The Walking Dom

Dec 8

Dec 8 Pirongia

Mile 540 / KM 869.6
Whatawhata to Te Kuiti

Audiobook of the week: 'Untenrum frei' by Margarete Stokowski

I miss: A large sombrero. The sun here is so much stronger than it is back home and I've started to get dark patches on my face. Got to up my hat game drastically if I don't want to look like a 80 year old woman by the end of this trip.

This is going to be a short one. We’re in Te Kuiti and about to buy food for the next seven day stretch which means our packs are going to be ridiculously heavy. I am excited though. We’re slowly getting into the mountains and the landscape is changing. There’s still a lot of farmland all around us but things feel more remote than they did a couple of weeks ago. We're basically free camping every night and if we happen to be on someones land we usually just ask the owner if it's ok to pitch our tents somewhere. Most people don't mind and all and are happy to have a little company.

Two days ago we climbed Mount Pirongia which was way harder than I though it would be. That thing is steep, muddy and over grown with prickly bushes. Like always, the fight was all worth it. The view on top was gorgeous and the sunset priceless. I finally got to stay in one of the DOC huts which made a nice change to sleeping in my tiny tent. The Mount Pirongia hut is basic but has running water, toilets and wooden bunk beds that sleep around 15 people. Loved it! There are going to be more of those huts on the south island than here, since the weather can get pretty crazy there. Talking of which! A massive storm hit the south island this week and four TA-hikers had to activate their Rescue Beacons to get help. One guy got swept away while crossing a raging river and got trapped on a little island in between two rivers. Rescuers had to come in on foot and had to wait 12 hours until they were able to get him out of his sticky situation. He's fine and continued to hike the trail as far as I know, but still... I'm glad I haven't had to use my beacon so far and I'm hoping it'll stay that way.

On a completely different note; We've all managed to get an 'interesting' tan. My feet are so white that it looks like I am wearing socks even if I'm not, my legs and my hands look like they're from Kenya, my bum's even whiter than my 'socks' and my face is starting to have dark patches everywhere. Save to say I'm not looking my flashiest but despite all of that I am at my happiest. K, gotta go. Need to charge my phone before we head out into the woods for a week <3