• Te Araroa Day 42
• Hamilton to Whatawhata – 16 km in 4 hours
• Today’s legends: Steve, Anita & Paul

Uber had been really useful for getting around Hamilton, and this morning’s driver was an interesting fellow. He was part Ainu, and spoke 4 languages. He explained there are descendants from a few Ainu whalers in the North Island, which I had no idea about.

Steve the massage therapist from Healthy Ventures was such a lovely man. He was keen to hear all about my journey, how the body had been coping and what he could help with. We talked athletics and after hearing all about the masters competitions he competes in I was already enthusiastically imagining my athletics comeback 😅 Steve was an expert at tricks to get tight muscles to release and helped me to breathe through a few parts! Steve’s wife Heather was wonderful in arranging the appointment, and sent me such a heart warming message wishing me well on my journey. I hope I can come back to Hamilton and catch up with them again.

Back in the CBD where I left off, I dropped off some soft plastics for recycling that I’d been carrying around for weeks. Bivouac Outdoors kindly took my almost empty gas canister, so I could stop carrying two as I’d bought a new one in Auckland. The Jetboil cooker has been amazingly efficient and it was the small canister I’d started Te Araroa with! I had some Japanese for lunch and finally got going on my way to Whatawhata.

In the outer suburbs was the first official Te Araroa sign of the day indicating to turn left. I realised after a few hundred metres that the sign had been twisted because it wasn’t the right road, although it headed in the same direction. Obviously I was meant to go this way and find a street named after my little sister though!

Not long afterwards I crested a hill to get my first real glimpse of Mt Pirongia where the trail will take me in a few days. It was a very clear but quite hot afternoon. My favourite part was a twenty minute walk through Taitua Arboretum – a place where the owners started planting trees in 1973 and continued on until gifting it all to the people of Hamilton in 1997! It was a lovely oasis in the middle of farmland.

Next the trail cut across some farmland, and I could see deer and had heard about long grass so felt relieved it would be cattle free. I came across someone mowing the long grass, thinking it would be the land owner. It was actually Barry, a local who knew long grass wasn’t nice to walk through so had decided to take matters into his own hands! He’s hoping to do Te Araroa next season. Through chatting I learned Barry was the good Samaritan who saved hiker Karen, who got herself trapped between two enthusiastic herds of cows not far from here. She bravely posted on the TA Facebook group, and duly got a mixture of comments but Barry drove out to walk with her. What a legend!

A few paddocks later it was definitely not a deer farm anymore, and I began thinking it would be ironic if I had to go back and ask Barry for help… Sure enough a few minutes later my luck ran out and there was a paddock full of cows 😅 They weren’t so bad, but it was just really high density. I figured something out, and made it to the end of the section.

Then it was quiet road, quiet road, and busy road to finish. After I’d done my bridge sprint for the day, feeling very nervous about the big trucks, there was this sign about 100 metres from Whatawhata..

I stopped in at the pub which is very supportive of hikers, where there were three highlights! Firstly the loaded wedges really hit the spot. Secondly there was a north bound woman called Rae who was a bit younger than me. She started in Bluff with no tramping experience at all, and basically said “don’t worry you’ll be fine” so that was cool! Pretty much just what I needed to hear. Thirdly, there was a group at the pub with their renovated Ghostbusters mobile 😂

Although the pub welcomes hikers to stay in the garden bar for free, I felt I might be happier with the friendly local family listed. I got to their place about 6, and gosh what a lovely family! Paul & Anita said I didn’t have to pitch my tent and could just sleep on a foam mattress in the lounge. I had a hot shower, a cup of tea, a comfy couch to chill out on, and we chatted the evening away. As the north bound hiker said, these kind of experiences restore your faith in humanity, and that’s really true. I think I’ve also realised that it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet and learn about the lives of such a wide variety of people.