New Year's Eve in Whanganui

Hello world, it is almost 2013 here in New Zealand!

I spent my Christmas with five other TA hikers and one friend of a hiker. We hitch hiked into Ohakune, bought food and alcohol and then got a ride up part of Mt Ruapehu's southern slope and then walked into Blyth Hut for a couple nights of relaxing and fun.
Guests included:
Alex from NZ
Arne and Bjorn from Belgium
Philipp from Germany
Robert and Holly from Santa Barbara
Nick from Exeter

The group minus Robert and Holly began the Whanganui canoe trip section of Te Araroa (hell yah there's a canoe section!) on the 27th. The trip is from Whakahoro to Whanganui - about 150 km - and is pretty awesome. We paddled imported Old Town "Discovery" canoes and one "Nantucket" kayak. No portages and plenty of rapids, though none are particularly extended which makes it safe for just about anyone to paddle. I recommend this trip highly!

Weather was super random with sunscreen and a ready-to-wear rain coat being in consistent use.

No luck fishing with this scrappy branch, fishing line, salami bait combination...
Only made one proper attempt though, for one reason or another.

Now back to the trail/road tomorrow!
I'm starting to smell the end of the north island/ see the light at the end if the tunnel.
Activities for tonight include an obscure Holiday Park (basically these cool campsites which exist across New Zealand) party with fireworks and music.

Shout out to some of my friends and family from back home also missing the Holiday season:
Liam's in Mokpo/Seoul, South Korea
Becker's in northern South Africa
Mark's in Dubai
Charlie's in Shenzhen, China


Pictures include
-Christmas brunch (with leftover ham)
-My first warm weather Christmas- but we did a small day hike and reached the first of Ruapehu's snow fields
- Beautiful Whanganui River
- Cool waterfall

Live from Ohakune

Sorry for the delay in posts, I actually updated this and failed to publish it a week ago in Taumaranui at McDonald's!

It's been lots of walking since Te Kuiti, with such momentous places as the Hauhungaroa Range in the Pureora Forest where Alex and I saw no other walkers for three days. The forest reminded me of LOTRs.
There was also the 42nd Traverse from a bit beyond Owhango and taking us on our biggest day yet, 45km, because we'd booked two campsites on the epic Tongariro National Park and had gotten held up in Taumaranui with a temporarily lost piece of mail.

Tongariro was extremely rainy/extreme and then super gorgeous blue skies. It was too rainy and windy for am attempt at Ngarahoe/Mt.Doom. This National Park is awesome and you have to go if you go to NZ.
I just reported most of my Taumaranui post! The Hobbit was seen at the local theater originally opened in 1935. $10, a fine deal and an intermission to boot! Movie was lacking a bit of plot I'd say given the 3-6 legitimate cliff hanging near deaths and the 3+ Gandalf saves the-group-just-in-time scenes. Otherwise it was a pleasant break!
I'll now try to imagine and answer questions from my readers, kind of like Bill Simmons, but without any real questions.

Q: how many miles have you walked, and what is a hard part of the Te Araroa Rrail?
- Max , Lewiston ME

A: well I think in kilometers whenever possible now and I think I've walked at least 1150 km. the next 150km is a river trip from Whakahoro to Whanganui. This is an exciting combination with a couple days off for x-mas when Alex and I will meet up with other TA hikers at a hut on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu, the highest mountain on the north island at 2700+meters. It has seven glaciers. Check the pics!

Q: what is it like walking with this girl, Alex from Blenheim, NZ? Isn't it slower walking with a girl?
- Wilson, Los Angeles CA
A: first off, Wilson, Alex was a borderline champion rower in high school / I'm pretty convinced she'd be a lightweight Olympic rower if she'd not gotten tendenitis. This is a long winded way of saying that she's often faster than me on big climbs and basically every type of terrain except wicked steep downhills. So I'm not going slower at all really and stop your anti-feminist questions!
Having someone to walk with and talk to day in and day out has been invaluable to my mental state. She's a super cool girl and I'm lucky to have chanced into walking with her! We've come across a total of 6 other TA walkers since November 1.

