the real kiwi experience

The wind was fierce. I sat on the ledge of the rock gripping the bolted chain in one hand and praying for a break in the wind.

I had been dreading this moment all night long.

Speedwalkers with no packs on must of timed out the routes on the DOC trails here in New Zealand. We got to the upper car park of the Pirongia Forest Park (part II - Mt. Karioi was in a smaller area of the Pirongia Forest Park). Our eyes were set on the prize - Mt. Pirongia. Today would be our first track with full packs on. We still don't know how much they weigh, but they are much easier to handle then previous attempts.

We tried to find the lodge warden before setting up the trail, only to lock up our extra luggage in a safe place before leaving our car for the night (car theft is RAMPANT in New Zealand - never a good idea to leave your items inside the car, especially in DOC parking lots where people expect you to be gone for a few nights). She was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Brent and I were able to speak to two DOC workers taking a lunch break nearby.

We were the only people around. Mt. Karioi was the same. Not a sole around, its not the busy tramping season yet.

The DOC people offered us some information about the treck. Information that we would only later on understand once we reached the summit of the first mountain. It was almost 1pm. The trail information states that the first peak would take 2hrs, the second an additional 30mins, and Mt. Pirongia 1.5 hrs on top of that.

Who times these things?

We got our bags ready, locked up the remainder of our things in the trunk and were off by 1.30pm. We had at least 4 hours of daylight before the sun would set behind the mountain chain. There is a DOC hut near the summit that we will camp at tonight, with running water, so we decided to only bring two water bottles full of H2O. Brent asked if we should bring our tent. I said we should, only on account of a possible theft situation. So we did. Probably the best decision we made that day.

It seemed like such an easy treck. Thank goodness - cause it was tiring with our bags. Our trecking poles helped out a lot. Two hours into the treck, you start to realize you don't even notice the weight anymore. At that point we were also just anxious to reach the first summit.

Two and a half hours in, a clearing. A peak perhaps? Nobody would know, there is no indication.

We didn't use our GPS on this track as we didn't have a topographic map of the area. We didn't have any information to put into our GPS. We relied solely on the small pamphlet that shows a rough sketch of the Pirongia Forest Park and the orange trail markers that mark the route.

At certain points, they are life savers.

It was getting darker. When you get deeper into the forest, the umbrella ferns cast only shadow on the trails. The path was rougher, steeper, more of a rock/tree root climbing experience then anything. One at a time we trudged up a hill, then passed up the poles and the next would attempt the climb. The route was deceiving. It started off steady, then forced steep climbs. No information pamphlet tells you this stuff.

I've got to say - best thigh master in the world. Carrying about 30lbs on your back and climbing up these steep embankments. :)

Then there was THAT tree. We reached a point in the route, very close to sunset, where everything ended. There were no trail markers anywhere. We were getting nervous. At least an hour from the last clearing. Probably only 30mins left of daylight. I took off my pack and started to push through the bush areas in three directions to try and find any indication of a marked trail. I felt so much lighter without my bag, so I quickly climbed up and down different obstacles.

You've got to be kidding me.

A tree growing off the side of the mountain, barely allowing a safe passageway for any human to climb onto and over a large drop off area (don't let go of your bag or its gone for good) to the next part of the path is our only way up. A stupid orange arrow is on the other side.

So we passed our bags up one at a time and each climbed up to the next part of the trail.

We're wasting time. The sun is gone now. Only evening light is guiding us now.

We quickly put our packs back on (which, I must inform you, does take a bit of time - there is a science behind these packs) and rushed up the route.

Rocks. Everywhere.

We must be near the summit. I turned a corner, climbed up a few more stones and met my ultimate nightmare.

A chain bolted into the rocks. A guide to help climbers up the steep rock climb. Not a friendly rock climb I might add.

We're hungry at this point. Dehydrated (because we didn't want to stop anymore - we had to make the summit by nightfall). Tired as crap (the bags are heavy). I just cried.

I HATE heights. I love being up in the mountains and would climb any cliff at any time, but the moment you add a trust in a human contraption, I'm toast. I don't like bridges so much, I don't like look outs that you walk onto (like at Bridel Veil falls). I trust things if it's natural. But at that moment, I didn't want to trust a bolted down chain.

We're back heavy. Our centre of balance is not the same. And now we have no choice but to climb up to reach the summit and get to the hut for the night.

It was a steep climb at points. Worse, the rocks jet outward and made climbing up with a pack daunting at times. You had to swing out in certain places, so that your pack would clear a rock. I think I cried the whole way up. I hated every moment of it. But Brent was amazing just making sure I was encouraged enough to keep going.

