Map

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Summary

Monday 26th December

Okey dokey, time to get moving. I did my morning stretches for my foot that the physio had given me, and then packed up. I had walked the section from the holiday park into town before so I didn’t feel guilty about catching the bus into town and starting from the river there. I caught the bus at 09:30. By the by, I love it how there were still buses running on Boxing Day, albeit on a reduced schedule as expected. Whilst I was waiting for the bus, I took advantage of the Boxing Day sales and ordered myself two new shirts to be picked up at the Bivouac Outdoors shop in Palmerston North. This blue shirt that I had at the moment was low key gross. Just stank so much, even after doing laundry. I blame the fact that it was synthetic and as a result, the bacteria stuck around. Not so fun.

I got into town and jumped off the bus at the river and started walking just shy of 10:00 in the morning. I had about 33km to do today, so plenty of time really. I started heading off. I always love the start of a walking day, or section. It’s like a new adventure and who knows what you’re going to find around the corner! Whilst I was walking across the bridge in Whanganui (across the Whanganui river), I could hear superbikes. Whanganui city hosts a Boxing Day superbike race every year and this is the first time in a little while that is has been allowed to go ahead due to Covid and all. As a result, the streets were packed with hotdog stands and crowds going the opposite way from me, into town!

I climbed up the steps on the other side of town and with some laboured breathing arrived at the top at a large tower that looks like it had been taken from Sevilla and placed on the other side of the world! Felt old as well, something you don’t get the feeling of in New Zealand really! I put on some more sun cream here in the shade of the tower, the sun was certainly up and about today. Canoeing down the river must be stunning in these weather conditions!

I then trotted on down the road and out of Whanganui. Blue skies were creating an endless ceiling above me and green fields spread away to my left and my right. Just classic farming country really! I put on some music (in one ear, it was still a road) and continued on. I also had a timer on my phone so every thirty minutes I would stop and stretch my ankle. I felt no pain at all and I was in high spirits for the entire morning. Happy happy days! Stopping every thirty minutes is kinda annoying though I won’t lie, it kinda breaks up the day and stops any momentum building. Also also also, I could see the Tararuas! Yes son! Oh they looked so good on the horizon, a beautiful shaded blue line, jagged and promising the most spectacular views. A big grin plastered my face when I saw them, I kid you not!

Lunch came and I ate it at the side of a quiet road in some shade before continuing on. I crashed on down towards SH3 and then cautiously walked along the side for a short couple kilometres before popping off it again and heading towards the coast. I also saw Erik and Magdellan here, trying to hitch a ride since they hated walking on busy roads understandably.

I bumped on down this gravel road that slowly dissolved into a dirt track and then finally a sandy beach route leading onto a black sand beach. There was a blue ocean in the sky, white capped clouds skipping their way above me whilst ahead was the mirror image, a blue ocean, white capped waves frothing and splashing against the shoreline. Sublime weather. Won’t lie though, I wasn’t so impressed with the Whangaehu beach. It was a dirty beach scattered with skeletal remains of dead trees, twisted branches digging into the sand or reaching up into the sapphire blue sky. Completely different from Ninety Mile Beach or the other ones in Northland. They were all clean and pristine, especially so Ninety Mile. It kinda reminds me of what Reid once said, beaches are actually not somewhere pleasant in nature but a place where things kinda die.

But let’s forget such morbid thoughts. I certainly did, I just walked down to the flat hard part of the beach and started heading east, along the beach. A couple kilometres down was the beach town of Koitiata where I needed to cross an estuary into the town itself where I was going to be staying that evening. I located the large orange triangles that I needed to cross between and then waded out with just me and my walking sticks, prodding ahead of me as I went. The mud on the bottom of the estuary squeezed through my toes, but there were no obstacles and the water only came up to mid thigh. Comforted that the vast amounts of rain previously had not made this impassable, I headed back to my bag and carried that across and I then waltzed (metaphorically) into town where I then pitched up.

The campsite was nice, just an honesty box for $10. Easy as. The people staying there were either TA hikers or people on holiday it seemed. Lots of people had quadbikes and were using them to get themselves over the dunes and estuary and to the beach easily. Everyone there seemed to have a quadbike! I fell asleep to some music, blocking out the sound of the occasional revving engine.

Tuesday 27th December

I woke up the next day and headed out before anyone else it seemed. Didn’t need to cross the estuary this time, just kept on the south side of it before reaching the beach and heading on down the coast for another 14km. OK this was very reminiscent of Ninety Mile Beach now for sure. Easy walking at a funny very slight, funny angle for a lot of the morning. The weather was beautiful once more and I made sure I had my buff around my neck this time. The previous day I may have burned my neck a little despite my new wide brimmed hat I had stolen from Tomer. Oh yeah, on that, Tomer had left his wide brimmed hat at Pipiriki when he and Niv rushed off to go get their phones back, and so I was “keeping it safe” for him until I saw him again, and the only way to keep a hat safe was to wear it… Right?

