Adventures in lesser known parts of New Zealand’s North Island
Wednesday, March 6: Cloudy the whole day with a little sun shining though occasionally and a sprinkle or two of rain
Brennagh’s/Dave’s
Sleep was unusually fragmented – I managed to fall asleep fairly quickly (what a difference a bed makes) but awoke from about 12:30 for an hour and a half before sleeping through to 7:00.
Tuesday, March 5: Cloud and fog to begin with becoming hot & sunny
Tramping: 11.8 km
Whanganui River Adventures, Pipiriki Campground 2522 Pipiriki Raetihi Road, Pipiriki 4576 (shared cabin, $25)
Sleep was very interrupted last night; the camera switched itself off when the battery was low and I hauled it inside; even so it took a while to get to sleep.
But I was up pretty much on the dot of 7:00, and everything packed away quickly so that I could get on the go by 8:40. Tried capturing the kilometre posts and I knew I was doing about 4 km/h. The crash site of a Vampire jet plane which remained lost for many a year was passed. The Caves were well signed and I thought that a detour would be admissible, and saw and photographed one cave with stalactites. Track condition was variable, but there were a few more markers today. One big new slip even had danger signs on it and was taped off, but by this time no more kilometre posts could be found. Read more…
Friday, March 1: A bit cold to begin with but soon becoming warm & sunny
Tramping: 13.2 km
Trains Hut (Doc, $10)
Sleep was very intermittent last night and I was up way before 7:30. The proximity to the highway was not helpful. Anyhow I had plenty of time for breakfast (cereal, toast, coffee, and two cans of L&P in the fridge), took out some rubbish, packed my stuff together (hopefully a little better this time) and just after 9:15 went outside to await my chauffeur.
He – Dave – was there pretty much on the dot of 9:30. Among other things he had been a fire investigator with the voluntary fire brigade, which, of course, was right up my skeptical alley. And Howard had been right: He was the guy with the “golf carts on rails,” which I could make no sense of yesterday evening. Read more…
Thursday, February 28: A sprinkle of rain in the morning, becoming fine & sunny, wind a little cooler
Howard & Catherine’s (airbnb, $40.6)
The place was pretty full last night with the German couple (Timo & Chris) in the one room, and a woman in the other. My breakfast was the usual two helpings of cereal followed by eggs & cheese on toast, then the question of packing had to be addressed. There were also two painters present today who were sanding and painting the right side entrance so to collect my washing I went through the front door. Everything was moderately dry.
Wednesday, February 27: A bit overcast to begin with, but warm, cloud becoming lighter in the course of the day
Dave’s/Brennagh’s
After the excitement of yesterday, today was a bit of a day for odds and ends. I set up VirtualDub to do a run through of a timelapse sequence – in the end it didn’t work particularly well. The Play_0 button doesn’t seem to do anything, and even downsizing the image was not really effective, as the exclusion zone didn’t seem to work. Put a couple of minutes together for Rayna to look at, though.
First shopping stop was Mitre 10 for a new gas bottle (will use up the old one on this trip and see how far I get with the new one). That was quite a hike across town. Next stop was the supermarket. Will be trying out a couple of new muesli bars this time, as well as some cheaper dried peas which will take 8-10 minutes and will be cooked with the rice. A dollar store yielded an ice-cube tray, which will be needed later for the egg cooking. Lost my shopping list somewhere after shopping, and that had the Whanganui River Adventures’ phone number on it, who I had been meaning to call to confirm that they will be picking me up, giving me a bunk bed and have something to sell me to eat. Read more…
Tuesday, February 26: Still a bit cold but almost sunshine pure today
Dave’s/Brennagh’s
Had to bite the bullet today and soon after breakfast I went around to the hunting place, but their two civilian backpacks were rather heavy even empty and the camo ones didn’t really come into question. Then it was off to Rel Computer Solutions (144A Victoria Ave) where the guy gave me the advice of resetting the laptop to a restore point by holding down the shift key during start up (didn’t work), and then to Kathmandu who had a 40 L, reasonably light (1.9 kg) pack, one compartment only, for $300, with the possibility of getting 40% off if I complained too much. Then I paid a seamstress (Sue’s) a visit and she assured me that if she could get the seam under her machine she would repair the current pack. With that sorted it was time to return & collect the gear to see what could be done. Read more…
Monday, February 25: Cooler, sunny with variable cloud
Dave’s/Brennagh’s
A morning for a bit of a sleep-in, if only the Indian gentleman from last night hadn’t been so loud. Anyway, breakfast was a smorgasbord of cereals & toast, coffee and orange juice.
With that out of the way it was time to try to solve the technical problems. First was to make aim for Technoman at 65 Moana Street in the Wanganui East shopping center and a bit of a stroll through town. A couple of shops out there, but nothing too inviting for a meal. The guy on duty couldn’t say much about using a machine with admin rights, but he could plug in the GPS device, just not read any data. I said I would come back tomorrow and later wrote them something on their facebook page, but there doesn’t appear to be much hope. Read more…
Sunday, February 24: Rain overnight, snow on the mountain, clearing to partly cloudy, one hail and rainstorm, otherwise in Whanganui overcast & wet
Tramping: 3.2 km
Dave’s/Brennagh’s (airbnb, $81.3)
We all slept in past 7:00 this morning and I was in no hurry at all, so I let the others pack and leave towards Whakapapa. A bit of sun shone on the new snow on the mountain, and otherwise the day looked promising.
With the others out of the way, I tried to organise my pack a bit better, and when all was in, I swept out the hut. There are pictures on the walls documenting the hut’s construction in the late 50s, and since then one fairly open and bright annex has been added, as well as solar panels and LED lights for the evenings. Read more…
Wednesday, February 20: A bit of cloud around during the day but nothing really much, not quite as hot as previously, lovely sunset
Swimming: 1200 m
Arawa
Slept in until all was silent, then had the usual breakfast here of cornflakes, toast, added in two fried eggs, orange juice, coffee. Funny how a three-day walk requires next to no preparation, in any case my shopping list was not very long (about the only difference to the kayak tour was surprise peas instead of fresh vege, and sultanas instead of fresh fruit). Ambled into town to fulfill it. Read more…
Friday, February 15: Cloudy and a bit cooler to begin with, a brief, very light drop of rain, sunny & hot in the afternoon
Kayaking: 38.0 km
Whakahoro Bunkroom (Doc, $10)
It had gotten suddenly much cooler in the night, and my position on top of the sleeping bag had to be exchanged for under it; but not in it, not yet anyway. I was up after 6:00. Breakfast was an egg, 40&nsp;g of Kransky sausage (quite acceptable), 50 g of crackers and margarine, and one double coffee. Only thing I had forgotten was that the spoon I had measured the coffee & sugar into their containers with was not the same spoon that took out the quantities. Anyhow.
Tent was a bit wet, but other than that everything packed up just fine. A tip for cooling water: Have at least 0.5 L in the stronger water bottle & pour hot water into it. In that way the water temperature is immediately halved and can be transferred to the other bottle. I was ready to go by 8:30, this time with a backpack on board from the start. Read more…
