Pt4 Day 12. Oio Rd (approx km1197) to Whakahoro - 18/11/16

There was a reasonable amount of rain overnight but, miraculously, we awoke to a sunny morning! We packed up while enjoying the early sun and hit the road toward Whakahoro at about 0745. We ended up doing 21.6km in a leisurely 6 hours or so, taking our usual generous stops along the way! I forgot to turn the watch off when we reached the Blue Duck cafe, so the data says the day was a bit longer. The day's GPS data can be seen here:
https://www.movescount.com/moves/move131951965

Today was pretty much all on windy gravel roads with gentle ups and downs - we went up 280m and down 340m during the day! This was through a mixture of hill country farmland and bush blocks - some of which were DoC scenic reserves.

We were following the Retaruke River for much of the day, through some dramatic papa country with lots of steep roadside bluffs and very deep little waterways feeding into the Retaruke.

Still lots of waterfalls from the recent rains.

Hills and scrub still in evidence!

But also some good flat grazing land in the valley.

And we even saw some blueberries growing!

Stopped for a break by a farm gate - me sitting on fence post taking the picture ...........

.... and right behind us were a couple of these fellas!

Overgrown cottage with pine trees in the background.

The Retaruke River is also still there.

Definitely in papa country now, with roads cut into papa cliffs.

This was only a small section of the massive amount of netting on this face to prevent rockfalls hitting the road.

The Steele family have been buying and amalgamating blocks of land into Blue Duck Station I believe.

This pile of gravel was labeled - maybe to prevent it being stolen!!??

We had decided to have a later lunch at the café so pushed on through, reaching Whakahoro and the café soon after 1330. Had a nice feed of toasted paninis and soup (as will as a free drink each afforded to all TA walkers!). Also got to chat with a local DoC guy and with the Blue Duck Station owner, Richard Steele. He has retired around a third of the current 3000ha or so and has an extensive pest management programme in place alongside DoC's. Great to see such an example of public/private partnership on a large scale!

Made it to Whakahoro.

Friendly puppy on the deck of the café.

The puppy also has a pet pig to keep him company :-)

Inside the café.

This was labeled the "Te Araroa Table".

We settled into the bunkhouse along with a couple from Wellington, Kevin and Gill, who were there to canoe down the river with their 19yo son who is walking TA. Young Greg arrived soon after. Settled in about 2100 - we can't have breakfast at the café before 0800, and our canoes won't be here until around 1000, so it won't be a mad rush in the morning.

Bunkhouse with cooking shelter. Both Franziska and we took the opportunity to dry out some of our gear.

Basic bunkhouse but very comfortable.

Suspension bridge below the campsite - near where the canoes launch onto the Retaruke River. Not the straightest bridge!

Too many fat cattle might soon get over 10 tonnes.

Lots of information about the river, and the boats that plied it, being essential in times gone by.

That'll be us - heading down, down, down the mighty Whanganui tomorrow!