If we looked behind us when we were walking along the beach, we could see the faint outline of Mt. Taranaki. Oh it looked incredibly like the Lonely Mountain would in my mind. Peter Jackson should have filmed the Hobbit films there. If I looked ahead of me on the beach, other than black sand and turquoise waters, I saw the distant jagged peaks of the Tararuas, beckoning me closer. Lessgo

I exited the beach and emerged onto quiet backcountry roads once more. I made my way down these roads, dodging the occasional car and listening to a tonne of music. Just easy walking. My foot wasn’t giving me any grief either which I was really thankful for! After a spot of roadside lunch again, I headed on into Bulls, the pun capital of New Zealand. Honestly, just so bad but also so good. I had myself a little laugh to myself before I found a place that did food and I got some more of that before I headed to the campsite, it was delecta-bull. Even the police officers were allegedly called consta-bulls!

The campsite was actually the motel in Bulls but they welcomed TA hikers and allowed us to camp happily on the grass there. I pitched up and more and more people soon joined me. I had a nice shower to wash away the sweat and we did a collective round of laundry. They all went to the pub but I hung around, chatting to Eva and Luäk instead before I went and watched a film. Easy day.

Wednesday 28th December

I woke up and headed on out of the motel pretty pronto. I headed along a bridge over Rangitikei River and then turned of, heading north and along some back country roads. Today I was going to make it to Feilding (this name bugs me, it is “field” spelt wrong) and then maybe, deciding how I feel, push on to Palmerston North.

However, as I was walking along these back country roads, listening to some tunes, I took a break, stretching my ankle. Whilst I was on this break, I checked my phone and I had an email from Bivouac. It seems that they didn’t have my stuff and that there wasn’t any stock at all and it was a computer error that allowed the website to even sell me some nonexistent items in the first place. I was a little annoyed, to put it frankly. Therefore, I phoned them and they asked me to come in to discuss. I was kinda anxious about losing some money, so I decided to skip the section from Feilding to Palmy and just catch the bus from there in to town. I told them I would be about in the afternoon over the phone.

Therefore, mood slightly dimmed, I continued on. The Tararuas were still beckoning and I could even see Mt. Ruapehu on the distance. It was such a clear and lovely day, just brilliant. The walk into Feilding was not strenuous at all, quite the opposite really and I arrived in that sunny town in a more positive mood. It was a very… clean town. Very new and very square corners and tidy. Very pleasant, but also very much in the middle of prime farmland.

I had some lunch in town and then hopped on the bus, using my Bee card to get into Palmy. A twenty to thirty minute bus ride later and I was in the middle of Palmy. I had been told that Palmy wasn’t so nice but honestly, I loved it. Rob agreed with me later that Palmy was actually really quite nice, despite that everyone claimed it was just a place for farmers… Anyways, I headed into the Bivouac and sussed out the issue, getting a full refund thankfully. I was kinda annoyed with them for selling me nonexistent items in the first place that I wasn’t actually really thinking clearly. As a result, I walked out of the place… And realised I still hadn’t replaced my gross blue shirt. Eek. And I wasn’t really in the mood to go into the same place immediately afterwards and buy a shirt sooo… I just continued on my way.

I was going to be staying with some trail angels for two nights in Palmy, Brian and Paula. They were actually part of the TA trust that looked after the trails in and around Palmy. They were both in their mid to late 60s would be my guess. I turned up at their house and they welcomed me with a bowl of handpicked blueberries and a cup of tea and showed me a small cabin out the back where I would be staying. Their garden had a wonderful vegetable patch much akin to both Grandpa’s and Grandad’s. They also had an orchard with plum, apple, peach, orange and lemon trees to name but a few. There was a feijoa tree against their back wall. Inside their house was very much a beautiful, health food feel to the place. They had lots of whole food products and bulk foods in mason jars. But also, most importantly, they had a piano and a whole bunch of sheet music. After dinner, I think I must have spent an hour or more just playing the piano. Ooooh yes, I have decided that when I get a permanent residence, one of the first big things I am going to purchase for myself is a piano. Definitely, one hundred percent! It was so nice to play it again and I think they really appreciated having it played too!

Thursday 29th December

A rest day. I wanted to take some time off just to give my ankle some more time to rest. Brian and Paula were out all day, helping maintain the Burtton’s Track by putting up more signs on the request by DOC. Therefore, after eating breakfast with them (they had fresh bread which reminded me of Grandpa’s fresh bread. Straight from the bread machine, same hole in the bottom and same shape), they went off for the day and I lazed around their garden for a little while, reading my book.

