They were also taking their time and doing the good bits over the parts that maybe didnt appeal as much. I was looking forward to shadowing them along the trail for a few days.
After fueling up we were off. It felt so good actually to be back on the trail. I was ready, I was better, it was going to be grand. We walked along a road for a short time before cutting around the back of some houses and along the banks of a river. This slightly boggy track came out into a few empty paddocks for a good hour or so. The trail annoyingly points you around the edges of each paddock, but actually walking across the middle would be a lot faster! It was also walking through these fields when I experienced shortness of breath again and a very slight fuzziness around my vision. My body was still strong and I wanted so much to be better, but I obviously wasn't. I kept at it and got more and more dizzy. It was very humid and the next section was just along the road, so that didn't help either. By the time we reached our accommodation for the night, I was tired, sweaty and needed to sit down.
The owner of the lodge, Hugh, came out with glasses of cold water and showed us where we could put our tent. For a bit extra we had access to their facilities and luckily we were the only ones there. It seemed an awesome spot and we were excited about being in the tent again after so long. Glen and I talked about our options while we made dinner. I was super nervous about climbing the mountain in the state I was in, as I had found today a bit hard and it was flat and only 9km! I had pretty much decided I would go back to Hamilton and bus to Te Kuiti and wait there for Glen while he conquered the summit, when my mum called. I spoke with her and my stepdad John and they suggested we pause the walk and get ourselves to Carterton where they live, for a few days. As we had already spent a few days in Hamilton, which was slightly over budget and as I obviously needed more time to take iron pills we decided to do exactly that.
After we made this quite difficult decision, it was time for bed. What was meant to be a calm, enjoyable night in the tent turned into a bit of a nightmare very quickly. I was just about asleep when what sounded like 4 different possums decided to cackle feet away from us, fight each other, and run around in a generally noisy way! We tried scaring them off, but they just sat in their trees staring at us like we were idiots, so we left them to it. Earplugs in and trying not to imagine them crawling under the tent fly, I went to sleep. Not very long after that I felt Glen moving around and thinking the possums were getting a bit close or something, I asked what was wrong. He didn't want to show me, but on the outside of the tent, but inside the fly, was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life! And it was carrying an egg sack....urgh! All Glen could do was flick it off the tent and hope it crawled away, not into his pack.
Another very broken sleep, but we were heading off trail anyway today. Hugh kindly drove us back to Whatawhata, where we jumped on the bus back to Hamilton after a coffee and a scone. At the transport centre there was a bus to Palmerston North leaving just after 11am so we hopped straight on. This was actually quite a good ride down, the weather that had been threatening for so long finally broke as we drove through all the towns we should have been walking past. We arrived in Palmerston North around 7pm and my parents were there ready to take us the rest of the way home. It was so good to see them and know that for a week or two we would be truly looked after and able to rest. 30 years old, but still so good to come home to your parents when you're not well.
The plan is to rest here until after Christmas, as there's no point leaving before Christmas now I'm here! I'm still taking my pills and eating iron-rich food. Glen has managed to get a cold, all that coughing he was doing while we were in Hamilton finally turned into something. So both of us invalids made the best decision we could to pause the walk and get healthy properly. Once Christmas has been, we will go back up to the area just south of Hamilton, almost back to where we stopped, and will continue from there. We both still don't want to give up on hiking the Te Araroa Trail yet, but we know if we had just kept going, it would have been so unenjoyable and such a struggle, I wouldn't have wanted to finish it at all. We still feel we have more to achieve and will get back to it soon enough. We both hope you all enjoy your Christmas holidays as we will enjoy our break here and the next blog update will be in 2019! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Day 7-Present: Staying with my parents over Christmas
Total days on the trail: 33
Total 782km out of 3000km
Just a quick update on our progress, or rather, lack of...We have made it to Wellington! Unfortunately we didn't quite walk here and are off trail just very slightly. Hmmm let me go back to where I left off...we were in Hamilton City ready for a couple of days off to "fix" my health. We stayed in a nice motel, but each day came and I still didn't feel better. We went for easy walks around the city, but I just kept getting dizzy, so we kept extending our stay. Glen started coughing a bit at this point too, but it didnt seem to want to develop into anything. We tried to relax in the many gardens available, went to a movie and spent some time reading at the library. We also ate as much iron-rich food as we could, and finally after 4 days we decided I was good enough to carry on.
 |
| Lake Rotoroa |
The plan was to do a simple and short trip to the lodge where we were going to camp that night, then it would be another 2 days to the summit of Mt. Pirongia. We caught a bus to Whatawhata where we had a delicious lunch and a chat with some hikers who were stopped there for a couple of days. They were the first people we met who really did seem to be on our wavelength and were hiking for enjoyment and exploration. They were also taking their time and doing the good bits over the parts that maybe didnt appeal as much. I was looking forward to shadowing them along the trail for a few days.
