Start – Waitewaewae Hut
Finish – Parawai Lodge
Daily Distance – 9.5 km
TA Distance – 1617 km
Another short day of only 5.5 hours walking. I did toy with the idea of attempting the walk to Waikanae
(the next town) today, but it would add another 25km to the day and my ankle is feeling a little sore, so
I’ve had an afternoon of rest instead.
To be honest, I was feeling pretty negative throughout this morning. I’m frustrated that the Tararuas
contain a lot of great alpine walking, but the TA route avoids almost all of it. This led to the creation of
the acronym JAFBW (Just Another Flaming Bush Walk) to keep me amused/sane this morning. In
retrospect I wish I had planned my own itinerary for this section and undertaken the southern ridge
traverse instead. It’s higher and more weather dependent, but at least there may be something to see rather
than the same bush that I have seen 100 times before. Some of the negativity undoubtedly stems from
slipping on a wet rock early in the walk, tweaking my ankle on the landing and snapping a hiking pole
when I fell onto it. Having said all of that, as bush walks go the track was actually better than most I’ve
seen. I was however, very glad to pop out onto an old logging railway with 3km to go. The fragments of
leftover track added some interest to the day and the chance to walk at a decent pace was greatly
appreciated too.
Having arrived at 13:00 I have spent the afternoon sunning myself on the hut porch, catching up on the
last of my outstanding blogging and talking to the random folk who happened to wander down the path to
see what was here. Bill, Anthi and Nathan from Melbourne arrived a few hours later, so we have happily
reminised about Mr TotT from last night’s hut, shared reflections on the TA so far and eaten lavishly
secure in the knowledge that town is only 1 more walk away.
