Ohakuri Dam to Whakamaru

 


A pair of Californian quail woke me, so I broke camp as the sun arrived. After a few kilometers I was on SH1, where there was a super wide verge and I felt many times safer than on SH2 last week.

Maybe 2km later I turned in to Atiamuri village which has awesome trees like this conifer.


Yesterday's volcanic plug, actually Pohaturoa Maunga, emerged from the river mist.


There is archaeological evidence of 30 whare (dwellings) on the summit, all I can think is water, who had to carry it all up there?

My own water situation suddenly improved when I reached the shelter at the start of the Waikato River Trail.


Potable water, under pressure! All three bottles rinsed and refilled. 


The trail goes for quite a long way under trees, thankfully.

I stopped for breakfast near the Tram Road bridge.


Somewhere further on there was a very mysterious diurnal owl


and huge hayfields.


Back on the river I could hear a coach nagging (training) a rower.


From here on, it was pretty hard work. Very hot, no shade at all for the final 4 or 5 kms. I've just worked out that I walked 34.6km today, which might be why it seemed tough 

It's strange how quickly I forget these miseries because now, at my sister's house (she fetched me from Whakamaru) I can just about feel keen to leave again in the morning. The plan is, walk into Pureora Forest from here and spend the next five nights camping along the Timber Trail and walking to Taumuranui. Good weather forecast.

No cellphone coverage in there, so now's a good time to say happy Christmas everyone. 





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