I spent a week with Kerstin in Wellington and we had a really great time. She bikes and hikes and runs and is studying to be bio-chemist, but none of her friends want to go hiking so she planned for us to walk the Tararuas as described below, but first we would have a look around Wellington then tackle the Skyline track around the tops of the hills around Wellington from Mount Kaukau to Karori Park.
On our first full day we walked into town and went to the Te Papa museum on the waterfront. I do love museums when they have interactive parts! Levers to pull and buttons to push, they even had an earthquake simulation house! We found to my surprise an exhibition on one John Saxton, who came over with some of the original settlers and was renowned for his innovations and designs, although it hadn't all been good tidings for him. I asked my grandfather about the family connection, but he said we have our family tree traced back to 1600 and none of our ancestors left England for New Zealand. Oh well. We got a few pics of us with the giant squid (very creepy) and tried to find the huge Moa skeleton with alas, no success. They have a Marae (sacred meeting building of the Maori) on the top floor, and it's a truly peaceful place. You have to take your shoes off as you do in a Marae, but they have seats fixed around the edges, which means you can't Hongi the ancestors as I've learned you're supposed to. All in all it's a fun museum and I'd recommend it if you ever go to Wellington.
While walking around town I started getting a serious pain in my hip. I recognised it as the muscles I'd over-used when I walked away from my last Helpx host. I had rested at Cee Cee's for a week before coming down to Wellington and I was a bit concerned over how it was still hurting. If I rested it would be fine for a little while, but with every step I took the pain became more and more pronounced. Having already planned to do the 3 day hike into the Tararuas, not being able to walk around town was very disconcerting. Kerstin and I decided we'd try to climb Mount Kaukau and see how my hip was, and if that was okay, continue on to do the Skyline track.
Fortunately, and rather mysteriously, the pain in my hips didn't occur at all while walking up Mount Kaukau, it was very windy but absolutely stunning high up around the edge of Wellington. We decided it was fine to continue walking round and indeed it was. The Skyline track was easy to follow and it felt great to be out walking. It is, after all, the main reason I came to New Zealand. Sure it was only a 4-5 hour hike and I didn't have my huge backpack with me, but it was great to be dipping my toe in at last. I had no further pain in my legs or hips at all, until we came down off the track and started walking along the road. It seems while I'm walking over uneven ground I'm fine, but the muscles used for simple road walking are the ones I've over-stretched.
Having decided I would be okay to do the Tararuas, we went into the DoC (Department of Conservation) office and asked about getting a map for the track. The guy inside had similar traits to the other DoC officers I'd met so far. He was over 50, spoke softly and slowly and held eye contact firmly, as though looking away would signify the end of our conversation, and he tried to dissuade us from doing any walking at all. He proceeded to tell us that any amount of hiking we'd done anywhere else in the world was irrelevant, and that in New Zealand people go for a 3 hour walk and don't get found for months. Within the last year at least one person had died on the route we were going take, and he was highly experienced and well known. After receiving a good half an hour of warning and advice from the DoC officer, he smiled at us and looked away, thus ending our conversation. At which point I had to re-engage eye contact once more to point out that we still didn't have the maps we'd come in to buy. Finally all equipped we went back to Kerstin's for a good hearty meal and an early night.
The next day we went to Kerstin's friend's house in Te Horo, for she was going to give us a lift to the start of the track first thing in the morning. I met a young girl they look after sometimes called Ursula and she was a true joy to be around. You know that age when children have developed enough confidence to talk about the things they like doing, but aren't old enough to feel self-conscious about whether what they like is a cool thing to talk about? Well she was in that age and talked and joked to her heart's content. A very bright kid, I wish Ursula all the best for the future. The next morning Kerstin's friend drove us to the start of the track, and that adventure you can read below. However, I shall now pick up where the last chapter finished.
