This woman (Margie?) used to own the blueberry farm and had a very interesting story … she is a writer as well!
The pet pigs in NZ seem unusually large.
There have been, of course, a few others who again gave us water or let us camp on their lawn. With all the road walking, it is inevitable. But for the record, I still hate asking and bothering people! J’s favorite experience this time was when a guy let us camp on his lawn and take showers, then said, “I would offer you a beer, but I only have 12 left.” (He was going to town the next day.)
The trail tragic part is that one day we stopped in Tongariro Holiday Park (campground) to get water and they said no because we weren’t staying there! Thank goodness we didn’t ask for more than water!?!
3) Tongariro Crossing
The trail intersected with the “Tongariro Alpine Crossing,” which is part of one of NZ’s Great Walks (there are 9 Great Walks; we are doing part of 3 of them, I think).
The Tongariro Crossing traverses active volcanic craters, steaming vents and beautiful crater lakes colored by the nearby thermal minerals. There are 3 active volcanoes in the area (pictured below in order): Mt. Ruapehu (the highest, most active and still snow-covered), Mt. Tongariro (marked by its multiple smouldering vents) and Mt. Ngauruhoe (better known as Mt. Doom in “The Lord of the Rings, marked by its symmetrical, single-cone shape). They form the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The crossing weaves around Tongariro, passing steaming vents, 4 crater lakes and a non-water-filled red crater that seriously makes you feel like you are on Mars. Tongariro last erupted in August 2012 and damaged one of the huts along the trail (still closed). We had the best weather you could ask for during the crossing, which is highly exposed. The trail and views are beautiful (not to mention the trail is well trodden and there are even switchbacks!). I think this hike could rank in my top 5 favorites … We were hiking on an ACTIVE volcano that just erupted 2.5 years ago, after all!
Keep moving quickly!
Still steaming!
This is the hut damaged by the 2012 eruption
And, I should point out that the typical route for the crossing is from the south end to the north end. But, the TA takes you from the opposite way and thus against the grain (the crossing is a VERY popular bucket list item for NZ). So, we planned an early start to beat most of the crowds and had the trail to ourselves for the first 12K, then there were heaps of people for the next 5K, then we were alone again. Not bad!
The only part of the crossing I disliked, besides the occasional smell of rotten eggs from the sulfur, was the up and over Red Crater. It was a major skree field and I’d take NZ mud over loose rocks any day!
4) Planning for the Whanganui River Journey
This trail is full of curveballs. More than 100K of the trail is on the Whanganui River. And even though the river journey is also part of NZ’s Great Walks, you can’t walk this river. Instead, you have to rent a canoe or kayak or hire a jet boat to get down it.
We have been thinking about the river portion for awhile and gathering ideas on what other TA hikers were doing. Because I am both the planner and worry wart in this family, I was stressing big time about the trip. The official route would be to canoe from The Bridge to Nowhere to the city of Whanganui. However, virtually no TA hikers are taking that route because the canoe companies can’t easily transport the canoe to you and can’t justify the price (ironically, there is no road access at the Bridge to Nowhere. Actually, that is not ironic, since it is called The Bridge to Nowhere. But I digress.) Another option was to hire a jet boat, but again, the companies didn’t want to go all the way to Wanganui and quoted very high prices to discourage this option.
Given this, there are a lot of different ways TA hikers approach the river journey/trail and a bunch of different rental companies (as well as pricing scenarios) to go through. WAY too many options and it drove me a little crazy! Ultimately, after we read about others’ experiences, we went with the option that gave us 3 days on the river (put in at Whakahoro, take out at Pipiriki), was not outrageously expensive (you could buy a canoe for the rental rates here!) and did not have to depend on tides (one section does and given our bad luck with tide times in the past, we smartened up). The downside to this option was a 75+ kilometer road walk into the town of Whanganui.
So while we were in Taumarunui, besides eating a lot (see above), we booked our trip with Blazing Paddles. We went with Blazing Paddles because they are family-owned and had a great rep, quoted us a good price ($185/person) and would pick up our food for the trip from the Taumarunui campground (with some of the other companies, you have to hitch 35K to get your food and deliver it to them). We shopped for our food for our next hiking section and for the river portion in Taumarunui. Shopping took a full hour, then sorting it all out took longer!
Labeling food bags to leave with the canoe company
5) The Actual Whanganui River Journey
Our actual 3-day river journey (see video clip here) started on Friday in Whakahoro (pronounced Fock-a-whore-o) and ended in Pipiriki on Sunday. We had great weather–not too much sun and 1 day of light drizzle. Since canoeing the Whanganui is one of the Great Walks, there were definitely a lot of people on the river, but we seemed to stay ahead of the crowds and chose campsites that weren’t the most crowded, so we feel lucky.
