Pehitawa Track

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 Day 10: Waimango Road to Waitomo (36.5km, 11.5 hours!!)

OK, so this was our longest day so far, in time if not in distance (although to be fair our 43km day we were only carrying day packs!!). 

It was definitely our toughest day so far. 

We left Casey and Jon’s at 7:15am as we knew we had a long day ahead of us. About 6km on a road, accompanied by two hunting dogs with trackers for company. 

At the top of Casey and Jon’s drive.


We then headed on to a trail which started well with lots of variety, good views and only a few boggy bits. 

After a couple more kilometers on road we then turned in to some……”undulating” farmland, past an airfield and then in to a short but steep bit of forest. 




One of two sheep skulls we saw today. 






We saw lots of wild goats, including the cutest kid. I just wanted to pick it up and cuddle it! 

Issues finding the markers meant we went “off piste” for a bit (not the first time we had gone wrong today) but once we were back on track we had more ups and downs - some more steep and more slippery (clay) than others. We were very glad it was not raining as some of those tracks would be extremely slippery. 

Just when we thought it could not get worse, we then hit some more clay tracks which had been pretty damaged by horses. 

And then…a road! We thought we were 2km from town.  I rang and booked some accommodation, promising we would get there before reception closed at 7pm to then find we were actually 5km from town and ending up cutting it pretty fine! 

A shower followed by a couple of beers, burgers and fries at the pub soon brought smiles back on our faces! 


Roger’s trail notes: 


Day 11: Waitomo to Te Kuiti (approximately 18km)


We were tempted to have a rest day but as it was a (relatively) short distance we thought we would push on through as there are more facilities in Te Kuiti. 

A good breakfast at Waitomo General Store before we left! 



A good day. Lots of big hills over farmland but some amazing views. Also a lovely track through the Pehitawa Forest with incredibly tall trees. 












Seeing Te Kuiti in the distance as we came down the last big hill brought on the ice cream cravings (it was a hot hot day) which were soon satisfied. We then went to meet Sue, our next “Trail Angel” who very kindly opened up her home to us. 

Day 12: Our First “Zero” (rest) Day. 

Sue very kindly said we could stay with her for another night so we did some sight seeing around Te Kuiti, odd jobs and cleaning for Sue and basic planning and prep for the next seven days in “the bush”!  

Breakfast in Te Kuiti.


Japanese garden in Te Kuiti  


The Te Kuiti sheep shearer statue. You can see how large it is as Roger looks tiny! 

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we will be heading out into the bush for about seven days. We are unlikely to have any coverage so 

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!! 





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