Te Araroa – Part Two

On the Timber Trail to #10 Camp

It was a VERY cold start to the morning.  Frost, an icy blanket across the ground.  Frozen zippers on the tent.  Frosty breath as we pack our tents, fingers numb. 

A longer hike today.  We have been averaging around 22km, but today, that will spike to 27km.  Luckily for us, much of it will be downhill. 

It turns out to be a great day of hiking.  The sun is glorious, the trail varied and interesting.  We go through old and new growth forests; deeply cut crevices that are markedly cooler and full of fern life; swinging suspension bridges; and, the historical remnants of the timber milling past.  The only difficulty is dodging the many bike riders that come flying through!

Eventually, we arrive at camp which consists of a small patch of grass, a three sided shelter, rather fancy long drop toilet (which has both toilet paper and deodoriser inside!) and a sign which says “water collection point”.

We go to the water collection point and stare.  It is stagnant.  The water clearish…but not moving.  Insects buzzing around in and on the water, and mossy algae growing off the submerged sticks.  You can almost taste the sickness, just looking at it. 

We decide to go for a walk and see if we can find something fresher.  Not far from camp, success! A rapidly running waterfall.  The only problem, a tricky little platform to fill the bottles from.  Aubs is game.  We grab all the water carrying vessels we have and head back to the stream. 

Things are going well.  A couple of bottles are full.  When suddenly….snap! The tiny, dead stalk of a stick that Aubs has been holding for balance breaks…and down Aubs goes into the water.  He’s wearing his warm weather gear, thermal pants and socks, and he is oh so stoic about this sudden proliferation of water. Brave trooper that he is, he continues to fill the containers until there is nothing more to fill.  

Over the course of the afternoon, I had mentioned to Aubs that I thought the cut out crevices might be perfect for glow worms.  Imagine my excitement, when on my traditional wind down walk I came across a sign, not far from camp that said “Flash Maggots” with a description of glow worm ecology. You can’t miss that opportunity.

We sat up late, pacing and waiting until 8pm, before venturing out, torches in hand.  We reached the cutting and tentatively stepped in.  “There!” A brightly glowing speck.  “And there!” Another one.  We reach the end of the cutting and decide to wait another 15 minutes, knowing it would be really dark by then. 

So magical.  The whole cutting was lit up.  Little sparklers everywhere.  The moon was high above and shining directly into the crevice making intricate light patterns on the rock.  We slowly did two laps of the crevice, our own private, extraordinary show.  It doesn’t get much better than this.