Te Araroa Episode 11 | Days 39-44: Mangaokewa North Rd to Ongarue

[Music] money everyone I think it's a 38 or 39 today and I'm just leaving the mag okay we're north road this morning looking the three kilometers I walked twice yesterday I mean I showed you last night but I walked past you know it was the campsite see little waypoint completely wrong so I walked three kilometers down the road no campsite need to turn around and walk back that was pretty demoralizing my legs were so sore that's rich whatever it is yeah I've had a pretty crappy to move our house I don't want to be here anymore I'm ready to just cuz I'm so close to one of my goals but this 36 kilometers today this campsite tonight and I think it's my Road this is a lights out for me my London Golf is six I was already in a light I'm just gonna take it a little bit easy today because I can see what happens [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] so have you had some time to after a bad start this morning been walking for about two hours now just been walking down this middle road all day so far it's been very very boring surrounding scenery is okay but most of the time you just thought because the sun's beating down on the road and there's no shade in you're getting covered in dust by cars and trucks that are driving past I have however just passed the 900 kilometer mark only a hundred kilometers now on to the thousand and that was one of the first big milestones that I really wanted to reach I said to myself when I was having those bad days back on the beach even if I could just walk a third of the trail I'd be pretty happy with that my biggest concern right now there's that I have no cell phone service and whereas it's not the end of the world I am supposed to be sending dad a list of lunch supplies for the next five days to bring with him when he meets me at the campsite here tonight you might be wondering she's got the set phone why doesn't she just who's there well I could use this headphone but I seem to total of four messages to dead last night and didn't receive a response from any one of them so I'm a little bit concerned that the messages aren't getting through for some reason I don't know what I'm gonna do about that I've left the data on on my phone today which I don't usually do to save battery um and I'm just hoping that at some point on the road today I'll get a little pinging I'll just have some service for a couple of minutes or so but that one is going to have to be a work in progress [Music] [Music] [Music] it's been a good six and a half hours of walking down a road exactly like this home but I mean and finally just reached say no 8:30 I've got another seven kilometers to walk down that road turn off on to the clue your little road and pull on the screws the campsite still no cell phone service so we haven't been able to get in touch with dead so it's looking like I might be hitting home for a couple of days so I'm hoping that they still turn up like we agreed I am state highway finally after all this time and don't be fooled by all those clouds out there hit is ridiculously hot 36 kilometers of this today it's a long long way I'm very very strange day but despite everything I have carried on walking so just goes to show maybe I'm not ready to give up here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well made it to the start of the timber trail there's a big thunderstorm rolling in so as if I didn't need any more encouragement to go home for a couple of days so I hope Julie is all right she should be it's bogging huntin somewhere like that tonight there's a little biosecurity wash station here which I think would be fantastic if you wanted to have a bit of a cold shower and there's also a flushing toilet here at the timber trail car park I'm walking about another half a kilometre up that road there to the now hitting a campsite and I think there's only a log dropped well it there so if you like me and you prefer flushing one there is one here so I'm just gonna have a read of the sign here and try and suss out where I'm gonna stay along the timber trail and then walk the other 500 meters up the road here to the campsite where I will meet some dead good morning campers it's day 42 I am excited this morning because I am starting the timber trail today whereas I was a little bit nervous last night about the prospect of starting by myself and camping by myself today I am just really excited to be out hitting the bush again back on trail after another two three stays back home and Topol I had another heat rash or allergic reaction or something like that to try and clear up while I was at home and it's sort of cleared itself up so I'm hoping that being out here in the cooler environment will be good for my legs for the next little while anyway got a message from Julia last night she got into toma de nuit yesterday so she managed to knock this off and four days instead of five so today I have decided to follow in her footsteps and instead of going just a short distance 17 kilometers or so to either bog in hat or pushing on a little bit further to Harrisons Creek today I am going to try to go to the timber trail lodge that's for a number of different reasons firstly and most importantly because my teams is dry and I don't want to get it wet again not today anyway but also because you know there'll be people at the temperature lodge a little bit nervous about camping by myself there are a bunch of hikers behind me who just turned up in the carpark when I arrived feeling a little bit better this morning about everything and really looking forward to what this trail can offer actually it should be really really good grade I'm talking way too much again but I'm just excited and I hope that you guys enjoy this section too because it's something that I've been looking forward to for a little while [Music] you go first kilometer of the timber trail down in dusted [Music] well it's only been 5 kilometers and already the rash is back so I have no idea what's doing it my legs are definitely not hot today so I guess it's just something I'm gonna have to try and put up all righty tink eyes down so it's the first teen kilometers of the timber trail down struggling a little bit with my anxiety today actually feeling very isolated even though I know that there are other hikers behind me I think the main reason