By the numbers
20.62kms
26,720 steps
The weather today was meant to be a little wet with it clearing up and once I was outside it turned out to be pretty much dry with cloud. I had slept in so that I could get going a little bit later as I was going to spend most of the day out. My plan was to do one of the walks and then head out to the train museum that was down the other end of the town. I hadn’t been down that end of Ohakune yet as I would have a 30 min walk at least. Basically the place I was staying at is the halfway point. The food places are at the entry to town side that I know of.
I sorted myself out with breakfast before having a look in the information centre as I hadn’t been there yet and it didn’t give me any good ideas. I decided it was time to head towards the train station and the museum. I planned on a short walk on a trail that was nearby after the museum. I found the train station and a few shops, although there were not many of them and others that were closed. From what I was looking at the night before this was the most expensive area. The guy I had spoken to who had seen me yesterday after walking my bike was right when he said there was nothing over there. I walked through the railway station and there was a dog outside the coffee shop. A little further on was the museum, and the problem that I came across. The museum was shut until the 12th of December, so it would be open later just not when I am there. I ended up back at the train station for a coffee with a plan to walk towards Mount Ruapehu even though it was covered in cloud.
The new plan was to do the bushwalk that would take around an hour that would take me to a DOC camp, that I soon found out that you could only book a site online. The hour long round trip was Mangawhero trail that takes you across the Ohakune mountain road that takes you up to Ruapehu that I still couldn’t see due to cloud, but it seemed to have warmed up I could have hired a bike again just to go down the road as its apparently a good trip from up that way. I know there are some waterfalls that are just a little too far for me one way. A oneway walk that is 3 hours might be overdoing it a touch The road I had thought was a country style trail looked more like a main road. It was good that I didn’t need to go back the way I came as the trail takes you back out to the main carpark besides the DOC office for Ohakune. I never checked to see if they were open though. I ended up walking back to the motel as I thought it would be nice to start pottering around my room and start organising my bag for leaving the next day.
After a couple of hours I ended up getting some food and on the way back I noticed the cloud was clearing around the mountains and I could see a little bit of Ruapehu. I ate and waited half hour so that I could check to see if the cloud had moved and it had as I could see the top. Around 5 mins down the road I had a great view, but I thought he train station would have a better view. It actually didn’t as it was hidden behind the trees, so I had basically walked that way for nothing. Still it showed me how quiet that part of town was except for the Contiki bus that was at a nearby restaurant. At least I got a view of the mountain with snow on top before I left the next day, although I would likely get better shots from near the main road. I don’t leave until 1pm, so I have some time to kill before heading off, so you never know what I can get up before heading to Hamilton.
The reason for Hamilton is that I will break up the trip a little, but after how late the bus was the other day, I think that was a wise choice as I will be in Hamilton before dark and settled in too.
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