After waking in Field Hut, Kerstin and I dined on a breakfast of porridge and some left-over cheese and packed all our wet items into our packs and put on our wet shoes and socks. It only took us about 2 hours to get back down to Otaki Forks where we'd been picked up. All the way down we'd been attempting to find the phone reception that the DoC officer had insisted existed in the Tararuas. I did not. We'd passed two guy on the way down, they were dressed for a day hike and one of them was carrying a rifle, so we didn't think they'd be coming back down anytime soon. There was a caretakers house in the next carpark over and I was confident that was where we should go, since the caretaker would at least have a landline phone that we could use to call Kerstin's friend to see about getting picked up. The caretaker was not home, we were pretty sure we'd heard their car pull out of the carpark as we were approaching through the bush track. There was a phone on the outside of the building, but it would only do local calls. We only had Kerstin's friend's mobile number so we couldn't call her, but then we read that you can do reverse charge calls by following the complicated instructions written in pen on the phone. We tried about three times to make the call before doing it properly, only to receive a voice message informing us that we were only allowed to do reverse charge calls to people on a specific network, which Kerstin's friend was not. We then tried the local taxi number that was also written on the phone, at least to enquire as to how much a taxi would be back to the nearest town of Otaki. The taxi number was no longer in operation. So now we were stuck, and knowing that it was about 20km back to the main road, let alone a town, I wasn't enthusiastic to start road walking.
Just then I heard the sound of wheels on gravel and we ran round to the carpark to see two cars pull in. They were a couple in their late 50's or early 60's who were off to walk a section of the track different to the one we'd done, and from the maps we'd seen, was considerably more challenging than the one we'd done. We explained our predicament to them and they, very graciously, offered to give us a lift back to Otaki. Apparently he used to do bush survival courses and had been in Tararuas for 30 odd years. Our tale of not being able to get to Kime Hut came as no surprise to him, and he told us of a few more people who had died on the track we'd intended to do. He also told me off for calling the tracks 'trails'. He said this was an American-ism and he didn't approve. My mistake! We got to Otaki at about midday and Kerstin tried frantically to get hold of her friend. We managed to make two cups of hot chocolate and an apple slice last about 3-4 hours in a nice warm bakery, but I was keen for us to start making some progress back to Wellington, since Kerstin hasn't managed get hold of her friend. The benefits of waiting around were that we'd get to have another nice night and dinner nearby in Te Horo, and her friend was driving back to Wellington the next day, so we could get a lift and save some money. The downside to waiting was that we didn't know where she was or if we'd get in contact with her at all. We hitched from Otaki to Waikanai (took about 30 seconds to get picked up, hitching with girls must be easier). At around 6pm I managed to convince Kerstin that we should get on the 6:20pm train back to Wellington. At 6:10pm we finally got a call from Kerstin's friend, who had simply left her phone at home all day and was of course happy to have us back again. So after what had felt like a very long day, we ended it nicely with steak, a comfy bed and a free lift back to Wellington the next day.
On our first full day we walked into town and went to the Te Papa museum on the waterfront. I do love museums when they have interactive parts! Levers to pull and buttons to push, they even had an earthquake simulation house! We found to my surprise an exhibition on one John Saxton, who came over with some of the original settlers and was renowned for his innovations and designs, although it hadn't all been good tidings for him. I asked my grandfather about the family connection, but he said we have our family tree traced back to 1600 and none of our ancestors left England for New Zealand. Oh well. We got a few pics of us with the giant squid (very creepy) and tried to find the huge Moa skeleton with alas, no success. They have a Marae (sacred meeting building of the Maori) on the top floor, and it's a truly peaceful place. You have to take your shoes off as you do in a Marae, but they have seats fixed around the edges, which means you can't Hongi the ancestors as I've learned you're supposed to. All in all it's a fun museum and I'd recommend it if you ever go to Wellington.
While walking around town I started getting a serious pain in my hip. I recognised it as the muscles I'd over-used when I walked away from my last Helpx host. I had rested at Cee Cee's for a week before coming down to Wellington and I was a bit concerned over how it was still hurting. If I rested it would be fine for a little while, but with every step I took the pain became more and more pronounced. Having already planned to do the 3 day hike into the Tararuas, not being able to walk around town was very disconcerting. Kerstin and I decided we'd try to climb Mount Kaukau and see how my hip was, and if that was okay, continue on to do the Skyline track.
Fortunately, and rather mysteriously, the pain in my hips didn't occur at all while walking up Mount Kaukau, it was very windy but absolutely stunning high up around the edge of Wellington. We decided it was fine to continue walking round and indeed it was. The Skyline track was easy to follow and it felt great to be out walking. It is, after all, the main reason I came to New Zealand. Sure it was only a 4-5 hour hike and I didn't have my huge backpack with me, but it was great to be dipping my toe in at last. I had no further pain in my legs or hips at all, until we came down off the track and started walking along the road. It seems while I'm walking over uneven ground I'm fine, but the muscles used for simple road walking are the ones I've over-stretched.
