TA Day 79

TA Day 79: Friday 7 March 2025

Pipiriki - Raetihi (Raetihi Holiday Park)

When Kim came crawling to the kitchen, Lukas was already sitting there with a coffee he'd bought for breakfast.

Today we left the Te Araroa Trail completely as most people walk SOBO, and paddle down the river. It is possible to hike on a trail alongside the river, but it only starts a bit up stream, which means that you need to jet boat up there before you can start. We don't want to jet boat, but want to hike in a continuous line, and we also don't want to jet boat up and canoe down, so that's why we decided to walk to Raetihi. Also, it's to save time as we will soon meet up with Kim's parents who will come all the way here to New Zealand, so we need to time that.

The road was similar to the two previous days, and not a lot of traffic which was nice. After a few km we met a lonely cute pig eating away at the bushes along the side of the road. No fences, no houses, no nothing around, so we suppose it was wild? It was a small pig, more like a mini pig that a normal one, and she didn't care about us at all. So we took some photos of her before we continued.

After some time of zig-zagging, suddenly we turned around a sharp turn in the road and wooaaah. Mount Ruapehu appeared in front of us in the distance. What a view!

We reached Raetihi, and was surprised to see such a place. Looked very abandoned, like some of the houses had once been pretty but now all was old, worn and dirty. A sad sight. There was even a man living just beside the door to Four Square, right on the main street...

After grocery shopping, we went to the holiday park. Kiyo, Lulu and Jules where supposed to be staying here too. Lukas shared a beer with Jules and all of us had dinner together. In the evening we also shared some popcorn. Maybe the last time we see each other as we plan to go different ways tomorrow.

Today's:

Distance: 27.38 km

Ascent: 728 m

Descent: 316 m

Tent nights: 46/79

Weather: Misty morning, then sunny