On an absolute high

2 April

Porirua to Paraparaumu

KM 1627.5

Distance: 40.2km  (+2)

Elevation: ascent 753m, descent 751m

Steps: 61,200

Time: 7:05am - 5:40pm

We set a new personal best for distance today! Our first 40+ day. You'll also notice from the stats that it wasn't exactly a flat day either, so we are particularly proud of our efforts. It was somewhat imposed on us because of accommodation issues discussed yesterday, but nevertheless we achieved it. 

And what a day to do it! It was an absolutely stunning Autumn day, sunny and warm with a slight breeze to keep the temperature down. The Tasman Sea was unusually flat and calm today as far as the eye could see. For Vaughan it was a highlight of the journey so far. As amazing as the Southern Alps and Southern Lakes look, they can't beat the coastline and open ocean on a beautiful day.

The up-and-down of today was almost entirely due to the Escarpment Track, a 10-km section of the trail that sidles along cliffs above State Highway 59 along the Paekakariki coast. Sections of this track are very narrow, along steep grades, and even washed out at times. Having done what we've done, we were both pretty confident on these tracks. But less-experienced (or pre-December) us probably would have felt nervous for most of this track! 

There were two long swing-bridges, quite high over valleys. Each could hold 5 people - a change from the single-person swing-bridges of the South Island.

Coming down off of the Escarpment put us into the towship of Paekakariki, and from there we were directed onto the beach. A wide, sandy, well-packed beach that served us well for the next 14km. We fair flew over this beach - some of the best walking conditions we've had. Warm sun, with a breeze just strong enough to keep it pleasant. And, despite the picture below, enough people on the beach to keep us interested and entertained.

Our trail ended today technically still in Paraparaumu, just across the Waikanae River from the town of the same name. But we'll claim it. We are staying with Trail Angels Andrew and Helen, who make their sleep-out available to TA hikers. It's well-equipped with everything we could want, and after a shower and a beer (did I mention - ANGELS!) and a good chat, we are so grateful.

Decisions to make tomorrow about whether to enter the Tararua Ranges now, or wait out some weather coming in three or four days. If we do go up tomorrow, it will be about a week before we can update again. The Tararua Ranges have plenty of huts, so even if we get some weather, we will just wait it out with plenty of food, safe in a DOC hut.

We've been asked about water, and how we keep ourselves hydrated along the way. We each have a 2-L bladder in our bags, although we usually are only carrying about one litre each. Whenever we are not in a town, we filter our water with a Sawyer filter that will catch pretty much anything that might be in the water. It takes a few minutes to filter each litre of water, but it is worth it for peace of mind. Most (but not all) huts have water collection tanks that collect rainwater off of the hut roof. Where there is no rainwater tank, there is usually a stream very close to the hut. Regardless of source, we filter the water. Many people on the trail trust the river water (except where on a farm) and don't bother filtering it. Some people trust the hut tank water; although this is more risky as there is no treatment, and no way of knowing how long the water has been sitting in that tank, or what else was washed down off of the hut roof into the tank (think - bird poo). People that don't filter wate often do boil it - although I rarely see people actually boiling water for 3 minutes like recommended. A very few people carry water purification tablets. In addition to our 2-L bladders, Eliza carries a 1-L Gatorade bottle that is the easiest thing to filter water into, so this gives us some extra water carrying capacity. The water filter also relies on a 1-L "dirty water" bag, so we could also carry to-be-filtered water in this, for a total of 6 litres between the two of us. We've never felt the need for this, but have made use of the extra litre in the Gatorade bottle a few times.