The Twinames Trek Te Araroa

 Day 19: Taumarunui to Owhango (27km)  After our “zero” day we were all set with five days” worth of food in our packs to head in to the Tongariro Forest.  But first we had to drop another five days’ worth of food off with the canoeing company and watch a safety briefing for when we canoe down the Whanganui River in about six days’ time.  View of the Whanganui River just over the bridge from Taumarunui.              Roger carrying our extra food to the canoeing HQ.                             View from canoeing HQ.  No, we are not cheating. Canoeing the Whanganui River is an official part of the Te Araroa. It is actually one of the ten “Great Walks” of NZ!  Food dropped, forms completed and safety briefed, we then walked the rest of the 27km over the hill to Owhango.  We saw more horses. cows, bulls and sheep as expected but also…..an ostrich!!...

 Day 15: Pureora Cabins to Piropiro Campsite (41km/11.5 hours) A very short walk from the cabin and we were at the start of the Timber Trail (an 84km mountain bike trail, part of the NZ Cycle Trail). We have both ridden this before but were excited to be climbing up to the top of Mt Pureora for the first time (and to be walking on well-formed tracks again for a while TBH!). A lovely start on a leaf-carpeted meandering trail through a massive podocarp forest and surrounded by the screech of Kaka and many other birdsong. Interspersed were open areas with sneak peaks of the mountain we were about to ascend.  The detour of the bike trail to climb up the mountain was about 40 minutes and we were very excited as we knew we had picked a good day for it weather wise.  The views from the trig at Mt Pureora (1165m) were AMAZING! We had full 360 degrees panoramic views, including Mt Ruapehu, Mt Ngauruhoe and Lake Taupo. This has to be one of the best views I have ever seen. Photos d...