“When the day that lies ahead of me, seems impossible to face. When someone else instead of me, always seems to know the way. Then I look at you and the world’s alright with me. Just one look at you. And I know it’s going to be a lovely day.” (Bill Withers/ Skip Scarborough – Lovely Day) If the Timber Trail was likened to a … Continue reading A lovely day

Te Kuiti 872km to Taumaranui 1032km (day 54-59) We are much more comfortable making this trail work for us, so decided to avoid a knarley and then long roadwalk section out of Te Kuiti, and got a ride directly to the start of the Timber Trail, in Pureroa Forest. Val was our driver, and she was a local, and knew every inch of the countryside … Continue reading Tall timber

“When your day is long. And the night, the night is yours alone. When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this hike. Well hang on. Don’t let yourself go, ’cause everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes.” (REM – Everybody Hurts) As camping grounds go, this was a doozy. “Camp in the beer garden of a pub” they said, and who was I to argue. And … Continue reading Everybody hurts

Mercer 678km to Huntly 720km (day 41-43) After a lovely break with friends in Auckland, and before a long weekend in Wellington for a family gathering, we squeezed in two days at the beginning of the Waikato section of the trail. On paper a great idea. We started with the public transport adventure, which we have done so often in our overseas travels. Waiting for … Continue reading Waikato teaser