why is because within the first three kilometers I had heard sound what sounded very much like gunshots and it just freaks me out a little bit I know that this is a hunting forest but it was very very close and yeah being all by myself was a little bit scary so I've sort of stopped a couple of times to see if the others would catch me out but I haven't stalked her probably long enough I might feel a little bit better if I do I want to get myself through it part of the reason why I'm out here but I'm also a bit conscious that once again I'm not really enjoying it well I'm thinking like that so I'm just trying to fill my head with some positive thoughts okay so this is the pre-order summit Trek which I am NOT gonna interrupt maybe another day but but today I'm just gonna push on down the timber trail I've got a goal to me I want to get to the lodge tonight so despite the fact that the science is it's ten hours to put up it oh I think I might be there before they [Music] [Applause] just saw my first wild boy the trail I hope it's not gonna be a frequent occurrence I think it was just a young one thankfully and that's uh scared enough of me that when I said go on get it ran away so I think that yeah maybe the return track from the pretty Auto summit so that's the direction where the ball went I'm glad I didn't come down from there so I'm just about to hit the 15 kilometer marker up here and gut hook sees it's 36 to the lodge I don't know whether to believe that or not already it's the track Junction toboggan about 30 minutes down there to the hut I could take a slight detour here and head down there just to show you guys but um I just want to get to the 20 kilometer mark really so I just passed the 18 kilometer and ran into hunter heard a lot about hunter he is also planning to hike through to the lodge tonight so forgot that I was standing there talking to him with this ridiculous hat on my head which I haven't spoken about yet but I just decided I wanted to get into the Christmas spirit today and for the rest of my hike through to National Park so got the older read nail polish on got my elf hat on so why not I've got some Christmas songs downloaded onto my phone so but later on today or maybe tomorrow I'll be blasting those out through the first because I'm a sucker for Christmas and I think we should bring a little bit of Christmas cheer to the trail [Music] looks like we come up on the first swing bridge Wow impressive okay this is quite high so let's see little bouncy very very high but it's all good hey mom I don't like this Mobley will eat you guys look down but I think I will well I would not want to be on this with anyone else oh my goodness that was terrifying I didn't know like that at all it was very high and it took a long time to get across well I didn't think I was scared of heights but jeez that was a long way down I didn't even look I just assumed it was a long way down well this one looks like it's swinging a bit it's just keep going okay focus on the end whatever you do don't look down actually not too bad I just I like that playing you know bounces up and down because you sort of end up wobbling all over the place I can't hang on to the railings which is annoying nearly there sorry I'm very focused right now you gotta wonder why I'm doing this a just so big I've never been across the swing bridges this big before I don't think Oh like being on a trampoline honey worse huh well done thank you [Music] okay so this is the Harrisons Creek rest area a little camping spot over there and no shelter here a sign that says it's nine hours down to pretty order from here well I've just done it in six so that other side of the science is it's about five hours from here to the what pedo pedo which is just after it's a betrayal lodge but I don't think it's going to be five hours so I'm hoping to be there in about two and a half [Music] the lodge is just up on the hill behind me so oh it's nice to be here my theta saw and my legs are getting that way too but yeah you'll be nice to get inside and put my feet out for the night and make a plan for tomorrow a bit of an aggressive sign there if you're dirty and or smelly you will be asked to leave luckily I've just come from town today so hopefully I won't be asked to leave today so despite how inviting it looks the timber trail Lodge does not have dorm rooms the cheapest option was a hundred and sixty five dollars for a night now it does include food tonight in dessert I could breakfast for tomorrow and then also lunch for tomorrow obviously for me I'm already carrying five days worth of food with me so I don't need to have more food provided instead I am pushing on to camp epic and apparently there are hot showers I'm not too sure about the toilet situation but somewhere to put my team top so I'm gonna try and do that before the rain comes because I'm not too sure whether it is going to rain today and it's just past the pedo pedo campsite so don't make the mistake of going there head to camp if it's about $25 a night but I think it will probably be well worth it for today that's nice okay so camp epoch is actually epic you can stay in one of these lovely little sort of glamping tents with two single beds in them for $60 a night or you can put your tent up on this mess up field here lovely sheltered area in here for cooking and you have everything you need including eggs wine glasses plates cups and is even breakfast supplies for the morning including some instant coffee sachets guess hobbs and things running water with and over here as the shower block and the toilets flushing toilets beautiful showers everything there is absolutely gorgeous and to top it all off there's a gorgeous little three-month-old dog here a little spaniel so I am just in heaven I might be the only person here tonight but it's a fantastic little spot to stay about $25 what it is $25 to staying here for the night and I think that it's totally worth it for the facilities that you get here so today I did something like 40 kilometers yeah push myself quite hard today and as a result I'm pretty sore after two days off the trail so I had remembered reading something about this place hiring out mountain bikes to finish off the trail but apparently they've got no mountain bikes for tomorrow which is a little bit of a shame the next available day they've got is the day after