Early start, late start

26 April
Taumaranui to Bennett Rd Campsite
KM 1022.3
Distance: 25.7km
Elevation: ascent 404m; descent 370m
Steps: 38,700
Time: 9:00am - 3:05pm

We were woken up early, at 5:30, by the air raid siren calling the volunteer fire fighters to the station. Which is directly across the road from the Alexander Motel where we stayed.
(View from our motel room balcony)

Despite this wakeup call, knowing we had a relatively short day ahead of us, we were in no hurry to get going. So we dawdled getting up and ready, before heading back to the grocery store to pick up a few things we forgot to buy last night, and then to have a nice sit-down cooked breakfast at the bakery. By the time we made it back to the hotel (which was very nice and recommended for anyone staying in Taumaranui) and finished packing, it was one of the latest starts we've had in quite some time.

Despite that, the low cloud and fog remained for nearly the first whole hour of our walk. We were fairly well bundled up until the sun came out; as soon as we saw our shadows we started to feel the heat. Very soon after that we had to stop to strip off all of the extra layers, and we were in just one layer each.
About an hour later, at the 2-hours-on-the-road mark, which is when we often take a sit-down break anyway, we were delighted to see these signs. Of course we stopped in and bought some ice creams (peanut butter slab bars), and Vaughan had a coffee as well. We're loving the North Island experience!
Soon after lunch, Vaughan found another group of cattle to race down the road - they all followed willingly at a bit of a trot for a good hundred meters or so.
Pretty much the whole day was along this gravel road, but again it was super pleasant to walk along with maybe 10 cars passing us all day, and pretty bucolic scenes around every corner. Including these either self-shearing sheep, or sheep that somehow managed to wrest their way away from their shearers halfway through the job.
We were headed today to the trailhead of the Timber Trail through Pureora Forest Park, which just happens to be on Bennett Road. The local Te Araroa Trust has erected a purpose-built shelter for us to get away from the local sandflies and mosquitoes; and a nice water supply as well.
We've set up our tent just outside the shelter, and are looking forward to an earlier start tomorrow.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 27, 2022 at 5:09 PM

    Before your next post, I assume you will be about 1000 km left on your journey! And you will have all of May? Also, as you get closer and closer to Aukland, I'm wondering if there are parts of Te Araroa you have already completed? Bub

    ReplyDelete
  2. VaughanMay 2, 2022 at 7:10 PM

    We may skip some of Auckland to make up time. We've done some of it already.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PaulMay 3, 2022 at 4:43 PM

    Good idea to skip ahead - Auckland is lame.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you, we love reading your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Thought for 30 June 2023

Image
Have a Happy Thought:     At the end of this week, possibly as you are reading this email, you get to have some separation between work colleagues and home life. (If you’re retired… well, I’m already jealous, so don’t @ me with a “ what is a week-end ” sort of quote).   But four very lucky people (yes, I’m somehow jealous of them as well), this week began a 378-day “week”, being shut in with their colleagues.   June 25 2023 was the start of the CHAPEA Mission 1 - a simulated Mars habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Centre. For just over one year, these four people will live as if they were on Mars, giving us valuable insights into logistics and human psychology. You can watch the emotional press-conference / shutting-the-door-behind-them , it’s actually very cute! Mission patch for Chapea-1 https://www.nasa.gov/chapea/mission1  with the mission motto Ad Martus A Domo and the participants' names Selariu, Haston, Jones and Brockwell.   Of course, this is far from
Read more

Happy Thought for 23 June 2023

Image
Have a Happy Thought:     The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is opening up the origins of the universe and very distant galaxies, stars and exoplanets to our understanding.   You’d think we’re only looking that far because we’ve figured out how everything works closer to us, right?   Wrong! Science is great because there’s always something new to explore and figure out. Here are just a few of the mysteries that remain for us to solve, or maybe just a few things you didn’t know, right here in our own solar system:   Q: What is our sun’s surface actually made of? A: We’re… not 100% sure, actually! We know mostly, by analysing the light that comes from the sun. You see, every time light passes through an object, including a bunch of gas, it changes the spectrum that we see – that object, or gas, absorbs some of the energy of light at specific wavelengths (or sometimes absorbs-and-re-emits-at-slightly-different-wavelengths). So astronomers can tell what gasses a sta
Read more

Happy Thought for 26 January 2024

Image
Have a Happy Thought: While some of our holiday breaks may be fresh in mind, others may be distant memories. Either way, I hope you’re entering 2024 with at least some positive energy. One way to hold on to that (or maybe create it if that’s what you need) may be to introduce frequent, but short, breaks into your day, ideally getting out into some blue- or green-space.   Image: A stump next to a tree-shaded pathway has had googly-eyes drawn onto it so it looks like a startled face. Picture by author. In fact, taking mini-breaks might benefit your physical health as much as your mental health! A recent study out of Columbia University in the US has found that taking frequent-but-short breaks, 5 minutes out of every 30, can have really impressive impacts on physical and mental health like: Blood sugar Insulin Blood pressure Mood Fatigue Cognitive ability  (apparently, I need this a bit, it took me three tries and spell-checker to spell cogni
Read more