Te Araroa Trail – Part 16 – The Adventures of Tiny

TE KUITI – HAMILTON

Section Distance = 123 km

Total Distance = 2149 km

This section started with a nice short day on a “less than ideal” track but got me into Waitomo with enough time to do an afternoon glowworm tour!

The town was named after the location in which the stream enters the cave system (Wai = water + Tomo = to enter) and despite the cyclone last week causing extensive flooding and washing away lots of the lower glow worms there were still thousands to see.

Floating on a subterranean stream admiring the constellations of the caves was certainly a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

Pitched my tent at the Top 10 Holiday Park and had a huge dinner (I think I rolled back to my tent lol) at the Tomo bar and eatery.

The next day started with a steady uphill climb on roads and through bush/forest before following a farm fence to a grass airfield. While the second half of the day was a much more pleasant downhill sidle back through the forest to Kaimango rd.

Pitched the tent with some lovely trail angels that evening!

Pirongia forest is stunning!!! After hiking up the Hihikiwi Track to Pahautea Hut and Mt Pirongia Summit (959m) I continued down the other side on the Tahuanui Track to Kaniwhaniwha Campsite 😍

I will have to go back and stay at the hut one day but the campsite was beautiful! Right besides the stream, surrounded by nikau palms and even had toilets, bins and picnic tables… what more could I ask for! 🏕🌴

I was treated to a cloudless night and managed to stay awake past hiker bed time to lay in my tent and stargaze…

The cloudless night turned into a hot cloudless day and after a steep sweaty slog across rolling farmland and a baking roadwalk I made it to Whatawhata.

Highlights of the day included picking finally ripe blackberries straight from the bush along the trail and singing along to some country tunes to pass the roadwalk…I think I scared some sheep 🐑 😅

The final stretch to Hamilton was more farmland and roads but gave me time to drop my pack off at the backpackers and slack pack another 11km along the cycle trail (I’m going to thank myself for this tomorrow…)