Day 13 - January 23, 2023

January 23, 2023

Day 13: Taumaranui - Raetihi

We ride the lesser travelled farming roads linking the Timber Trail to the Mountains to Sea Route sharing the roads with the local farmers and their sheep.

Well, I'm not sure how accurate that description of the day is. The first 10km was on quiet roads and the morning light on the landscape is just beautiful. Clear skies with just a hint of lingering cloud higher up.

I felt a bit at home when this mountain with a bit of snow came into sight (Mount Ruapehu). It is home to the North Island's major ski resorts. It is also, apparently, the largest active volcano in New Zealand.

After about 10 km the road turned to gravel and we were on that for the next 15 km - most of it going uphill. The day started out cool (10C) but warmed up pretty quickly. There is strength in that sun, though, and I was just dripping going up the hill.

Not sure what this volcano is called, but it was prominently in our view until lunch in National Park Village.

There was another volcanic cone to the left of Mount Ruapehu that I didn't take a picture of. It was Mount Ngauruhoe and the Tongariro Crossing (which I did in 2017) is close to it. Didn't realize that was it at the time or I would have taken a picture.

Some wildlife du jour........

After finishing with the gravel road at about 25km we turned onto State Highway 4 for the rest of the day. So much for "sharing the roads with the local farmers and their sheep". There was a bit of a shoulder at times, but way too many tandem tractor trailers that came waaaay too close to us. They seemed to all turn off with about 8 km left in the day so much more enjoyable for us again after that.

We had lunch at the railway station in National Park Village. Once on the road again we quickly came to Tongariro National Park.

No fear of running into ice today, but we are at a bit higher elevation than we have been at.

Along the way was a little turnoff for the last spike of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, 1908.

Although the last 40 km was net downhill, there were still a few small uphills for the first 30km of that and a substantial headwind for much of it. And the traffic that I mentioned before. Not a free ride by any means.

We're staying in the small town of Raetihi tonight (and tomorrow night). Not much going on here. The downtown is about 90% abandoned buildings; a town that has obviously seen better days. In the early days it was a thriving town serving sawmills, timber workers, and those passing through. The town's population peaked at about 13,000 (it is now about 1000). The timber supply started running out in the 1940s. There is some cattle farming and vegetable growing today, along with some tourism, but much less gainful employment than yesteryear. We're staying at a former nurses' residence. It was built in the 40s to house nurses working at the local hospital which was built in the 20s. The hospital was closed in the 80s when healthcare was centralized and the building demolished sometime after 2005. In 2006 an enterprising young woman, Sandy Waters, bought the nurses' residence and has restored it into a lodging facility, Snowy Waters Lodge. It has proven to be a lovely place to stay.