Q: Are you eating enough and drinking enough and what are you eating and drinking?
- W and I , North Hampton NH

A: I am trying on both accounts (water that is for drink!) and doing pretty well. Oatmeal ('muesli') and dried fruit in the morning, peanut butter and Nutella equivalent/honey for lunch and rice or pasta for dinner with my protein sources being: cheese, salami sticks, tuna, sardines. I have granola bars, chocolate and apples with peanut butter for snacks.
This diet combined with snacks and meals like milkshakes and meat pies in the towns has kept me somewhere close to the weight ( though in convinced my upper body is smaller) that I left NH with. Ok, more to come later. Best to everyone!

Nick


Pics include random Te Kuiti cement factory, mt Ngarahoe and Ruapehu (less volcano looking), the Pureora Forest, the sweet Waihaha hut (900 backcountry huts in NZ) and a few others!

Live From Taumaranui

Quick update: 1000km in!
-My shoe broke and it is somewhat self-repaired. Alex sewed it with my fishing line and needle and when that broke 2 days later I used a piece of rope.
-seeing the Hobbit tomorrow hopefully
- didn't see other walkers for 3 straight days in the beautiful Pureora Forest on the Haugungaroa Range- where is everyone?
- climbed highest peak yet- mt Pureoea at 1165meters- the summit pic is from there
-I'm sold on the metric system as making way more sense than miles
More details to come.

Live from Te Kuiti

Arrived in Te Kuiti an hour ago. The four days since Hamilton have been good. Alex and I did a pretty substantial road walk out of Hamilton and had to wait out a pretty monster thunderstorm during lunch.
That evening we did some of the Kamahunga Range as the weather cleared and camped at the base of mount Pirongia, the tallest mountain we've come across at around 3000 ft; didn't get to the picnic ground where we camped until after 9.
Big rain that night but it was relatively clear in the morning and we made the summit by noon- 10km or so- and then onto the first hut of the trip- sleeps six with mattresses- and ran into fellow TA hiker, Philip from Germany, as the weather turned.
Heavy rain and even some hail/sleet over the next 15 hours and I got through a lot of my book- "Tai Pan"- and the dawn arrived clear and beautiful!
There were then two days of bush/farm track walking and last night we camped on the south side of Waitomo.
This morning was a 11km strenuous farm/bush track and near the end I got kind of charged by a bull and had to make a run for the fence we were going over and Alex was ahead and in the process of getting over the fence. I was a bit spooked and I've since eaten a cheeseburger to feel better about it.
Next stop is Taumaranui after 5 days' walking through the Pureora Forest Park and even higher mountains! I think the terrain is starting to be more like the mountains I'm used to.

Pictures show me and Alex chasing the American dream, snow on Ruapehu in the far south from the hut on Pirongia, fellow hiker Philip, and the view from my tent two evenings ago at sundown.

Live from Hamilton

Currently on a rest day in Hamilton writing from an internet cafe that is for gamers. 
Some big days on the trail/road since Auckland.
Cruised down into 'King Country' which is the area I'm currently walking in and is so named because the Maori King lives in it.  We passed by the Marae, Maori religious/spiritual building, in Ngaruawahia which is only open once a year on Waitangi Day in March. 
Waitangi Day is in celebration of the Waitangi Treaty which was signed in the mid 1800s at some point by the ruling British guy, Lord Hobson I believe, so perhaps I'm related.  The relationship between the white colonists and the native Maori seems to be one of the most symbiotic in the post-colonial world, though I've heard that the Treaty of Waitangi, which set the basis for co-living among the whites and Maoris, was based on misunderstandings from botched translations on both sides.

I'm over 25% of the way through the trek, at about 780km walked or so.  Feet are feeling pretty good and morale too. 

My internet time is about to run out and I've got to get some flight/visa stuff sorted, but I'll post more stuff soon! 

Live from State Highway 1 McDonalds

Just a quick update that I've made it through Auckland and the Hunua Ranges.
The pictures show a cool simultaneous sunset / moonrise from Ambury Park - a farm/campground in south Auckland.

Pro bono ad for Narragansett Meth Spirits Stoves