42nd Traverse

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 Day 20: Owhango to Tongariro Holiday Park (via 42nd Traverse and Waione/Cokers Track) 38km/10.25 hours

A very early start as we knew we had a big day ahead of us.

 

Christmas decorations, Owhango style.

We walked out of Owhango just after 6am and were quickly on the 42nd Traverse. This is another mountain bike trail. We have both ridden it more than once before and Roger had even run it as part of a marathon but it was nice to walk it at a slower pace to see the views. 










We were also walking it in the reverse direction to usual and just after the 22km mark we took a (planned) detour on to the Waione/Cokers track. 

And that is when it got REALLY interesting! 

A quad-bike track by name but, if you ask the four guys on quad bikes that we saw stuck and digging themselves out, then they may not agree with the definition! 

It was 12km of tough tough tough - steep shoulder - deep rutted overgrown trails, bog holes forever and blackberry vines trying (sometimes successfully) to hinder progress. 




Then, with a huge sigh of relief, we came out the other side only to meet the baby brother of this trail for about another hour! Oh joy! 

We finally saw our accommodation for the night and were warmly welcomed by Greg (the owner) and lots of huhu beetles at the Tongariro Holiday Park. These beetles have the raw deal. Despite their long antennae, they have the uncanny ability of frequently ending up on their backs and not being able to turn over again.  

There was no “bird of the day” today but I did see a frog in one of the bogs so it became our “token bird of the day”.

It was our hardest day so far. But the good news is we have now covered over 500km of the trail. Only another 2,500km to go! 

Roger’s trail notes and sketch:






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