Day 53: Waihohonu Hut to Whakapapa Village (14.5 km)

Saturday, January 21

Around 6 am I got out of bed and carried all my stuff to the common area to pack away from sleeping people. I packed and ate some food before saying goodbye to Robin, Gail and Bronwyn, and started to make my way to Whakapapa.

A few minutes into the walk I took a short detour to go to the historic Waihohonu Hut. It was only about 5 minutes off the trail so I was glad I stopped. It was rectangular and red and the inside felt like you were in a museum. They had plexiglass in front of the fireplace and old items scattered around the hut. It was fun to look around.

As I made my way back to the trail, I could see Gail and Bronwyn had gotten ahead of me when I took my detour. The trail was wonderful and after maybe an hour of gaining and losing sight of them I caught up. They were going at a nice pace so I talked with them for awhile. They offered to give me a ride to Taumarunui and stop in National Park to get my food box. I really enjoyed hiking and talking with them so it was perfect!

Bronwyn is a semi-retired vet and Gail teaches PE and outdoor education classes. Her classes sound much neater than the ones where I'm from. She's taken her students on multi-day hikes. That would have been so neat in high school!

After an hour or two of walking with them we ran into Marjolein and three other TA hikers I've never met on the trail walking the opposite way. I was so excited to see her I jogged up to her and gave her a big hug. We hadn't seen each other since Christmas, but we've been touching base on Facebook messenger whenever we get phone service. She and the other hikers were planning to walk the 'Round the Mountain Track.

They had heard the same thing about the weather and were planning to stay in a hut for a day and road walk out if needed. Going to Taumarunui still seemed like the best option to me.

As we continued down the trail to Whakapapa, Gail offered to let me stay at her house for a few days and said she could drop me off at Taumarunui Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. It was so nice! I needed to make sure those were the right days for me to be in Taumarunui when I got phone service, but that sounded so wonderful.

We walked by Tama Lakes, passing more people, and made it to Taranaki Falls. A little rainbow was forming in the mist. Around 11:30 or 12 we made it to Whakapapa. After stopping at the I-SITE, Gail drove us to Taumarunui and we got a snack at a cafe. Arriving back at Taumarunui on Wednesday would work perfect, so I decided to go with Gail.

In less than an hour we arrived at Gail's home near Otorohanga. It was beautiful! It's on a piece of farmland on a hill and has amazing windows that let you look out over mountains in all directions. We said goodbye to Bronwyn and I met Gail's parents Junior and Carol, as well as their friendly dogs Peewee and Bonnie.

Gail showed me where everything was in the house, gave me clothes to wear while I was there so I could get out of my two outfits and wash everything, and let me stay in a spare room. It was so amazingly kind!

Once I unpacked, we all had an important activity to do. One of their neighbors had baled hay to store, so we all piled in a car and drove over. Lots of other neighbors showed up to help to. It was so neat! Two people drove trucks with flat backs, and everyone else brought the rectangular bales to the truck to be stacked. They were damp and heavy so I had trouble throwing them up once there was a layer on the truck bed. Jennie, one the the neighbors who had come to help out was amazing. She was able to throw the damp bales up three or more high!

Once I stopped being helpful throwing bales on the truck, I got up on the back and helped Carol stack them. It was so interesting. There's a very specific way to stack them to get them five bales high. Two trucks were able to get all the bales in the field and we stacked them in the shed before heading over to another field to collect bales. The ones in the second field were so light compared to the first field! After we got them on trucks and in a shed everyone went over to the owners hose for some drinks and snacks. Everyone was so nice! New Zealand just keeps blowing me away with kiwi kindness.

It started to rain and get chilly, so everyone went home. Carol made an amazing dinner with some of her homemade bread. It was the best meal I've had in ages!

Before long I was ready for bed. And it was so nice in the huge bed in the spare room!