Day 19: Taiharuru Crossing to McKenzie Bay
Distance Covered: 23 km
The morning started by meeting our hosts. We came in so late last night that they had already gone to bed and we stayed in the hiker camping area. We walked with everyone to breakfast and what a breakfast it was! Fruit! Toast! Cereal! Juice! Pancakes! So much deliciousness on one table. The hosts are older, this is a kind of retirement project for them, and they love hosting the TA hikers. We were one of the larger groups (there are 9 of us) and they seemed to go all out. So much great food in a cozy dining room setting… it felt like we were visiting relatives with their warm and inviting personalities. Reluctantly, they accepted $10 donations (called Koha here) for both breakfast and the ride across the estuary.
The ride was necessary because it was again high tide and it was just about the highest they’d seen. The combination of the super moon and season has the water at 3.2 meters whereas a typical high tide is 2.3 or so. In fact, he had just built a fantastic dock and walkway above high tide to get to the estuary and these tides swamped and lifted it out of place. We all were very grateful that he could get us across without having to wait 6 hour for low tide!
Side note: they became a little rushed when they heard cows were loose in the neighborhood. The neighbors believe a hiker left a gate open and the cows got out. We don’t know who it was (we didn’t go through any gates last night), but we implore everyone not to sour a wonderful thing here! Also, stay at Tidesong!
Now on the other side, we had a lot of walking to do. First it was up, up to 245 meters from sea level and then down, down back to sea level. At the top, we could see the beach we would be walking.
And then we were at the beach.
There was almost exactly 7 km of this. The sand was pretty good walking, the waves were more powerful than the Tasmanian Sea, and the view was very nice.
Beach walking, as we’ve mentioned before, can be tricky because your perception of distance is skewed. This was no different as it seemed we were almost to some point and it would take twice as long or more than thought. A rocky outcropping or two made things interesting along the way, though.
And then it was over and we walked (scrambled) up the steepest hill yet on the trail to get to lunch. There we met up with a new hiker and one we thought was far behind us. The Chilean girl linked up with an experienced hiker from Sweden and together they powered ahead. The right team can make all the difference!
The next section was up, up, up, up to 476 meters above the beach within 2 km. The first part was a 50 degree slope or more for 500 meters or so. We slowed way down as we powered up the beast of a hill. The picture below is near the top, but you can get a feel for how far above the beach we traveled.
Along the way, we ran into an American couple on vacation from our hometown Boulder, Colorado! They were headed down the hill. They’ve been coming to New Zealand for years and years and we can understand why. It was a fun break to share stories and it was fun that they know the same places and such. The rain and wind ended that conversation and it was back to grinding up the hill. The view at the top was pretty good!
We were now on a ridge, high above the beach and town we were headed towards. The trail, though, did not descend for long. Instead, it followed the ridge line. At one point, Emily asked if we were going to go up to some peak in the distance and I said I didn’t think so. It was too steep, after all…
Of course, I was wrong. Yes, it would be too steep for a trail, but stairs have been so rare we didn’t think of them. We should have known! Up, up, up hundreds of stairs. Then down more stairs. Then another peak and more stairs. As mentioned before, uphill doesn’t really bother me. I get into a rhythm and away I go. Not so for Emily who has been feeling a lot of leg fatigue. On the other hand, descending the stairs is harder for me and Emily does better.
The trail notes said that after all of this ridge walking, there was a steep descent with “a lot” of stairs. Hmmm…. so I counted. It turns out there were just over 1,200 stairs down. Bam, bam, bam each step pounding our knees. At first, I thought maybe there would be 500. Then, after reaching that, maybe 750. Then maybe 1,000. Neither of us were expecting 1,200! Major kudos to the trail builders!
At the bottom, Emily collapsed onto the grass. I joined her. So cool and refreshing down on the ground. After gathering ourselves a little bit, we headed towards town.
We heard a place called Appin Cabins was cheap and/or free and just a few km down the road. Along the way, we ran into our Cyprus friend, who was camped very near the road in a small bay. She had not heard that camping may be ahead and setup camp. Her one person tent just squeezed onto the little grassy patch above the water.
We walked on a little further and found the place. But nobody was home. The sign made it clear hikers were welcome, but all the lights were off. We cooked and ate dinner, then cleaned up while waiting, but still nothing. We read the notes closely and they mentioned camping in the bamboo forest. So we left a message saying we were doing that and set up in a great little sheltered area on nice grass. Really wonderful spot.
Tomorrow we’ll try to pay. We also need to walk 5 km or so to get another ferry ride from a kind stranger across a bay.