Marathon day!

27 April
Bennett Rd Campsite to Piropiro Campsite
KM 980.5
Distance: 42km
Elevation: ascent 947m; descent 708m
Steps: 60,000
Time: 7:10am - 5:10pm

Today was a big day, for so many reasons!

We woke up early to the sound of ruru and bull deer that had not stopped sounding pretty much all night long. But this got us up and moving so we were on the trail just a few minutes past sunrise. And what a beautiful sunrise it was!
Today was our first day along the famed Timber Trail. These days it is a cycling/walking route, but it originally was a railroad put in place solely to extract valuable timber from the forests in this region. While we may wince at that level of logging today, especially of old-growth native forests, it was one of the activities that spurred the New Zealand economy in the first place. Even getting this railroad set up took quite a lot of engineering, with multiple bridges over gorges, and also the Ongarue Spiral, a helical section of the former railroad track designed to get trains towing huge logs up a slope that otherwise would have been too steep. In order to route the Spiral, the engineers of the day re-routed a river through a tunnel they purpose-carved just for the water flow. Nowadays, the river's course had been returned to its pre-railroad path, and the tunnel is part of the trail that we walk.
One of the many impressive bridges we crossed today. Back in the railroad days, the bridges were all built of wood and relied on significant structures underneath to support the weight. These have been replaced by steel, tension bridges today.
You can look down from the newer bridges and see the remnants of the old bridges; sometimes in decent repair, and sometimes just evidenced by pieces of shaped timber lying far below in the river bed.
We said above that today was a big day - one reason is that we hit a pretty significant milestone: less than 1,000km for us to go now! The other reasons were the distance travelled (a full marathon!), and the duration (10 hours - a long day for us).
We also re-met Dan, a TA walker that we had met first on the day before we started the Queen Charlotte Track; then again in central Wellington; and then just a few days ago when we all did the Tongariro Crossing. He had decided to bike the Timber Trail, going southbound, so we were able to have a good chat with him. We may not see him again, as he is moving south from here to finish up a few sections of trail, and then his TA journey is over. At least for this year. 

The second major suspension bridge we crossed today was even more impressive than the first. This is the Maramataha Bridge and is the longest span of any bridge along the Timber Trail. It probably took us a good couple of minutes to cross it on foot.
We reached our campsite just before sunset, so we were able to put up the tent in daylight still.
We then immediately headed over to the Timber Trail Lodge, a luxury accommodation, since we had heard that they make pizza and non-lodge guests can come in for this! It was a 10-minute walk from our campsite, but since we had left our packs with our tent, this was a breeze. Unfortunately, when we got to the Lodge, they informed us that they only make pizza until 5pm; after that time they need the ovens to make dinner for the guests staying at the Lodge. We'd arrived around 5:45. Gutted. So we ordered a couple of beers anyway, to celebrate our day, knowing we have enough dinners in our packs to see us through - the pizza would have been a bonus. Moments after we sat down with our beers, a woman walked over and offered the remaining half of the pizza she and her friends had ordered - and decided they didn't want because it would "ruin their dinner". 
a) Trail Angels!
b) ruining your dinner is not a thing that you need to worry about after walking for 42km.

After finishing the pizza - gratefully! - and beers, we headed (ok, hobbled) back to the campsite to cook our actual dinner, and basically crawl into bed. We will either sleep like logs tonight, or lie awake for hours as our bodies' aches and pains keep us from sleeping. Bets?  

Finally, here are some pictures of some of the many types of trees in this podocarp forest, for your enjoyment.

Mamaku (Black Tree Fern, Cyathea medullaris)
Unknown species, tree roots growing down a road cutout
Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum)
Rangiora (Brachyglottis repanda)
Rewarewa (New Zealand Honeysuckle, Knightia excelsa)
Ti Kouka (Cabbage tree, Cordyline australis)

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