Waikato

“Loneliness is sad. Aloneness is blissful”

Osho

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Hmm… is there such a thing as walking through too many cow paddocks?

Well despite whether that is true or not there certainly is a thing of talking about walking in cow paddocks too much, so I shan’t bother you with more cow paddock tales from my trot to and from Waitomo.

The views from the farm en route to Waitomo were pretty spectacular though, so I’ll share them 🙂

After a festive break celebrating Christmas and New Years with friends and family I returned to trail on a notorious section!

Amongst the TA trail there are sections renowned for the most mischievous mud, river rendezvous and trepidatious trail – the Mangaokewa Reserve and River Track is the latter. It’s not that it doesn’t have a trail per say… but that there’s poor signage, unkempt grass/gorse/blackberry/thorn bush, farm land (obviously I am in the Waikato), cliff edges, river sections and mud. But mainly that this all takes sooooo long to traverse!

Starting behind the Te Kuiti limeworks industry, the Mangaokewa Reserve Track follows alongside the river providing ample bridge crossing opportunities and views of ducks floating past (that I may have got distracted by and caused me to slip 🙂 ). It was really enjoyable and I took many bridge and waterfall photos haha.

I think pictures speak louder than words. So instead of detailing every slip, bog crossing, thorn bush attack, lost marker moment or amount of sweat I accumulated I’ll remind you of one thing – perspective… and include a photo of me after I puffed all the way up a big hill haha.

Perspective is everything. I’m sure you have heard people say that but this trail highlighted that entirely.

Before starting each section I usually read the trail notes and previous hikers comments to gauge whether the estimated times are correct, what is the state of the trail and whether I need extra water or to allow for tidal changes. I also always want to know if I’ll be walking through a paddock of bulls (the fear is real). However, despite my best efforts to be safe and well prepared before setting off I do find that when others comments are negative this can negatively affect me. I wouldn’t say I catastrophe every situation but I definitely castrophised this!

Starting back on trail after a break I didn’t feel ready – deconditioned, unable to carry a heavier pack load, not experienced enough to navigate this, unable to walk this far in the heat. Not ready!

Previous hikers this season recounted the trail taking 10-11 hours, getting lost repeatedly, near death slips, mud, so much mud! Just plane awfulness. Some recommended skipping this part, others stated that if you weren’t competent to do it then why are you walking the trail at all. The negativity from experienced hikers planted a seed of doubt, a seed that with time off the trail started to grow.

The night before I was due to trot this section, upset that I wasn’t good enough and unlikely to successfully complete it I was reminded to “just do it”.

That may seem silly but it was exactly what I needed to hear. How was I going to know if I was good enough if I didn’t try. Sure people may say this and that, but they don’t know me, they don’t know what I’m capable of. I’ve made it over 800 kilometres so far, surely I’ve learnt something in how to navigate a trail. Lastly but maybe most importantly, it is not a race, if I take 8 hours great, 12 hours fine, in the end I am only in competition with myself!

Walking into camp that night I felt euphoric. I had done it. It wasn’t awful like everyone made it out to seem. I actually had a good time. I listened to bird song, walked through paddocks of sheep, inched my way around gorge edges, cooled off in the river, came face to face/arm/leg/everything with all matter of gorse and thorn bushes, got lost then re-found the trail multiple times. But most importantly I did it. I set out to try something and I did it! Even walked through a bull paddock at the end, ideally I won’t be doing that too much more.

The following day I trotted and trotted some more, 37 km to be exact along gravel road to Pureroa Forest and the start of the Timber Trail. But you can read about that in the next blog 🙂

So remember just do it!