The room I stayed last night was so comfy that I went to bed late
(at 23:00). Got up at 6:00, and started at 7:45 which was a bit late start than
usual. Just passed Waitomo and got to the trail going through a farmland. When
I was reading a topomap to check the route at the entrance, an old lady passing
through by a car said to me "Wow, you're a keen man!".
Ground of the
farmland was totally muddy due to the rain in the past a couple of days
and said to myself
"Yeah, I'm a keen man indeed!". When I was bashing through heavily
overgrown gorse bush, it reminded me the trail along the Waikato river that a
local man Terry helped me 6 days ago - then my left forefinger that festered by
gorse thorn on that day throbbed. When opening the gate, got an electric shock on my hand and pulled
it back with pain. Don't string the electric wire
barring the gate! Wonder if the farm owner wanted trampers to walk through or
not?!
On a way, beautiful there was a beautiful Kahikatea forest in middle of
the farmland, looking like a solitary island floating on the vast ocean - was a
pitiful look. After midday, arrived at Te Kuiti town. Had lunch, did shopping
and looked for DOC office... but what caught my eyes was a torii, a gateway
commonly built at the entrance to a Shinto shrine... what a surprise! Te Kuiti
was a sister city of Tatuno-machi, Nagano Prefetcure of Japan, and there was a
Japanese garden there as well.
The reason I called in DOC was because I needed
to ask for detour routes of tracks down to Taumarunui, which Chiharu found all
closed on TA website when I rang her the previous day. Told they were
all currently impassible due to landslides that happened last month, and
advised to walk 82km on SH3 and SH4 to Taumarunui. This could be one of the
risks to walk TA in September and October, outside the peak season. After
walking 10km along the SH3, asked a nearby house to pitch a tent in their land.
Traffic was noisy. Walked 27km today.
昨夜は部屋が快適だったので夜更かししてしまい（23:00就寝）、今朝は6:00に起きて7:45にゆっくりめの出発。ワイトモを出てすぐ農場内を歩くコースに着いたが、その入り口で地図を確認していたら、近所のおばあさんが車で通りかかり「本当に熱心ね〜！」と冷やかされた。
牧場の地面は昨日までの雨でぐちゃぐちゃで、歩きながら自分に「全くよくやるね〜！」と言いたくなるくらいだった。中でも、とんでもなく生い茂ったハリエニシダをかきわけ進む箇所では、6日前にテリーさんに助けられたワイカト川沿いの道を思い出し、その時トゲが刺さって化膿した左手人差し指が疼いた。また、ゲートを開けようとしたら電気ショックが「バチッ」と走り、痛くて手を引っ込める場面も。ゲートを遮るように電流ワイヤーを張らないでほしい（編集者註：電流ワイヤーは家畜が柵の外に逃げ出さないように張られています）。ここの牧場主はハイカーに通らせる気があるのか、ないのか……
途中にあった立派なカヒカテアの森が、牧場の海に取り残された孤島のようになっているのが哀れであった。昼過ぎにテ・クイティの町に着き、昼食、買い物の後、DOCオフィスを探していたら、街中に鳥居を見かけビックリ。どうやら長野県上伊那郡辰野町と姉妹都市らしく、日本庭園が作られていた。DOCへ寄ったのは、前日ちはるに調べてもらったらこの先タウマルヌイまでの登山道がすべて閉鎖になっていたため。どうやら先月多数の土砂崩れが起きたらしく、やはり通れそうにない。結局道順を聞き、タウマラヌイまでの82kmを国道3号、4号と辿って歩くことになってしまった。これも夏のピークシーズン外の9月・10月にTAを歩くリスクの一つか。3号線を10kmほど歩いたところで近くの民家に頼み、テントを張らせてもらう。車の音がうるさい。本日の歩行27km。
No comments:
Post a Comment