Day 37: Ngaruawahia Lookout to Hamilton

Distance Covered: 23 km

Hard to beat waking up on a ridge with clear views to either side. Quite nice. And eating breakfast on the lookout as the sun rose over misty valleys was just about as good as it gets, I think.

Of course, the piper must be paid and the cost was descending all of those stairs. We probably should have warmed up first…

I want to add here that the locals were already climbing them at 6:30 in the morning. One of them was the sister of James, the boat owner who ferried us across an inlet to his camp. Small world. But, back to the locals, it was Monday morning and people of all ages were streaming up. We thought it might be the pre-work crowd, but we saw people all the way down the trail way past that time frame. And the love showed as the trail stayed top notch all the way down the stairs and then through the forest and river trail to the carpark. Wonderful stuff.

Then it was road walking to get to the local cycle way next to the river. Pretty and conveniently wide for traffic, but all cement so people just walk on the grass. It's funny that the one time Emily walked on the cement is when I snapped this picture.

Next up was a store where delicious things were bought. We have to pull ourselves out of those places because everything looks like something we should definitely be eating. We try to stop ourselves since it's expensive. Even still, somehow Emily snuck in a packet of cookies. She’s good. We ate all the things on a small grass section next to the highway. Traffic zipped by as we sat in the shade. We hate road walking, but love the convenience of stores.

All of the road walking after eating brought us to a long cycle way by the river again. This was sponsored by a local community owned by an energy company. Apparently, it’s supposed to be 70 km when completed. There’s also a big bike ride. It’s awesome to be off the road and following the river with frequent benches and pedestrian rest areas. Super awesome, really. But why cement? Great for bikes, horrible for walkers and runners. This time, I captured an image of Emily walking the grass.

Along the way, we met a young local woman who stopped us to ask about the trail. She was very close to doing it this year, but couldn’t quite make it work. She’s hoping to do it next year and so we talked for some time about all sorts of things. It’s great to see the enthusiasm from a local… New Zealanders are a small fraction of the trail’s community. Maybe they know something? Then along the walkway we went, winding around with the river as it went past a dairy factory, suburbs, and finally to downtown. Several locals stopped to chat with us and that’s always fun.

We are staying at a hostel downtown. It’s $60, minimal air conditioning, no laundry, and slow Internet. Argh. At least it’s convenient to outdoor stores we’ll need to visit. And there is a KFC down the block too. Cheap-ish food! (Even at KFC, $25 only half fills you.)

Here is a bonus picture of Emily’s foot. This is what road walking (and other things) does for you. (It actually looks better now than it used to.)

We won’t be having a rest day tomorrow. We need to run some errands and then we are going to get out of town.