Twig Adventures

January 21st WhioWhio Hut, Palmerston North (km1505)-Burttons Track and Whare/Tokomaru River (km1543) Mileage: 23.7mi/38km plus about 5 km walking around Victoria Esplanade After a nice early breakfast with Fiona (she had to work on Sunday-she’s a radiologist at the hospital), we packed up and headed out. We first needed to go to a small grocery to get a few item for the next 2 days. Then I convinced Connor that we needed to explore the Victoria Esplanade, which is the local park. I visited on my first trip to NZ and remembered it to be an excellent park. It seems to have gotten even better. We found the flying fox straight away, which entertained for a few rounds. We also[…]

January 20th Wanganui Top 10 Holiday Park (km1397)-WhioWhio Hut, Palmerston North (km1505) Mileage: 67.8mi/108km What a fantastic and action-packed day this was. We woke up excited to be off early for our big cycling adventure. This was T3 of the TA triathlon, where we traded our paddles in for wheels…big fat mountain bike wheels. I know what 60 some miles on flat roads with a road bike feels like, since I used to ride that distance training for triathlons. Cranking a fat tire bike over rolling countryside with a pack on for that same distance was going to be especially taxing. Oh, and no bike shorts to protect my bum…what was I thinking when I cooked up this idea? Well,[…]

January 19th Whanganui River (km1390)- Wanganui Top 10 Holiday Park (km1397) Mileage: 4mi/7km paddling plus lots of walking around town. A nero day. I had a big day planned for town, so we got an early start in the kayaks. Loading them in the mud was a chore and then we had to fight an incoming tide. At least we were at the holiday park by 9 am. Along the way, we encountered heaps of crew boats out for their morning row. They were all putting in at a ramp up the river, which we mistook for a crew house but it turned out to be the holiday park. Numerous teams from all over NZ were staying at the park[…]

January 18th Flying Fox campsite, Koriniti (km1344)-Whanganui River (km1390) Mileage: 28.6mi/46km We expected rain all night but it was surprisingly dry when we woke up. The wind was blowing pretty strong but it meant a tail wind for us, so we liked it. We were on the river by 8:30 am but not before packing some takeaway avocados from the overloaded tree. They need some time to ripen. We didn’t make it far before stopping at Down’s hut. This is a historic homestead from the 1920’s, built by Mr. Down of course. I wanted to check it out because I heard the hut book goes back to 2001 and is a record of all the former TA hikers. Sure enough,[…]

January 17th Ramanui campsite (km1292)-Flying Fox campsite, Koriniti (km1344) Mileage: 32.3mi/52km I woke in the morning to the sound of something grazing near my tent…it was two deer. I watched them for awhile, so close. Possums had woken me in the night, making their horrible little noises. I could see their eyes reflecting in the trees. There is so much life here, always something different. Thankfully, the deer woke me just in time to see the beautiful cotton candy clouds from the sunrise. I went back to the Captain’s Chair, where I found Black Cat still sitting! He went straight onto my lap and I enjoyed the sunrise while he served as a lap-warmer. So great! Everyone else was up[…]

January 16th John Coull campsite – Ramanui campsite (km1292) Mileage: 18.6mi/30km We had another fantastic day on the water. We only had to go 30 km (easy with current), so we had a leisurely breakfast and weren’t paddling until 9 am. The weather was partly cloudy all day and just perfect. The first part took us through a really scenic gorge. I’ve paddled down many spectacular rivers but the jungle-like vegetation really sets this one apart. It reminds me most of the Suwanee in Florida but with higher banks and cliffs. There are also waterfalls and streams trickling down every 100 meters. We made it to Mangapurua Landing by noon. This is where the official TA route begins on the[…]

January 15th Whakahoro (km1245.5)- John Coull campsite Mileage: 23.6mi/38km It was so nice to have an easy day for once. I still got up early but I took my time having breakfast and then had time to go to the cafe for the wifi and electricity. It was foggy to begin with but cleared into a sunny day. The outfitter was a tad late but I was glad for the extra time. I was also happy to see 2 Necky Looksha 14′ kayaks arrive, plus all our food bags. There were heaps of other people loading canoes but we were the only kayaks. We easily fit everything into the provided dry bags, listened to a safety briefing, and were shortly[…]

January 14th Upper Retaruke rd. (km1212) -Whakahoro (km1245.5) Mileage: 20.8mi/33.5km We had an interesting alarm clock this morning. Three bucks came crashing in, snorting and grunting around 5:30am. They did some bunny hops and then took off. Deer are very territorial and we had invaded their space. There is a lot of deer farming in the area, hence all the very high fences. Some have escaped and run wild, which I think these were. In all the time I’ve spent backpacking, I’ve actually encountered territorial deer on several occasions, but I didn’t expect it in NZ. The morning was spectacularly sunny but cool and fresh from all the rain. The road walking was really enjoyable, with no traffic and just[…]

January 13th Whakapapa Village (km1173)-Upper Retaruke rd. (km1212) Mileage: 24.2mi/39km We had a wonderful night, with only one interruption from a fierce thunderstorm rolling through. I saw lots of flashes and heard some thunder, but it was pretty tame otherwise. The thunder burger was just a precursor! In the morning, we went to use the very nice public restrooms and took a last look at the cute little town. This lodge made me think of The Shining. The track from the village followed some more awesome boardwalk, with views back towards the volcanoes. The first couple miles were on the ’round the mountain’ route, circumnavigating Ruapehu. Later we would split off from the well-maintained track and just have to walk[…]

January 12th Ketetahi TH, Tongariro Crossing (km1146)- Whakapapa Village (km1173) Mileage: 16.8mi/27km plus about 3 miles extra doing side trips to Soda Springs and Taranaki falls; also walking around town. I was so ready for this day to start and so were many others. Cars started arriving at 4 am and there were parking authorities set up by 5 am. We hit the trail around 5:40, glad to get away from that place. The first part of the track was through forest and a gradual climb. Then we broke out into the tundra and really began climbing, with great views of the sunrise. We would gain about 3000 feet in elevation today. The highest point of the crossing is 1186[…]