I started the day watching a beautiful sunrise from the comfort of my hotel room. Today I hiked the Tupapakurua Falls Trail. On my walk to the trailhead, I passed the National Park volunteer fire brigade station where there was a large sign thanking the employers of the volunteer firefighters – nice!
The trail started after a 2 1/2 km walk on a 4WD road. Next to the trailhead sign was a notice about feral goats, when I looked closer I saw the sign was a warning to be aware that there were hunters out culling the feral goats! There was also a notice indicating the trail was a kiwi zone and that dogs were allowed by permit only. At the start of the trail there were buckets half filled with gravel and a sign asking hikers to take a bucket or two to drop off at one of nine staging depots along the trail. As I got further down the trail, I understood the importance of the gravel, especially in the steep bits that didn’t get much sunlight, and were very muddy.
The hike to the waterfall was just gorgeous, but pretty challenging as the last hour and a half of the hike was pretty much on a goat track. The volunteers are working on trail improvements – adding the gravel, putting in staircases – but it definitely was not a groomed trail! I crossed three streams during the hike, one crossing, entailed, walking on logs, laid across as a makeshift bridge. I did not have hiking poles with me, and was quite nervous going across, but I made it, and was very proud of myself.
This was another forest that was very lush, I felt like I had gone back to prehistoric times. The mud, roots and steepness of the trail made for slow going.
I finally arrived at the waterfall viewpoint, and was rewarded for my efforts. It was stunning! I sat to enjoy the view and the sound of birds and dripping leaves (it had rained for about 45 minutes during the hike). After about five minutes, clouds and fog began to move in, and within 10 minutes of the time I arrived at the viewpoint, the falls were completely obscured. If I hadn’t seen the falls with my own eyes, I would have never known they were there. After another 10 minutes the clouds shifted again and the falls reappeared. What a cool show!
About a half an hour after I got back to my hotel room it started to rain, lightly at first, then soon it poured down complete with thunder and lightning! I was very grateful to be where it was dry and warm. I passed a lovely afternoon reading, sipping coffee, and watching the weather change outside my window. As the rain stopped, a few rainbows appeared in the distance.
Because I was back in the afternoon, I was able to participate in the weekly family zoom call, something I haven’t been able to do for the last month. It was wonderful to catch up with my mom and some of my sisters, especially right before Christmas.
I caught the tail end of the news tonight, a piece about a New Zealand teenager who just broke the world record for shearing sheep. He sheared 746 sheep in eight hours! Now it is bedtime, I am getting up early tomorrow morning to catch the shuttle to Whakapapa Village where I have a few more hikes planned. Fingers crossed the weather stays as nice as they are predicting.
