Start – Wellington
Finish – Te Matawai Hut
Daily Distance – 18 km
TA Distance – 1587 km
Today I left Wellington, climbed up into the Tararua ranges and still found time to startle a sleeping pug.
09:00 saw me arriving in the town of Levin, pronounced Lavein for some peculiar Kiwi reason. Then
again, some Kiwis evidently seem to believe that my name is Bean, so they can be a funny bunch.
Succumbing almost immediately to the lure of a New World scone and litre of milk I hardly got off to the
quickest of starts, but the day was sunny and being back on the trail had me in a holiday mood. Suitably
well fed I popped over to the iSite tourist information offices to refill my water bottles, only to be stymied
by them not opening until 10:00. With 15 minutes, or 2 1/3 scones at my current rate of consumption, to
wait I fell into conversation with some locals who were using the postbox next door. They were very
interested in the trail and what I’m doing, enough that I was offered a tour around town by Alan, an
elderly Welshman and ex-pat of some 40 years. It was interesting to hear the history of the town, its lake
and cattle yards. On a personal history note, Alan ended up in New Zealand having seen a poster on the
London underground advertising £10 emmigration to Australia and free emmigration to New Zealand.
Not having £10 to spare he ended up in New Zealand. Anyway, back to the present day, I was fortunate to
end my tour at the Makahika Outdoor Centre, which was supposed to be my end point for the night. With
this unexpected boon I was forced to change my plans and head into the Tararuas a day early. Not before
checking the notoriously unpredictable weather forecast with the outdoor centre, polishing off 2 lemon
cakes and a cup of coffee mind. Anything else would have been irresponsible. Talking of irresponsible,
and I lay the blame for this rash act entirely at the door of the unaccustomed quantity of vitamin C
coursing through my veins by way of the lemon cakes, I felt compelled to try and sneak up on the pair of
dogs sleeping on the lawn for an adorable photo. My stealthy advance was detected almost immediately
by the mongrel. She briefly toyed with turning a baleful eye on me, before downgrading my importance
to only being worthy of a disdainful eye, before promptly going back to sleep. Fortunately, pugs are made
of dopier stuff and my approach sufficiently ninja-like that I was able to creep close enough to hear its
tiny doggy snores before snapping an exceedingly cute photo. Unfortunately, having neglected to silence
the shutter sound, my second photo became a pug making a prodigious leap in the air that seemed to defy
all natural laws except those relating to comedic effect. Having apologised to my puggy friend, while
shamefully still chortling slightly, it was really time to be off.
Accompanied by a young Kiwi lady by the name of Georgia, who amusingly gets mistaken as being
English even by Kiwis, we set about tackling the 750 metres vertical ascent up to Te Matawai hut. The
track was, and this is a rare statement of praise, an enjoyable bush walk. This could be because we went
off route at the recommendation of the outdoor centre and took the lesser used Gable End track, but I
really couldn’t say. At any rate, after several hours of unrelenting ascent we arrived tired and sweaty at the
hut. I was briefly worried that the hut was full as there were plenty of people already resident for the
night, but fortunately after some shuffling and tidying room was found for 2 more tired bodies. A late
19:30 finish, but the weather was lovely and the track far nicer than I had anticipated.
