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
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