HAVING OURSELVES A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS!

Decorating our camp sport just north of Tongiriro Forest

Te Kuiti was a bit of a turning point for us.  We talked about how we'd been feeling and what we want to do and decided that we were just going to have to go at the trail and go at it hard.  So we packed some stuff in a box to post to Wellington so that our packs were lighter and put a notice on Facebook and our Blogs to say we wouldn't be in touch for a while.  We stuck on our Santa hats and stuck out our thumbs and hitched us a ride back to the bush.

Having now celebrated Christmas a few days early by eating way too much yummy food, we had to come to terms with the fact that the real Christmas day might be a bit of a non event this year.  Over the last few weeks we had tried to guess and plan where we'd be and it was forever changing.  What we didn't realise was that we would actually be lucky enough to reach the Tongariro Crossing on Christmas day, and I couldn't have planned a better way to spend it.

Christmas Morning as we begin the Tongiriro Crossing

The day began windy and wet with some thick, gray clouds that looked like they weren't moving.  We began the walk which was immediately exciting, as being 1000 - 2000 meters high, there was no vegetation up there and we were surrounded by grey, volcanic rock.  We were slipping and sliding our way up the steep mountain on the loose gravel when Shalane called my name behind me.  As I looked back I saw that the clouds had cleared to reveal one of the gorgeous lakes with a towering volcano behind it.  The weather just got better and better and before long the sky was clear blue and we had THE most stunning views of the lakes and craters around us.

 

We decided to take a detour and do the northern circuit and I just felt like I was absorbing everything around me.  To be so high up and walk across a huge plateau that is flattened out in front of you as far as your eyes can see, with snow capped mountains around you was such a buzz.  On Christmas night we arrived at the cosy Outere Hut where me, Shalane and about 8 others chatted and ate in the evening until heading to bed at a normal early hour.  The sunrise and low clouds were a great sight to wake up and walk to the following morning and we walked a full day to Whakapapa Village and then the next day to Whakapapa National Park, the whole two days with the snowy mountains in sight.

Once at the national park we heard the weather for the next day was going to be wet with strong winds so we took a rest day at the national park and pitched our tent in the hostel garden.  The rain was atrocious so we surrendered to a day indoors with a rock climbing wall for entertainment.

The next few days were brilliant.  Partly because DOC are pretty generous when estimating walking times for their trails so we got further each day than we thought and we finished at a decent time so spent the afternoons sunbathing and relaxing or doing yoga.  It was perfect!  New years eve saw us in bed at 8pm and we saw the new year in in our sleep.  However, after a 10 hour walk only taking  us 4 hours the next day we decided to spend the reast of new years day canoeing down the Whanganui river, instead of waiting until the following day.  Part of the trail has us canoeing down the river as the only way to get to the next section as there are no trails or roads in the area.  We had 2 days arranged on the river and they were absolutely beautiful!

The first day we were paddling fairly fast to beat the wind and get to Pipriki.  We'd set off walking at 6am that morning so to still be physically working at 5.30pm was exhausting, but to be working our arms and not our legs felt pretty good.  We did have to share the river with a couple of jet boats and other canoes and kayaks and one complete douchebag who thought we all wanted to see and hear him darting about on his speed boat.  But apart from that the dramatic, lush mountains either side of the gentle flowing Whanganui river was simply picturesque.

Just floating along!

The following day was the best.  It beats them all!  We were on the river at our usual early hour and didn't see a single soul all day.  We watched as the sun came up, we stopped for cups of tea and lunch on the rocks  along the way and sailed down the gentle (and at one point not so gentle) rapids.  The only time we used the paddle was to steer but we mostly sat and soaked up the birds chirping and gentle trickle of water as the smaall streams and waterfalls joined the river and the odd wild pig or goat making extremely random noises in the bush.  The water was dead still and the reflection of those tall, lush mountains looked like a painting.

The amazing Whanganui River

We looked behind us after one of the rapids to see the town we were meant to stop at getting smaller and smaller as we floated away from it and we secretly pleased.  There had been no clear landmarks and by the time we realised there was nothing we could do.  We continued for a few more hours down the river to the next town, taking it in turns to steer while the other laid back and sunbathed.  When we arrived in Matahiwi we borrowed a locals phone to call and tell the hire company we'd gone a bit further than planned, before pitching our tent by the river and having a swim, a relax and some dinner.

The last few days of making good distance, getting further than we had hoped and still fully enjoying our afternoons are exactly what we've been striving for the whole trip and it feels so good.  We did two days of road walking to reach Whanganui and still made it there quicker than we thought we would. 

When we got to Whanganui we were overwhelmed by how gorgeous it was.  Nobody had really talked about it so we had no idea what to expect.  We had a few practical things to do before relaxing and we decided that having not washed our clothes for...cough.....over a month, everything would need to be washed twice.  So we packed ourselves off to a cheap store in town to buy something to wear while all our belongings were having a big soak. There weren't any op shops open so we found a store that sold XXXL T-Shirts (the size being essential as they would need to cover our bums - as I said....EVERYTHING needed washing) and managed to purchase 2 for $18.  I can't tell you how amazing it felt to be putting on a different item of clothing, and one that was clean and I was clean and our clothes were being cleaned!  Oh, happy days.

I've realised that a large percentage of our low point was to do with managing our expectations.  Finding out that we had slightly longer than we thought and reaching trails that took longer than they claimed to due to a lack of maintenance put a dampener on our, already low, motivation levels. That, combined with bad weather, Shalane's illness and things just not going our way made things seem impossible.  Loosing sight of the small day to day goals and looking too far into the future at a goal that is still so far away meant that I lost momentum.

The good news is, it feels so brilliant to have come out the other end of a very low point and during that time I realised that I don't want to give up on this trek in a hurry.  We are officially back in the drivers seat.