tomorrow so I'm just gonna have a little bit of a think about whether or not I want to rest up here tomorrow and then get a mountain bike because it's gonna take me two days to walk it anyway the mountain bike hire I think is like 50 or $60 so it's really not very expensive but of course I won't have to pay for another night of accommodation here certainly if you're gonna stay any place on the timber trail for more than one night there's a place to do it so all the other hikers that I meet today and I did mean quite a few of them I think they are all camping down at the pedo pedo campsite which is just a little bit further down the way okay it's free but I just don't understand why when you've got an option like this you wouldn't take it but I mean I've got a shower and a flushing toilet yeah good to be back on the trail again and yeah looking forward to hopefully getting to go to e and also Toman annoy very very shortly good morning everyone that's day 43 today and a little bit of a change of plan stayed at camp epoch last night I really enjoyed my nightly dam last night even though I was all by myself except for the person who is running the campsite here there were quite a few hikers that I saw and met along the way yesterday maybe five or six or so and I don't really know where they all ended up I mean I'm assuming most of them stayed at the pedo pedo campsite here last night so I'm just heading down there this morning to see if there's anybody still there but also just to go and check out the campsite and see what it's like but I have decided to stay here it can be back for another day this morning I just didn't feel like walking and I don't know whether that's because I'm sort of losing motivation a little bit I'm not around a lot of people and I'm not getting the enjoyment out of sharing the experience with other people when I was around that original group you know we'd get to camp every night and have a chat about the day and plan for the next day and who were all in it together and there was a real community atmosphere about it I don't have that atmosphere anymore and I don't want to let it stop me from carrying on but I'm also just really really aware at the moment there I'm really not enjoying this whole being alone thing because I'm it's just not fun I didn't come out here to not have fun tomorrow the idea is to try and do a big 45 kilometer push through to Olga Dewey and I'm just literally gonna take that as it comes however by hour because it's a long long day oh my god have a sneaky little look inside one of these things because I'm intrigued beautiful little beans alright so it's give you a little bit of a tour of this showers here because they are amazing these all just communal showers mm-hmm that's the big one Nina but I'll just show you okay lovely lovely big shower room the fantastic shower rose on the top yeah so you get a nice spray and then for the toilets you can really gorgeous just put the light switch on so you can see why I wanted to stay at this place for another night today it's just miserable like probably can't really see but there is big black clouds just hovering over camp today and it's beautiful it's actually really really gorgeous I'm just watching all the mist sort of rolling down over the hills and it's just really beautiful so I'm happy so I have a plan for the next few days after my lovely relaxing day here which I think now as always was turned out to be the right decision first of all Josh the proprietor here came to me a little bit earlier today and said that his dad is coming to relieve him from here tomorrow and that he's more than happy to bring a bike for me so I am going to be cycling the rest of the trail tomorrow a couple of reasons for that one I'm an absolute Wilson I don't want to stay in their crappy little campsites that are on the way and two I just wanted to knock off the rest of the trail basically but the other advantage of saying here today has also been that a few hikers have caught up with me so Paul and grant are also quite keen to do the mountain bike tomorrow so that'll be nice I think I'll stuck with them I've really enjoyed my time here at camp effect this is definitely somewhere that you want to stay on the trail right up there with James's place at Nick obey and I'm really now looking forward to finishing this thing off tomorrow and getting into Terminator II let's make her the dog over there a little three-month-old German Shorthaired Pointer who loves other people's tins so he's there being retrieved Paul and grant have just gone round there to see it up you want to get your C talks check your watch good morning everyone slightly dangerous but never mind today is day 43 or 44 and today I'm cycling 45 kilometers with grant and pull and juice back there and we are going to cycle to Umberto II today neat little experience different way to experience the trail and should be really fun we've got the biggest swing bridge coming up today as well and this is the madam attire bridge and full and grant are on the other side highest bridge on the timber trail 141 meters in the longest to 54 meters long [Music] don't sound too good [Music] so we just passed the terminus which is the end of where the timber tramway used to come out to and there basically means that for the most part that is largely downhill from here um we still haven't passed Mikkel who left camp about an hour before us this morning and but he shouldn't be too far away it's been quite hard today getting used to the hills and things but still heaps better to be on the bike with the wheels conceit of hiking us really enjoying this today even though it is pouring rain [Music] [Music] [Music] oh finish [Music] [Music]

Channel: Long White Gypsy

Views: 900

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: pureora forest, pureora forest park, swing bridge, long white gypsy, te araroa, te araroa 2019, te araroa thru hike, thru hiking new zealand, te araroa trail, te araroa 2020, thru-hiking for beginners, thru hiking for beginners, long distance tramping, new zealand hiking trail te araroa, te araroa trail new zealand, gear for the ta, te araroa trail gear, long distance hiking gear, thru hiking gear, gear for the te araroa trail, gear for te araroa, te araroa gear

Id: 3QTjChj_bk4

Length: 31min 44sec (1904 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 20 2020