After fueling up we were off. It felt so good actually to be back on the trail. I was ready, I was better, it was going to be grand. We walked along a road for a short time before cutting around the back of some houses and along the banks of a river. This slightly boggy track came out into a few empty paddocks for a good hour or so. The trail annoyingly points you around the edges of each paddock, but actually walking across the middle would be a lot faster! It was also walking through these fields when I experienced shortness of breath again and a very slight fuzziness around my vision. My body was still strong and I wanted so much to be better, but I obviously wasn't. I kept at it and got more and more dizzy. It was very humid and the next section was just along the road, so that didn't help either. By the time we reached our accommodation for the night, I was tired, sweaty and needed to sit down.
The owner of the lodge, Hugh, came out with glasses of cold water and showed us where we could put our tent. For a bit extra we had access to their facilities and luckily we were the only ones there. It seemed an awesome spot and we were excited about being in the tent again after so long. Glen and I talked about our options while we made dinner. I was super nervous about climbing the mountain in the state I was in, as I had found today a bit hard and it was flat and only 9km! I had pretty much decided I would go back to Hamilton and bus to Te Kuiti and wait there for Glen while he conquered the summit, when my mum called. I spoke with her and my stepdad John and they suggested we pause the walk and get ourselves to Carterton where they live, for a few days. As we had already spent a few days in Hamilton, which was slightly over budget and as I obviously needed more time to take iron pills we decided to do exactly that.
After we made this quite difficult decision, it was time for bed. What was meant to be a calm, enjoyable night in the tent turned into a bit of a nightmare very quickly. I was just about asleep when what sounded like 4 different possums decided to cackle feet away from us, fight each other, and run around in a generally noisy way! We tried scaring them off, but they just sat in their trees staring at us like we were idiots, so we left them to it. Earplugs in and trying not to imagine them crawling under the tent fly, I went to sleep. Not very long after that I felt Glen moving around and thinking the possums were getting a bit close or something, I asked what was wrong. He didn't want to show me, but on the outside of the tent, but inside the fly, was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life! And it was carrying an egg sack....urgh! All Glen could do was flick it off the tent and hope it crawled away, not into his pack.
Another very broken sleep, but we were heading off trail anyway today. Hugh kindly drove us back to Whatawhata, where we jumped on the bus back to Hamilton after a coffee and a scone. At the transport centre there was a bus to Palmerston North leaving just after 11am so we hopped straight on. This was actually quite a good ride down, the weather that had been threatening for so long finally broke as we drove through all the towns we should have been walking past. We arrived in Palmerston North around 7pm and my parents were there ready to take us the rest of the way home. It was so good to see them and know that for a week or two we would be truly looked after and able to rest. 30 years old, but still so good to come home to your parents when you're not well.
 |
| Stanley and Daisy, my parent's dogs |
The plan is to rest here until after Christmas, as there's no point leaving before Christmas now I'm here! I'm still taking my pills and eating iron-rich food. Glen has managed to get a cold, all that coughing he was doing while we were in Hamilton finally turned into something. So both of us invalids made the best decision we could to pause the walk and get healthy properly. Once Christmas has been, we will go back up to the area just south of Hamilton, almost back to where we stopped, and will continue from there. We both still don't want to give up on hiking the Te Araroa Trail yet, but we know if we had just kept going, it would have been so unenjoyable and such a struggle, I wouldn't have wanted to finish it at all. We still feel we have more to achieve and will get back to it soon enough. We both hope you all enjoy your Christmas holidays as we will enjoy our break here and the next blog update will be in 2019! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
merry xmas guys, rest up.
ReplyDeleteThat spider!! no way!
Holidays is one of the best thing I've always waited. Its the perfect time for relaxing. Cheers!
ReplyDelete