Hakarimata, Heifers and Hamilton

“May you always see the light in the little things”

M.H.N

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Before I start this blog I would like to offer a P.S.A to explain what it exactly means to walk a farm track. Given the Waikato contains a lot of farms that I have now traversed I feel pretty knowledgeable at detailing the variations of farm one might encounter should they trot through. 

• Farms contain all matter of livestock including curious cows, shy sheep, gallivanting goats, daunting deer and BIG bulls. Walk along the fence line of any paddock incase you’ve mistaken a curious cow and instead a big bull starts charging.
• Paddocks have variable terrain. Undulating hills (TA trail speak for pointless ups and downs), many hoof divots and uneven surfaces to roll an ankle on.
• Irrigation. Unfortunately, drains aren’t really a staple in the long grass of farms. Mud, more mud and constant hoof prints stirring the mud are more common.
• Maintenance. Gone are the DOC expectations for keeping the path relatively clear or well sign-posted. Long grass, multiple gorse bushes and tree felling make finding the orange triangles and trail just as hard as bush-whacking through it.
• Streams. Yup farms have many streams running through them. Great for hydrating the animals but less so for trotting through the runoff at knee and sometimes thigh depth. Let’s not forget the smell afterwards.
• Electric fences. So far its fences 2 : Alex 0, they do really wake you up after they zap you though!

I walked amongst a variety of cows confirming I still don’t like walking in paddocks. But the smaller, let’s call them teenage cows gave me confidence in my cow paddock abilities. The bigger, curious ones did not. Making it to Rangiriri that afternoon I felt like I could conquer any cow paddock, well any with small sized cows haha.

The Hakarimata Track from Huntly to Ngāruawāhia was next on the Waikato trail. What started and ended with over a 1000 steps in elevation, a lot of sweat and many hills to climb, provided great views across the Waikato region and wasn’t nearly as arduous as other trail hikers suggested. During university I had two placements in Te Aroha, a small rural town located south of Thames where I developed a close relationship with the staff and wider community where I was introduced to the idea of trail running. Normally a long distance runner, the concept of not running on a formed concrete path was new to me at the time. My first attempt at trail running while on placement there quickly turned to walking and then staggering my way up Mount Te Aroha, the tallest point in the Kaimai Ranges at 952 metres. To see this maunga now 6 years later was humbling, look at how far I had come from my first attempt at hiking to now trotting the length of the country.

The trail from Ngāruawāhia to Hamilton follows the Te Awa Walkway alongside the Waikato River. Yup I have been walking along this river for 4 days now; she’s a long river! The trail passes the Tūrangawaewae Marae (which I stayed in as a university student), the spectacular Perry Cycle Bridge (that I took many pictures with of course), through Braithwaite Park and all the way to the Centennial Steps.  

I trotted into Hamilton City that afternoon, was greeted by my Gizzy Gal friend Sarah and stayed with her for two nights while I completed the Hamilton City and Whatawhata sections. I think the new edition of Murphy to her family should get a special mention – look how cute he is 🙂

Keep trotting everyone 🙂