There's one thing about me that is strange. No matter how scared I am of a situation, I will push through if I have to. And I won't think anything of it. I had to push everything that we were living out of my mind. If you slipped and fell or let go of the chain, you were falling down a sheer rock cliff below the path. A part of the mountain we didn't have to climb up. A drop we didn't want to experience.

At the top of the bolted chain path, was a sign. The summit.

Wharauroa. 820m above sea level.

This can't be happening.

Brent makes it up the cliff. He doesn't really understand what's going on. I'm worried. He quickly checks the map.

It's only the first summit. The walk that should have taken 2hrs, has taken us 4hrs. We thought we were walking at a decent pace.

I scurry down another part of the trail and find another sign.

Grey Road Carpark --> 2-3 hrs
<-- Mt Pirongia 2-3 hrs

We didn't make it. We have at least another 2-3 hrs to the hut. The sun is gone.

We kept walking. We didn't make it far. It was dark now, very dark. I leapt down one steep embarkment. That's when Brent got stuck. He cleared a ledge, but his pack didn't. What were we doing? A completely delirious decision - to keep walking. This track wasn't an easy walk up in the summit area. It was steep both up and down, it was rocky and it required a lot of climbing. You couldn't do this in the dark.

We went back to the carpark sign. And did the only thing we could. Set up our tent and wait out the night. We heard that the weather would be bad the next day. We were worried.

Worse, we now had to ration our water. We had only finished one bottle of water, so we decided to keep the other bottle for the climb down. The hut had running water, so we thought we would be okay. (it's not until later in the night that we both thought about collecting rain water, but neither of us acted on the idea unfortunately) Because we were rationing our water, we also didn't have dinner that night. It's a 'just add water' backcountry meal - but it was better to save the water for drinking.

We prayed for the weather to hold out as we set up our tent area. A safe little crevice near a sign that was far from the cliff and the trail heads. All trails lead downward. There was little room to set up a tent on flat ground. Our tent was larger then the crevice we found - but made do with what we could. It was the safest spot.

I didn't sleep very much that night. The wind was violent. Especially on the summit. The rain battered down on our tent so hard. I thought the fly would be blown away. I prayed all night long that the weather would break in the morning. Just enough to get back down that cliff.

The wind never let up. But the rain did break for a few hours that morning. I just wanted to go.

We packed up our stuff and tore down camp as quickly as possible. Everything was wet and muddy. The trail is very muddy, only to get worse today after the night rain.

My knees were shaking. I didn't want to go back down that trail. Climbing up the cliff was one thing, but climbing back down is completely different. But silly Brent dropped a glove the day before, and we had to go on a rescue mission to find it. Otherwise we could have gone down an alternate path and somehow found a way back to our car once we got on the ground. My fear of climbing the rock cliff made me very mad at Brent. It was his fault I had to do this again. Stupid glove.

It took us a while to climb down the cliff side. We took a break every time the wind started to beat down on us. It was a violent wind. The view was spectacular. The breaks weren't wasted on worrying about the climb down. I just sat and enjoyed the view. Mind you, I didn't let go of the chain. :)

Once we got past the cliff (yay!!) and that darn tree/drop area, we just booted it back to the car. It felt quicker going back. All you could hear was the wind rushing by the tops of the trees and a few creeking tree trunks and birds. It was quiet and peaceful. And nobody was around. Just us. We took a few moments to appreciate how beautiful it truly was. The sun breaking through the tree tops, glistening in the silver ferns, the rain dripping off the leaves.

Rain doesn't phase us anymore. You just know you're going to be wet all the time. I don't wear my hood when we're climbing the trails. I'd rather have my peripheral vision. Brent keeps praising his jacket. His first time speaking to someone at MEC about Goretex coats, we ended up with a salesman who was addament about him buying a lower grade coat. "You don't need goretex" the sales guy said. We didn't listen to him. We were there to buy the higher end jacket - because we needed them. Brent's happy he never listened to that guy. :) We're dry every day.

A rock face bit my coat a little bit on the climb down the cliff. That sucked, but it's goretex that leads into a pocket. No great loss.

We were so happy to see Sir Huntington III. We cleaned off our muddy boots and gaiters, and were on our way.

We are now in Waitomo. Staying at the Rap, Raft & Rock backpackers lodge. We're in a dorm style room, paying as a double - so we have two extra beds that are currently housing our wet tent and clothes. :) We're airing them all out as we speak.

Today, a caving adventure. I have a feeling it will just be Brent and myself on the adventure. Should be a lot of fun. Our muscles are soar. We're going to be tramping pros by the end of this trip.

Next stop, Pureora Forst Park and a 4 day treck - this time IN HUTS!!! :)

Love to everyone. And super BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR PRAYERS. They have definitely been felt and are keeping us going!!

xo