Twig Adventures

January 1st Pahautea hut, Mt. Pirongia (km848.5)-Orongo rd. (km880.5) Mileage: 20mi/32km I listened to light rain falling on my tent all night, so I knew it was going to be a fun day. The forecasted wet weather had come about half a day early. Given the late night, I tried to sleep in but only managed about an hour and a half more. Most hikers had left before me, which is not usually the case. The first km was on an awesome boardwalk to a lookout at the top of a cone-shaped peak. The clouds had opened up enough that we could catch glimpses of the west coast bays. Hihikiwi mountain summit Looking back towards the summit and hut. The[…]

December 31st Whatawhata (km816.5)- Pahautea hut, Mt Pirongia (km848.5) Mileage: 20mi/32km We got an early start this morning at 6:30 a.m. to ensure that we could make it to the mountaintop hut by the end of the day. It looked like a steep climb up Pirongia. We wondered just how many people would be up there. Best to get there reasonably early if we wanted a bunk. The brand new hut sleeps 20 people. The morning road walk flew by and shortly we were on farm tracks. This morning’s petting was of a goat in her little goat hut. They are great for mowing the sides of the road. We spotted 2 backpackers up ahead who had the distinct profile[…]

December 30th Ngaruawahia (km781)-Whatawhata (km816.5) Mileage: 22mi/35.5km It was a good night at the Arrow Lodge, after just a bit of noise from Friday night revelers died down. Days of the week have little relevance to a thru-hiker but we have begun to focus on where we will land for New Year’s eve. I did some hiker math in the morning to determine we could make Mt Pirongia summit and the nearby hut by Sunday night. But we needed to do another big day, plus resupply in Hamilton. The walk to Hamilton followed the Te Awa River Ride the whole way. This a paved multi-use path that is just splendid. The local communities have spent a lot on improvements of[…]

December 29th Rangiriri (km746)- Ngaruawahia (km781) Mileage: 21.8mi/35km There wasn’t a firm plan today but I hoped to end up in the Hakarimata range for a nice, natural campsite. The morning was spectacular: cool, calm, and gorgeous clouds. We crossed over the large Waikato River again, which was glassy calm. Mike assures me it is rare to see it so calm. There was an outrigger canoe paddling under the bridge. It was so quiet that we had a chat with her. Everyone says hello to one another here. It was a very pleasant walk on the stopbanks today. We were in the town of Huntly in no time at all. We got off trail to go across the bridge towards[…]

December 28th Mercer (km721)-Rangiriri (km746) Mileage: 15.5mi/25km Today was pretty straightforward: Follow the river until the pie shop. There is a lady that makes and sells legendary hot pies, plus free camping behind her place. Toilet provided courtesy of NZ local government…more on this later. It was an interesting night in the beer-garden. They closed plenty early at 9 p.m. but then the volunteer fire department alarm went off around 11 p.m. I actually thought it was part of my dream and didn’t even fully wake. Mike mentioned it in the morning and I could just barely recall it. I sleep really soundly in my tent these days. I even slept through all the blinking Christmas lights strung around the[…]

December 27th Repeater Hut and campsite (km686)-Mercer (km721) Mileage: 21.8mi/35km The section of the TA in the southern Hunua range is still closed because of a slip and land rights issues, so today was going to be mostly all road walking to get down to Mercer. I’ve been struggling with whether to get a ride through this part or to just walk the country roads. It would depend on the quality of the roads and if an opportune ride was offered. Most TA walkers are skipping the entire section from Auckland down to Hamilton, a couple hundred kms. But not me, I just keep plugging along. The day was perfectly clear but I already knew it would be because I[…]

December 26th McNicol Rd (km664)- Repeater Hut and campsite (km686) Mileage: 13.7mi/22km plus extra 2 km going to visit Hunua falls and following wrong trail. It was raining lightly when I woke up in the morning. I made coffee and breakfast, thinking it would let up, but it only starting coming down harder. I’ve stopped checking the weather forecast because it’s been so nice. Besides, there is nothing I can do about the weather. But I did check to find it was calling for cloudy skies with a touch of rain all day. No kidding. I packed up everything inside my tent, but didn’t want to pack the tent in the rain. Then I remembered that there was a dry[…]

December 25th Puhinui Stream (km634)- McNicol Rd, Clevedon (km664) Mileage: 18.6mi/30km This was one Christmas I will surely never forget. It started out just fine, packing up my tent in a beautiful meadow near the stream and then following the stream on a nice gravel path for a few kms, before breaking out into an industrial area. I found a gas station just in time for a bathroom break. I haven’t had need of my trowel for a long time now. Walking through the industrial areas in South Auckland on Christmas morning was kind of surreal. Everything was closed and there were no cars on the road. It felt like the zombie apocalypse. Oddly, there was one guy on a[…]

December 24th Auckland (km602)-Puhinui Stream (km634) Mileage: 20mi/32km I had breakfast and one last shower, then bid farewell to my Auckland trail angels. Nina was driving James to Clevedon to start the trail from there, but I still had a section through the city to do, plus sections around the west side and airport. I was a bit concerned about camping options around where I would end the day. James described the area as a “hood”, hence his reasoning for skipping it. But I ignored this probably sound advice and did the whole section anyway. I walked a few kms from James’s house to pick up the trail at km 602. This was where I previously left off my first[…]

December 23rd Auckland No walking! This being my first day off, I didn’t do a whole lot. Denis texted me at 0730 am to say that he was bringing my stuff over to me. Wow, what a great guy. I was so excited to see him. He brought all my stuff too, so I was able to better organize things. I replaced my broken stake and pulled all the things for my bounce box. Nina and James went to take some pictures on One Tree Hill with their new camera, while I had an important date with my nail clippers. After they returned, we all left to go to Christmas lunch at James’s parents. They live in North Auckland and[…]