• Te Araroa Day 56
• Rest day

Sleep ins are a thing of the past… try as I might I don’t seem to be able to these days, but I guess that’s a good thing?! I was surprised to see the sun outside, as the forecast had been not good at all. The race was on to get some washing on the line! There were even some mountain views – Mt Tongariro loomed out the back, and another called Kakaramea I learnt from the map.

Greg asked about my shoes and when I said the tracking indicated they had made it to Tūrangi and offered to pay mileage and time if they were able to give me a lift, he said it was no problem at all to run me in. Phew, things were looking a lot brighter than yesterday!

Donna gave me a ride to Tūrangi, and we got on well chatting about one of the international directors from a North Island school we both knew, as well as the software guy who makes programmes for international departments and accommodation providers. I picked up my new parcel, and in two minutes had the old shoes and a couple of other things ready in a parcel to go the other way. The lake looked beautiful. I had no idea it was Lake Taupo! New World was nearby, and I was happy to pick up some treats for my rest day – milk for copious cups of tea, a danish, and a ‘cruffin’ while Donna did some shopping.

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On the way back Donna mentioned that I should be careful the next morning walking from their place to the Tongariro Crossing car park because there were some dogs that wander. She went on to explain how her teenage son had been attacked by one while out running, and had to be helped by people from a passing car. She thought I’d be ok if I had my walking poles. I wondered what I would do if I wasn’t ok at some early hour, with not much traffic and in the middle of nowhere. I tried not to think about it.

Not wanting to carry too much food over the crossing, and with the weather still looking good for doing it as planned tomorrow, I had a lot of eating to do! I munched away while happily watching cricket documentaries on my phone, before starting some blogging. The weather did turn bad with some rain. About 4pm I went over to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, and was surprised when a kiwi guy bounced in excitedly. He introduced himself as Jamie and was really chatty. When I explained I was walking to Wellington, he said “me too!”. It seemed odd he had come across the Tongariro Crossing that day in the bad weather, and he said it had been rough, mentioned camping and held up dirty hands as evidence. He said he’d come from Taupo, and might pop back across the crossing tomorrow, which all seemed weird for someone on Te Araroa. He’d just acquired a generously sized piece of venison by “swapping a bud” and insisted on sharing it for dinner. “Ummm yea maybe” I said as I scuttled back to my room with the cup of tea. I had really enjoyed the peace and quiet and just wasn’t so keen on the dinner idea. The more I subconsciously mulled it over, the more he seemed a little odd, and I felt a bit unnerved that it now seemed to be just me and this guy staying in the holiday park.

I’d also been thinking about the dog problem. When I asked Jamie if he’d seen any dogs he’d replied “heaps of dogs!”… it seemed like there were now a couple of solid reasons to ask if I could get a ride along the road a bit tomorrow morning, and try to fix the growing knot in my stomach. Luckily Greg knew the shuttle drivers who go past on their way to pick up all the day trippers, and he said they’d be happy to stop and I just need to wait outside at 6:45am tomorrow. I felt like a bit of a wimp and cheater, but couldn’t stop imagining my leg being ripped off by a dog.

Dinner time rolled around and although I hoped he might forget, Jamie came to fetch me – still very excited about cooking his venison. He did most of the talking:

• You eat low waste? Oh cool, I actually have just been eating stuff I find along the way, you know, like goji berries and leaves.
• I’ve secretly climbed a 7000 metre peak in the Himalayas that nobody had summitted before. I went to base camp and did a reccy, and then just snuck back in. (Did you need oxygen?) Nah I didn’t need, I just took the bare minimum stuff, but yea it was pretty hard.
• I didn’t do any tertiary study and left school early. (Ten minutes later…) Don’t freak out but I’m actually New Zealand’s answer to Elon Musk, like I’ve built a rocket that goes faster than the speed of light. (Oh ok, where did you learn about that stuff if you didn’t study?). My Dad was in the UK secret service, and he’s like incredibly smart, it’s all classified and stuff but he taught me everything. People always think I’m crazy, and you probably don’t believe me but yea, it’s true.
• I actually own all these companies that make millions of dollars, but I give it all away to charity. (What kind of companies?) Oh you know, everything…

The venison seemed cooked ok and I dutifully ate some while listening as the things he was saying seemed to get crazier and crazier. He didn’t seem to have anything with him like a plate or cup, so he found a huge mixing bowl to make his coffee sachet up in, and then drink it from. To my relief before dinner I’d noticed another hiker arrive in the dark. He was an older kiwi guy, who’d just done 42 Traverse in one day (the part I took two days to do). He seemed shattered, and didn’t say more than a few words. Still, at least there was now someone else around. He popped up in the kitchen just as Jamie had started to ask what I knew about ‘the aliens’, and I was now struggling to keep a straight face and took the chance to escape back to my room!

Later when the coast appeared clear, I went back to the kitchen to add hot water to a pudding. The old guy was there eating spaghetti from a pot – it looked depressing. I tried to chat, but didn’t get a lot out of him at all. He is planning to do the crossing tomorrow too, and didn’t seem fazed by the possibility of dogs. My favourite part of our conversation was when I asked him why he was doing Te Araroa, and he just dead pan stared back at me. I quickly left him to it, and decided he might be hard of hearing.

I packed up my stuff and got ready for tomorrow morning. At least I had my new shoes, the weather forecast looked good, and I had sorted a ride to hopefully avoid the dogs and put some distance between me and Jamie. A couple of very late campervans had come in too, so a few more people around.