Waiouru to Desert Road (18.87 miles/30.38 kms)

What a crazy day as the weather and terrain was all over the place.

I left this morning around 8:00, after saying goodbye to Ross and thanking him for the great tour and information he gave me yesterday.

I had expected cold weather and I put on another wool t-shirt under my normal wool top, and also put on light wool gloves. I had also put on a shirt for a windbreaker. As I stepped outside the 33 degree temperature hit me and I wondered if I had dressed warm enough?

I walked down the street And passed the house where I had knocked on the door yesterday. I had seen a corgi sign on the fence and I figured they were corgi lovers like me. Having had two, I thought I’d say hello and talk corgis. Who would do something strange like that? Me! The friendly couple invited me in and showed me their three corgis. Two Pembrokes and one Cardigan. All were show dogs, one a champion and the other a pup, Benny, three months old, that they hoped would be a champion. I forgot to mention this in yesterday’s blog, but it was nice to see the dogs and talk corgis as it was part of my trek!

Once I started walking the sun peaked out and I felt overheated. I took off my hood and gloves, and zipped open my shirt. That overheated feeling only lasted about ten minutes until the sun disappeared and never really came back out until the end of the day. I put every thing back on but it seemed to get colder and I felt a little chilled as I began to sweat.

The road was never really flat, though it looked like because the long straight stretches, but it was uphill from the time I started until I stopped at the end of the day. As the road climbed in elevation the temperature got even colder. I stopped and stripped down to my underwear and put on my long wool underwear. There are no trees in this stretch of desert and I really didn’t care who saw me because I was cold.

I started back up and felt much better. Even though my legs didn’t feel very cold it made a difference how my energy level increased because my body wasn’t burning calories just to keep warm.

No more than one hour later, blacker clouds started rolling in and the cars coming at me had their windshield wipers on. By the time I covered the Wheelie and got my rain gear on it had already started to rain. I wanted to show those weather forecasters one of the bigger fingers on my hand.

I felt so chilled that I put on my wool beanie, a baseball cap, wool hoodie, and then the hood of my rain jacket. I had on my my wool bottoms, regular pants, and then rain pants. Once I got into a good rhythm I warmed up a bit.

The road was a steady uphill, and then one long steep climb. After that it fluctuated between steady uphills and rolling hills. I would definitely say the desert road is not flat.

At one point when it was raining, and I was cold, I thought of stopping and setting up camp. Unfortunately, I was still in the military area and there were warning signs all along the road advising people to stay on the road. By the time I got to the Tongario National Park boundary the sun broke through a little and it warmed up enough that I was comfortable.

About five miles from town a truck stopped in front of me. The man got out and opened a hatch and a big flock of pigeons flew out. He then went to the other side and did the same thing. Turns out he was releasing the homing pigeons for three different pigeon clubs. They all were going back to different cities. He was driving a little further south and releasing more. He said that most of the birds make it back safely, but the further away the less chance they will make it back safely because there are predatory birds. He also told me about some of the bird species that aren’t native to New Zealand, including the magpies I see everywhere. Ok, a bit of trivia but something you wouldn’t see driving down the road at 100 kph.

I had not really looked at my watch most of the day because I was so bundled up, but around 4:00 I decided to look for a place to camp. There are no trees and everything looks brown, but for once there were many places to camp but I wanted someplace with a wind break. I saw a dirt road next to the Mangatoetoenua Stream and followed it down. It wasn’t very long and ended at a stacks of old wood beehives. I found a nice level spot that is protected by tall bushes, and it is right next to the stream and I can hear it.

I set up the tent quickly as I bundled up with some clean warm clothes and crawl into my sleeping bag. I ended up cooking and eating my dinner, and brushing my teeth, while in my bag. It’s early enough that I’ll get a chance to read my book, and I’ll have my gloves on to hold my iPad.

Tomorrow morning I know will be cold as it’s already in the thirties. I hope to make Turangi tomorrow as it’s about twenty miles away. I was told it’s mostly downhill at some point, so I will take that as a positive to get me out of my warm sleeping bag in the morning.

Best wishes to all,

Ted

Please excuse the typos, spelling, grammar, etc., as I am typing this on my phone, and I am probably pretty tired.

Looking back at the desert

Benny the Pembroke corgi. He still has his tail because it’s illegal to dock in NZ