At some of the riverbank stops, you had to literally climb over the other boats to get in and out!
The Whanganui River winds through countless hills and valleys, past a gazillion waterfalls and up against towering sandstone cliffs. The Whanganui used to be a major river boat trade operation through the 1920s before better roads and railways took over. In fact, the big side trip you can access from the river via a 5K hike is seeing the Bridge to Nowhere. The story behind the bridge is sad, in that after WWI, the government gave land to the soldiers in that area and built the concrete bridge with the intention of building roads to access the village. Then, WWII hit, the river trade industry died and the families abandoned the area. So now the bridge still stands … To nowhere. Apparently it is one of the most visited places in NZ!
Our 3-day itinerary was perfect for us. It was a nice to trade in our backpacks and trekking poles for canoes and paddles for a bit. The river was mostly flat with some current, but my arms/shoulders certainly got a workout! There were a few rapids along the river to keep things exciting. There were all levels of experience on the river, which was sometimes funny to watch. I am happy to report that J and I did not flip our canoe once. Pretty much everyone else flipped at least once. We had a lot of people comment how “calm, cool and collected” we looked going through the rapids. This is all to J’s credit; I just followed his commands.
Matteo had a kayak and only flipped once, oddly enough, not in the rapids, but when we first got on the river. He was an expert by the end!
This is not us, but another canoe that flipped
We met some more TA hikers on the river. These 3 did a 7-day canoe from Taumarunui to Whanganui. See, just one more itinerary option!
6) Scrambled Eggs on the Roads
As usual, this section included quite a bit of road walking (when doesn’t it?). Well we’ve had a few hot days (almost 90!) and we notice it is hottest between 3-6pm. Heat + roads = scrambled eggs. We were both sticking to the pavement as we walked. The tar from the pavement literally melts to our shoes (not my boots, but my Zuuks, which serve as my camp shoe, water crossing shoe and occasional road walking shoe) and sticks to our poles. Fun times.
Long road walk from Taumarunui into Owhanga
Tar on poles, but look how good J’s repaired pole held up for 15 days before he got his replacements from Big Agnes.
Long road walk into Whakahoro … What about hikers??!!
As for the road walk after the river, we walked 35K of it, and hitched the other 35K. It was not a busy road, so we knew it would be a difficult hitch. It took 5 hours and 17 cars! Our gracious drivers, Richard and Lucy, stopped to check out an old cablecar that crossed the river. Then, the owner pulled up and offered us a ride across! He also had a “flying fox” (zip line) from the 1950s, but neither J or I were brave enough to try. The cablecar was exhilarating enough!
Mark, the zipline/cablecar owner, demonstrating the flying fox from 1950. No thank you.
We’ll stick to the cablecar.
7) The rest of the bits of trail in this section were quite nice, including the 42 Traverse and Fisher Track. We heard reports of intense mud and flooded trails. And there were a lot of parts where water carved out a muddy luge. But, for once, the mud was not a problem and had mostly dried up. I never thought I’d see the day when the mud was dry in NZ.
This could be very bad if it were wet!
Wow – lot's of action! Keep the info coming…
Mike
Sounds like you guys are having a great time! The Tararuas are next. Expect every type of weather there. It is beautiful (and windy) once you get above tree line.
Here is some pointers for your first few parts of the South Island:
The Queen Charlotte Track – You guys will be taking to Ferry to Picton (cute town with the famous Green Mussels.) You can catch the mail boat to the beginning of the QC Track. Ask your mail boat drive to look for the little blue penguins.
The QC is super easy. Some rent mountain bikes for this section.
The Richmond Range: We stayed in every other hut throughout this track and it worked out good. Bring an extra day of food as we were stuck due to bad weather one day in the alpine section.
We are so happy for you guys! Almost done with the North. I'm so jealous about you hike in the South Island. I ask Shadow if he would hike it again with me. Love it! Love it! Love it!
Wow, what an amazing section! OMG I LOVE the tree ferns on the Bridge to Nowhere. Freakin' amazing! Jealous over here in Texas!
Are you on target for the ETA for Arthur's Pass, Feb. 15th? I have a package ready to mail. Takes about 2 weeks from Alaska so if you are, I need to know as I don't want it waiting there too long but will mail it now if you are ahead of schedule.
Uncle Fred
Whakahoro pronounced Fock-a-whore-o? Lol…