Kaimai Clarifications

Hello all!

I want to first start out by saying how grateful I am for my awesome husband who I thoroughly enjoyed being with on the hike and without whom I probably would not have made it through the bush. I am also very thankful that he posted the texty details of the trip, as his writing is much more eloquent than mine. That being said, I think that there is a slight need for a few more pictures and some minor points of clarification.

Point #1: My pack was adjusted and set up just excruciatingly WRONG and I was in absolute agony the first day. If it had not been for Jo helping me to adjust it correctly at Daly's (pronounced day-lee-s) Clearing Hut on Saturday morning, I would not have been able to continue on Saturday.

Point #2: It is exponentially easier to have an emergency altitude adjustment (i.e. fall) while hiking when wearing a 35lb pack then when not wearing one.

Beautiful pasture at the start of the track.
Can you spot the orange triangle we needed to follow?
Scott humoring me by posing.
Pretty sure this is a venomous tentacula.
Picnic table and fire pit at Daly's Clearing Hut (i.e. the place where Scott and I were eaten alive by what I have now diagnosed as chiggers).
So happy to have made it to our first hut!
Our somewhat spread out packs.
A peek into the kitchen area from our room.

Point #3: On Friday night we were able to hear the Morepork or native New Zealand owls, which was really cool.

Point #4: Robbie and the kids caught a possum in a trap Friday night/Saturday morning and skinned it.

Point #5: The dogs we saw on Saturday morning were highly trained wild pig hunters.

On the trail again Saturday morning.
Scott usually led the way. Here he is demonstrating excellent balance retying his boot.
Some of the trails were better kept up than others.
Again, Scott humoring me for a photo.
These may or may not be some of the mountains in the Kaimai Range.

A cute little waterfall.
The big river crossing of Waitawheta River.
How exactly are we supposed to get across?
Bit of a steep incline on the other side.
Good view though.
Kauri trees are very protected, so you can't really get near them.
Trying to give you perspective of the Kauri trees.
We ate lunch here by the hugeungous, 600 yearish old trees.
They were quite tall as well, obviously.
And still huge near the top!
Not all of the treefalls were as easy to traverse as this one.
This is a picture of a wild goat. Honestly!
Scott in a rare clearing.
Had I known exactly how long this leg of the trip was going to take us, I probably would have taken less pictures.

Finally at Ananui Falls. The rock we had to lay on to take photos of the actual falls is middle right.
Looking out instead of down at the falls.
It was during drought conditions actually, so it is difficult to see the small stream of water flowing along the rocks.
Just before I decided to climb down to the rectangular rock in the middle.
Looking straight down from the edge of the rectangular rock. 106 meters straight down to a very shallow pool.
Scott takes his turn to see the falls.
I actually crawled back.
One of the warning signs.
One of the few pictures after Ananui Falls, but before Waitawheta Hut as there wasn't much time or particular caring at that point. Here Scott is refilling one of our water bottles from a stream using our water filter/pump. It worked, but was difficult to operate and slow. Thank goodness we had it though!
This is the view from the bridge just before Waitawheta Hut.
Thank goodness for the bridge!
As you can see, this part of the river is pretty much a gorge.
Waitawheta Hut was described to us as the "Hilton" of huts by Robby and Jo. It boasted 2 composting toilets and was manned by a ranger.
We shared our room with three other trampers. We took the top bunk.
The second bedroom where 4 others slept Saturday night.
The wood stove we should have dried out our boots next to and the kitchen area.
The eating area and some of our fellow trampers.
Sinks with potable water and the back door.
Out the back door was a sink for washing up after using the toilets.
Water and propane? tanks also out back.
View from the front porch mid-morning.
Two other trampers arrived during the night and elected to sleep out on the porch.
As this used to be a huge Kauri logging area, there were logging artifacts lying all over the place.
The porch was very large.
This hut even had its own grill and a picnic table not in the chiggery grass.
Abrasion on my left knee.
Abrasion on my right shin.

Point #6: I do not think that Scott made it abundantly clear that on Saturday we hiked in very rough terrain for TWELVE HOURS! During the last 3 hours, I honestly didn't think that I would be able to physically make it to Whaitawheta Hut and had a spectacular sliding fall several feet down a woodland slope and almost called it quits then.

The next morning I wanted to do a quick warm up hike without packs around a 5 minute logging loop track near the hut.
Scott was less than enthused about this idea and here is the stream where we argued and I went on alone and Scott went back to the hut. I thought that the loop was only going to take 5 minutes, but apparently I was very wrong and it was 5 minutes to get to the loop which probably took me 25 minutes. It was terrible even without a pack. The trail was overgrown and very poorly marked. I lost my way several times and kept waiting to hear Scott and the ranger calling for me. I made it out running just as Scott was getting ready to come look for me. Not a good call on my part. Fortunately Scott is a very understanding man and didn't kill me for being such an idiot.
The trail out on Sunday was much, much nicer.
But not without some peril. Hard to tell by the picture but there is quite the chasm here.
There were more bridges.
Yay?
We followed the river the entire way.
It was very lovely.
There was even a midway toilet stop.
But there were many river crossings and we actually got lapped by an elderly couple who went to Waitawheta Hut for lunch and then beat us back to the carpark.
Of course, they hadn't hiked 12 hours yesterday and weren't carrying 35lb packs...grumble.
Wanted to get shots of a full river crossing here.
I think that this is one of the few times that we both managed to keep our feet fairly dry. I did have an unexpected desire to sit down (i.e. fall) as I recall, but only after I had made it to the dry rocks on the other side.
Feet not as dry here.
Beautiful part of the river with large boulders.
Artistic shot of perfect rain spheres on the grass taken during lunch.
View from a bridge.
Other side.
Did we mention that some of the trees were huge?
The first suspension bridge.
Scott went first of course.
View right.
View left.
Me crossing the second suspension bridge.
More river crossings!
This is what the tramline was used for. Hauling out enormous Kauri logs.
View from third suspension bridge.
On our way out of the forest.
Oops, we realized that we forgot to take one of our signature pictures of the both of us.
Getting into lovely pasture again.
Possum skin hanging from a barbed wire fence.
One more of the both of us.
Just so pretty!
On the way home we had to drive through Paeroa, home of L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) pop. If you've never tried it, it is reminiscent of sweet hand sanitizer. The kiwis love it!
Chigger bites.

Bruises and an abrasion on my left leg that I didn't even notice until Monday. I also have a wicked blister on my right big toe.

I'm already working on planning our next tramp. Yep, Scott was right. We are insane!