Day 38 - Taurmaruni

I slept in longer than anticipated. I rarely set an alarm clock so I guess I needed the extra sleep after 50km. Close to 8:00am hiking start. Today we finish the Timber Trail and make our way to the town of Taurmaruni. 

An old railway tunnel. 

It was good to finish the timber trail. The constant unchanging pathway got a bit dull. It did offer some good views and seclusion however. 

I needed to get into Taurmaruni early today to do some shopping and checkin into the canoe hire place. So I ended up hitching into town, an unfortunate affair but it had to be done. Maccas for lunch at least! 

A Moa sculpture, one the largest birds to ever exist. Dwarfing its ostrich cousin. They used to be abundant in NZ until humans migrated here 700 years ago and hunted them to extinction quickly and efficiently, before even Europeans made landfall. 

As a part of Te Araroa ‘trail’ there’s a large canoe section 4-6 days long. It’s a unique thing for a thru hike to include a river section, and the Whanganui river is perfectly placed for the TA. I’ll be leaving on the 24th and spending Christmas on the water. Booking the canoe has proved to be very difficult. All of the local Kiwis have time off and can do it, all the international travellers want to do it, and the walkers need to do as a part of the trail. The river has been closed for most of the spring and summer so far because of high water levels. So everyone is trying to get it done while they can, making booking for limited spots hectic. Normally we would head into the week long tongariro crossing hiking section before the canoe section, but we are forced to do the canoeing first and then come back to the crossing after. 

So bright tomorrow morning I’ll be hitting the water for a while. Looking forward to the change of pace, and no effort on the legs.