“Don’t climb mountains so that the world can see you. Climb mountains so that you can see the world”
David McCullough
Day 55 to 58
- Day 55 – Levin to Te Matawai Hut ; 13 km
- Day 56 – Te Matawai Hut to Nichols Hut ; 12 km
- Day 57 – Nichols Hut to Pārāwai Hut ; 19 km
- Day 58 – Pārāwai Hut to Waikanae ; 24 km
Total hiked: 1622 km
Now the real hiking begins!!!
The first half of the country was just a warm-up for the mountain ranges, summits and passes to come. As I headed towards the Tararua Ranges I not only had new shoes for this bigger adventure but also a new trotting buddy… more on him later.
Day one of the ranges wasn’t an easy trot. After leaving Levin we took the Gable Ridge Track towards Te Matawai Hut. With over 1400 metres of elevation we eventually made it to the hut sweaty, tired and having both vocalised our displeasure at all descents just to struggle back up to the ridge line at the next bend; but overall it was great to be back on a tramping track out in nature (natures neat!) with amazing views and to have my favourite trotting buddy with me 🙂
The following day we climbed over 1400 metres of elevation again, this time summiting Mt Pukematawai at 1432 metres tall; it would be the second tallest maunga we climbed in the Tararuas. We lunched at Dracophyllum Hut/Bivy and then continued our trot up, up, up to finish the day at Nichols Hut. If you were anywhere in the ranges that afternoon you may have heard the rave moving up Mt Nichols and no they haven’t built a club in the ranges it was just our motivation tunes 😛
The third day in the Tararuas bought with it an early morning start, a long day of trotting, very sweaty foreheads but all completely worth while!
Mt Crawford was our morning ascent; at 1462 metres it was our highest peak in the ranges and did not disappoint. With views of Mt Ruapehu, Mt Taranaki, Kapiti Island and the South Island we could truly see it all… well we had views while we climbed up and down the maunga, sadly the clouds rolling through the ranges meant little was to be seen when we were actually on the very top.
The decent continued along a ridge line for an hour or so with ongoing westerly winds and occasional 30-40 knot gusts that left one of us quite concerned they’d be blown off, I’ll let you decide which one 😉
Joining my TA trot was something both N.D and I were looking forward to. Him for the adventure and to complete trails in the South Island he hasn’t done before, me to share this with someone and be able to climb to the top of a peak and look across at someone chuffed at what we have achieved. The views make the climb, sweat and quad pain worthwhile, to see parts of your country you haven’t from heights you didn’t know you could achieve is something great… but for me being able to share that feeling is the true joy!
On entering the bush line we were greeted with more descent, 1400 metres of continuous descent to be exact. All the way down to the Waitewaiwai Hut where we breaked for lunch and to apologise to my knees! Not before crossing a swing bridge across Ōtaki River though; gotta love a good swing bridge.
The trail from the hut meandered through moss covered forest with various stream crossings and subsequently took a bypass route around a giant slip. What we didn’t expect was all the detours around other fallen tree trunks on the bypass track; we detoured a detour. After completing more descent (the knees were really not happy with me by the end of the day), passing around bigger slips and eventually stumbling across another swing bridge we made it to Parawai Hut for the night. Finishing a 2300 metres total decent day was a new record and we celebrated by eating a lot of chocolate, rice and lentils to lighten our packs before our last day out of the Tararua Ranges.
The addition of N.D to trail not only bought companionship but also culinary expertise. My former diet of two minute noodles and soup packets was replaced with wraps, lentils, vegetables, chicken & tomato pasta, peanut butter and fruit bread! It was a very tasty change 🙂
The forth and final day in the Tararua Ranges was a particularly exciting one for me as it was my birthday. While not normally one who enjoys celebrating their birthday, I decided it’s not every year you’re out on a thru hike turning a year older so with the limited food remaining I was going to make the most of it. Well that and we were walking into Waikanae that evening so if my breakie extravaganza didn’t quite live up to the hype I had tasty town treats to look forward to 😛
With Tay Tay in full sing we trotted to the end of the Tararua Ranges and I couldn’t have been happier to be on flat ground. At least for a bit.
Happy trail trotting everyone… especially those who are 28 and feeling great 😛
GC Chronicles 
Wonderful pictures, the views are amazing, beginning of the decent looked and sounded very scary. Adore the little skip/dance at the end video, well done great achievement
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