Te Kuiti to Pureora
Day 13: Te Kuiti to Mangaokewa North End (approximately 24km/ 9 hours 45 minutes)
Today was basically all about following the Mangaokewa river. It started really well. The first 9km were beautiful - farmland, forest track, a lovely waterfall and other highlights. Roger saw a trout in the river. The water looked so clear and inviting we were tempted to have a dip!
Leaving the luxury of Sue’s house
One of the buildings as we walked out of Te Kuiti.
Some beautiful flowers in and around one of the Te Kuiti railway crossings.
More interesting building on the outskirts of town.
Fence made by local school children. Each post has their names on it.
The waterfall made a good place to stop for morning tea.
Some really tall and very impressive redwoods.
And then we crossed the river….
It started OK briefly but then very quickly became extremely arduous! Very overgrown, big holes, narrow tracks with big drops, loss of markers, boggy…. You name it, we had it! The final 15km took us over 7 hours! Not for the faint hearted that is for sure. No more photos of the rest of the walk as every step took all our concentration. In the last couple of kilometres we had to walk through another field of cows. I am not sure if talking to them helps but it certainly makes me feel better as they really scare me!!
The one highlight of the latter part was for Roger who saw a wild four-pointer stag. Sadly he had run off by the time I caught up.
But then we reached the campsite and all the pain was forgotten! Local farmers, Sam and Laura, created this campsite on their land specifically for Te Araroa walkers. It is perfect!
Day 14: Mangaokewa North Road end to Pureora Cabins (approximately 37km, of which we walked about 2km)
Christmas Day. Beautiful morning chilling out at the camp, meeting the owner (Sam) and his dogs.
We then headed off with our fingers and toes crossed that we would be able to hitch a ride as the thought of walking 37km on road in the heat with heavy packs was not our idea of a great Christmas morning!
And we were very lucky. Two separate rides and we were at our end destination about 1:45 hours after leaving (instead of 8 hours later!)
We treated ourselves to staying at the Pureora Cabins (rather than camping). This turned out to be even better with more time on our hands to do hand washing, get shoes and tent dry etc. It also meant we had internet access to phone family and update this blog!
Lots of birds near the cabin, including a flock of about ten Kaka which is great to see.
Great chill out day. A Christmas to remember.
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