By Ruth
Distance: 26 km
Today was our final day in the Tararua range! If you’ve been reading the past two or three days you’ll know that we were pretty ready to be out. We set out early as usual for today’s walk which consisted of summitting a small (800-odd metre) peak, our last of the Tararuas, followed by 10 km road walk into town, unless we could get a hitch.
The day started out on a beauty of a trail, wide, not muddy, on a gentle incline which switchbacked gently through the forest. “No way this can last”, we said to ourselves, so we made sure to appreciate every step. Sure enough, after a kilometre or so the grade steepened. But not by too much, and the mud stayed very manageable.
We got into a great flow going up to the summit. This was probably helped by Elliot’s new snack regimen, wherein we try to avoid bad moods by stopping for a snack every couple of hours, thereby making sure not to let the blood sugar drop too much. The view from the summit was pretty decent, down to the coast and back out onto the mountains.
I was a bit worried about the descent today after how tough it was down from Mount Crawford yesterday, but this was a breeze. It was much less steep so we could actually get a rhythm and make good progress through the forest. It felt great. At the bottom we reached a small stream which we had to cross, after which we took an incredibly refreshing cold plunge. For the first time in the Tararuas we were both feeling amazing. Perhaps not coincidentally, we were also out of the Tararuas less than half an hour after that.
We had postponed lunch in order to eat at the parking lot. Partly this was because I thought there might be a picnic bench there (there wasn’t). But also we thought sitting there for a bit might allow us to catch someone as they were leaving and get a ride into Waikanae, the town 10 km down the road we were headed to next.
Sure enough, one cream cheese wrap into our lunch, a couple with a baby and little dog came out of the forest. We struck up a friendly conversation, and eventually revealed our angle. They were so nice and made room for us and our bags in the car, then drove us all the way to the New World in Waikanae. Once there we headed to the nearest cafe and ordered a drink we have been eyeing for a while now: the iced coffee. This is a bit of a misnomer because the drink is actually a milkshake. So decadent!
Because of the great timing of our hitch into Waikanae, we decided to push on 10 more kilometres to the beach town of Paraparamu for the night. The route there was a joy: a gravel path next to the river, where kids and dogs splashed in the water, then an estuary boardwalk with birds and views out to Kapiti Island, and then a few more kilometres on a hard-packed sand beach.
Tonight we are staying in a bed and breakfast with themed rooms; we are in the Bordeaux Room. With real bed linen, fluffy cotton towels and a hot shower, we are absolutely relishing the luxuries of being back in civilization.