Having decided I would be okay to do the Tararuas, we went into the DoC (Department of Conservation) office and asked about getting a map for the track. The guy inside had similar traits to the other DoC officers I'd met so far. He was over 50, spoke softly and slowly and held eye contact firmly, as though looking away would signify the end of our conversation, and he tried to dissuade us from doing any walking at all. He proceeded to tell us that any amount of hiking we'd done anywhere else in the world was irrelevant, and that in New Zealand people go for a 3 hour walk and don't get found for months. Within the last year at least one person had died on the route we were going take, and he was highly experienced and well known. After receiving a good half an hour of warning and advice from the DoC officer, he smiled at us and looked away, thus ending our conversation. At which point I had to re-engage eye contact once more to point out that we still didn't have the maps we'd come in to buy. Finally all equipped we went back to Kerstin's for a good hearty meal and an early night.
The next day we went to Kerstin's friend's house in Te Horo, for she was going to give us a lift to the start of the track first thing in the morning. I met a young girl they look after sometimes called Ursula and she was a true joy to be around. You know that age when children have developed enough confidence to talk about the things they like doing, but aren't old enough to feel self-conscious about whether what they like is a cool thing to talk about? Well she was in that age and talked and joked to her heart's content. A very bright kid, I wish Ursula all the best for the future. The next morning Kerstin's friend drove us to the start of the track, and that adventure you can read below. However, I shall now pick up where the last chapter finished.
After waking in Field Hut, Kerstin and I dined on a breakfast of porridge and some left-over cheese and packed all our wet items into our packs and put on our wet shoes and socks. It only took us about 2 hours to get back down to Otaki Forks where we'd been picked up. All the way down we'd been attempting to find the phone reception that the DoC officer had insisted existed in the Tararuas. I did not. We'd passed two guy on the way down, they were dressed for a day hike and one of them was carrying a rifle, so we didn't think they'd be coming back down anytime soon. There was a caretakers house in the next carpark over and I was confident that was where we should go, since the caretaker would at least have a landline phone that we could use to call Kerstin's friend to see about getting picked up. The caretaker was not home, we were pretty sure we'd heard their car pull out of the carpark as we were approaching through the bush track. There was a phone on the outside of the building, but it would only do local calls. We only had Kerstin's friend's mobile number so we couldn't call her, but then we read that you can do reverse charge calls by following the complicated instructions written in pen on the phone. We tried about three times to make the call before doing it properly, only to receive a voice message informing us that we were only allowed to do reverse charge calls to people on a specific network, which Kerstin's friend was not. We then tried the local taxi number that was also written on the phone, at least to enquire as to how much a taxi would be back to the nearest town of Otaki. The taxi number was no longer in operation. So now we were stuck, and knowing that it was about 20km back to the main road, let alone a town, I wasn't enthusiastic to start road walking.
Just then I heard the sound of wheels on gravel and we ran round to the carpark to see two cars pull in. They were a couple in their late 50's or early 60's who were off to walk a section of the track different to the one we'd done, and from the maps we'd seen, was considerably more challenging than the one we'd done. We explained our predicament to them and they, very graciously, offered to give us a lift back to Otaki. Apparently he used to do bush survival courses and had been in Tararuas for 30 odd years. Our tale of not being able to get to Kime Hut came as no surprise to him, and he told us of a few more people who had died on the track we'd intended to do. He also told me off for calling the tracks 'trails'. He said this was an American-ism and he didn't approve. My mistake! We got to Otaki at about midday and Kerstin tried frantically to get hold of her friend. We managed to make two cups of hot chocolate and an apple slice last about 3-4 hours in a nice warm bakery, but I was keen for us to start making some progress back to Wellington, since Kerstin hasn't managed get hold of her friend. The benefits of waiting around were that we'd get to have another nice night and dinner nearby in Te Horo, and her friend was driving back to Wellington the next day, so we could get a lift and save some money. The downside to waiting was that we didn't know where she was or if we'd get in contact with her at all. We hitched from Otaki to Waikanai (took about 30 seconds to get picked up, hitching with girls must be easier). At around 6pm I managed to convince Kerstin that we should get on the 6:20pm train back to Wellington. At 6:10pm we finally got a call from Kerstin's friend, who had simply left her phone at home all day and was of course happy to have us back again. So after what had felt like a very long day, we ended it nicely with steak, a comfy bed and a free lift back to Wellington the next day.
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