At Makahika Outdoor Pursuits Centre that I stayed last night, all staff went out for a function and did not come back till late at night. Only
had a few minutes talk with a staff lady called Lisa yesterday. Was not sure if all
TA walkers could stay here free of charge, or I was the lucky one!?
Started at
6:30. Walked on the road for 4km to get to the entrance of Tararua Mountains
Track. Was looking forward to walking this section as much as Tongariro
Cuircuit and Wanganui Journey, because Tararua ranges is the origin of NZ
tramping culture. This area was infamous of a combination of bad weather with
gust, rain, fog, etc., as it is situated north of Wellington, city of wind. Luckily it was fine with no wind today. Climbed 4 hours along the ridge line
towards Mt Waioeohu. Above the forest line, there was a hut and a magnificent
view to look around the region from 1,000m from the sea level. Had lunch there
and walked up and down the ridge line to next hut.
After the Twin Peaks, the
track was in a really terrible condition - fallen trees, landslips, bogs, awful
things everywhere. It took me 90 minutes to walk 2km. According to the DOC sign,
average walk time of this section was 3 hours! It means this ruin did not happen
during the winter, and is USUAL. Why don't they look after the track properly?! Struggled with the ridiculous track condition, and started to worry about how
long this would last...
As soon as passing the Richards Knob, track became a
lot better suddenly and walked comfortably through the mossy mountain beech
forest with far less bogs down to Te Matawai hut. This made me questioned why
the 2km section was that bad. Arrived at the hut at 16:00. It was a fine Saturday but I did not see anyone on the track, and there was only me staying in
the hut. According to the hut's visitor book, majority of the users were TA
walkers who stayed between December to February. Got a phone reception after 3
days, and had a talk with Chiharu. She said it would be bad weather from tomorrow
arvo, so decided to start before dawn. Went to bed at 21:00 for early start
next day. Walked 18km today.
昨夜泊めてもらったマカヒカ・アウドア探求センターでは、昨日スタッフが全員社交行事に出かけたとかで夜まで戻ってこず、今朝は自分が6:30に出発したので結局昨日リサという女性と数分話しただけだった。TAウォーカーなら皆同じように無料で泊めてくれるのか、自分が運が良かったのかは判らない。
そこから道路を4km歩いてタラルア山脈縦走路の入口へ。トンガリロやワンガヌイ・ジャーニーと並んで楽しみにしていた箇所だ。NZのトランピング文化の原点とも言えるタラルアは前から一度歩いてみたかった。この山域は強風で有名なウェリントンのすぐ北に位置するだけあり、やはり強風・雨・霧等の悪天候で悪名が高いようだが、幸い今日はほぼ無風の晴天。ワイオペフ山へと続く尾根道をひたすら登り続けること4時間。森林限界の上に出たところに山小屋があり、さすがに標高約1,000mあるだけあり素晴らしい眺望を楽しめた。そこで昼食の後、引き続き尾根を登ったり下ったりして次の山小屋へ。
ところが続くツインピークを過ぎた途端、道が大荒れになり、倒木・崩落・泥池何でもありの状態に。僅か2km進むのに90分もかかった。DOCの道標によるこの区間の標準時間が3時間！になっていたので、この荒廃は冬の間に起きたものではなく常態のようだ。何故ちゃんと整備しないのだろう？2kmの間悪戦苦闘し、これがいつまで続くのかと危惧した。
リチャーズ・ノブを過ぎた途端道が良くなり、ぬかるみも殆どない苔むした山ブナの森の中を、気持ち良くテ・マタワイ小屋まで歩くことができた。それだけに余計あの2kmの区間が謎だ。山小屋着が16:00、晴天の土曜だというのに途中人っ子ひとり出会わなかった。山小屋も自分一人。山小屋の台帳を見る限り、利用者の大半がTAウォーカーで12月〜2月の間に集中しているようだ。3日ぶりに携帯が繋がったのでちはると電話。明日は午後から荒天になりそうだ。夜明け前に出発することにし、今晩は21:00に寝袋に潜り込む。本日の歩行18km。
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