Day 38: zero in Waitomo

The morning was spent eating, speaking with family, reading a bit about upcoming sections of trail and some chores. We also had to organize a lift to the cave tour, about 15km away. We tried arranging a taxi, but the one taxi in Waitomo had car trouble and couldn’t take us. We decided to ask around at the campground so I spoke with a large group at the BBQ area, making their breakfast. At first it seemed that that were all leaving this morning and it wouldn’t work, but then they pointed me to Simon who was staying an extra night and he readily agreed to drive us. During our drive there, Simon told us about a tv show where a man tried to travel the world only relying on the kindness of strangers, ie. he has no money on him even though he has plenty of it. He also finds deserving people along the way that he donated large sums of his money to. When we offered Simon some money for his time and has, he declined but asked us to do an act of kindness to a stranger. At the cave tour, we signed our lives away and got suited up in wellies and wetsuits. It began with a 30m rappel into the cave, then we walked upstream for a bit, turned off the headlamps and marvelled at the thousands of lights that popped up. Glow worms are the larvae for a fly and the end of their tails bioluminescence to attract flies that they eat. Over about a year, they only eat 3-4 flies. They also have these filaments that hang off their bodies that help to entrap the flies. They exist in many parts of NZ and not just in caves, but they’re particularly numerous around Waitomo. We also saw some spiders and some eels. Then we did a bit more walking in the dark before hopping in our tubes and riding them back down the river. At one point where the current was slower, we turned off our headlamps again and just drifted beneath the glow worms, magical. After a warm drink and a piece of chocolate, it was back to the cave entrance and a rock climb out of the cave. Our tour guide, Will, drove us back to camp since he lives nearby to it. We weren’t allowed cameras in the cave , bit Will took some photos so hopefully I’ll be able to share some of those eventually. We had dinner and then tried to watch a movie, the Zookeeper’s wife, but were all falling asleep before the end.

Day 39: Waitomo Caves to km 893

Today dawned clear, for once, and the forecast was for real summer weather, a high of 27 and sunshine. The trail was a mix of pastures, one with at least a hundred cows, forest track and gravel road.

One short forest section was full of birdsong and was over way too quickly. The trail was a bit confusing at times since the markets didn’t always follow the GPS route exactly and it was hard to find markers across fields sometimes. I somehow managed not to go too far off track and made it Te Kuiti, the sheep shearing capital of NZ, around noon.

I went to the New World to resupply and was disappointed by their bulk section, which had candy, nuts and dried fruit, but not grains, légumes or any of the dehydrated chili I’ve seen at other New Worlds. It didn’t have any unpackaged bread buns either, like most of the grocery stores so far have. I ended up with the most packaging yet; a bag of pasta (they only had a gluten free pasta in a cardboard box), a tube of tomato paste, packet of cookies, bar of chocolate, packet of yogurt powder (I think some people use it instead of milk powder and it was lighter than the milk powder), a packet of crackers and a block of cheese. I did manage to get my breakfast sorted at the bulk section but even then, I had to get rolled oats, not the instant ones. After the grocery store, I stopped in at a cafe and had lunch; a chicken panini with broccoli salad and a slice for dessert. I set off around 2 and had to walk a bit along the road to get out of town. It was blazing hot on the road without any shade and then although the trail became a proper one after a km or so, there was still little shade for the next couple of kms although we were following the Mangaokewa river. Eventually the track dipped into some trees and at the point of a small waterfall and I took a break to rehydrate and cool down.

The river track was delightful for the next few kms, well formed, the sound of the river in my ears, the occasional waterfall or stream and sometimes opening up to views of the surrounding banks and hills. There were even two swing bridges to cross.

This was one of my favorite sections to date. The last few kms were the usual muddy, wet and steep track with a number of blowdowns to manoeuvre over/under. I made it to camp just after 5pm, a grassy and piney area next to the river. I had a dip in the river and rinsed off my clothes although the sun disappeared behind the hills before they dried much at all. There’s an American couple here, who I’ve seen a few times since the start of Mt Pirongia and Laura who I caved with yesterday as well. The mosquitoes came out at sunset so it was an early night.

Day 40: km 893 to km 926 (Wayne’s wool shed)

It was nice to sleep beside a gurgling river, my white noise maker for the night. The day started off much as the previous day ended, on a track along the river that was challenging to follow at times. I lost it twice and each time had to scramble up steep banks to find it again. There were also quite a few blowdowns to content with and some fence climbing.

It all worked out well and after the first 8 km or so, it was a road walk the rest of the way along a gravel road. There were a few large farm trucks for carrying sheep that passed me, some had these boxes under them for the herd dogs, whose heads were poking out of the boxes. The road went through farmland and climbed and climbed very gradually.

I finally arrived at Wayne’s wool shed, which is more of a cabin next to his sheep barn. When I arrived, there were hundreds of sheep being herded up for shearing or being sent off after their haircuts. Wayne was very welcoming and apparently has about 40,000 sheep! Laura, Jayden and Spencer are here too, the same group from last night’s campsite. I struggled a bit today with some pain in my left glute and hip, which I’m blaming on my pack, I did order a new one so I’m very much looking forward to receiving it.