Towards lunchtime, I went to the Pak ‘n’ Save (best supermarket hands down) and bought myself seven days worth of food for the Tararuas that I would be entering on Friday. Well exciting! I had a fun time shopping and then I caught the bus back to their house where I chilled out for the afternoon as well.

Towards tea time, Lorna and Mark arrived, a couple from Brighton who had arranged to stay at Brian and Paula’s too. We had some fun chats before Brian and Paula got home. They got a double bed and a room in the house to themselves whilst I was left outside in their small hut. It was so nice. We all had dinner together (just to clarify, still had to cook my own dinner) before we sat and chatted over a cup of tea. Brian and Paula had hiked this entire area so they were providing us with some great advice about all sorts of things to expect for the next couple days. I went to bed, looking forward to the next stage of the TA!

New People

  • Lorna: Lady from Brighton who used to work on the city council. Part of The Gang. Has done a butt tonne of travelling with her partner…
  • Mark: Guy from Brighton, Lorna’s partner. He has a job in editing TV shows. Part of The Gang.
  • Bex: Kiwi lady who has tattoos she’s done herself. Part of the Gang.
  • Rowan: Aussie guy who is part of The Gang and has the same jumper as Niv and same tent as Reid
  • Jamie: Scottish guy with no blisters from Perthshire. Like me, has no accent. Part of The Gang.
  • Emily: Kiwi who I briefly interacted with. Part of The Gang.
  • Faucine: French lady who has lived in Kiwi-land for ages now. Tried doing this hike once already. Part of The Gang.
  • Laura: Lady from Brighton too, she also avoids the sun at all costs.
  • Chaz: American guy who avoids the sun at all costs. Started from Auckland.
  • Luäk: French guy who has been hiking for a year it seems and will be hiking for another year. He is going on to Reunion to do the hike across the highlands there after the TA before heading on up north somewhere to do some more hiking.
  • Magdellan: German lady from up near Hamburg. Super fast and vapes a lot
  • Erik: Dutch guy who was hiking along with Magdellan.
  • Eva: German lady with feet full of blisters and an adorable teddy bear dog mascot who I have forgotten the name of.

Status

  • Physical: 10/10 – no foot injuries, winning! Bring on the Tararuas
  • Mental: 10/10 – bounced back from anxiety over my foot, cheerful and looking forward to finishing the North Island and the mountains
  • Distance covered: 1480km
  • Most memorable moment: Estuary crossing at Koitiata
  • Toughest moment: The first 10km from Whanganui, a little nervous about my foot. And all the road walking, but hopefully that’ll be the last major section of road walking!
  • Burnt-o-meter: 6 – yeah I got burnt on the neck whoops. Agro sun, even down here! Very red neck
  • Random thoughts: Why do gingers get burnt so easily? Grrr
  • Number of times I have fallen: 10
  • Peanut butter jars finished: 10
  • Oatly bars: 55
  • Song Suggestion: Go West; Pet Shop Boys

What’s Next?

Okey dokey, time to head into the mountains. As big old John Muir said, The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go. So go I will. I will head on down a thin sliver between some foothills and the mountains before getting to Levin before I turn and head on up and over Mt. Crawford where I will then descend and head into Wellington.

After that, a lot of logistics, lots of sorting out and then the South Island! Excited!

Comments (6)

  1. Mum

    Reply

    Spot the difference:
    Part 1 = orange shoes, long grey trousers, buff around neck, headphones in ears and blue cap on head.
    Part 10 = white (debatable?!) shoes, blue shorts, no buff around neck and ‘full brimmed hat’ on head being kept safe ’til we meet again’!
    Did I miss anything? Same t-shirt, sunglasses and backpack?? Going strong!

  2. Niv

    Reply

    Dear Al.
    I am writing this comment in reference to the last three posts.
    First and most importantly is that you are rocking the wide hat look.
    Second, from looking at the fall counter it seems like you didnt fall once in the last weeks. Very impressive.
    Third, i dont know why gingers get burnt so easily.
    Anyway man great writing, keep enjoying what you do. Love to follow your adventures.
    My kindest regards.

    • Al

      Reply

      Dear Niv. Thank you for your kind comments. Falling over is never fun! And yes, I feel guilty for having taken Tomer’s hat (I hope he is OK) but glad you think it suits me! Hopefully see you soon.

  3. Karen McLeay

    Reply

    Hello Al, I found your updates this evening and I have devoured every word (figuratively!) since the Waitomo post. Each day’s story has been interesting, especially the photos and details of being marooned at the river campsite and how things transpired. We drove from Whanganui to Pipiriki in the meantime after dropping Reid at the bus stop in Palmerston North. What a long way to walk! And ironic that the weather was so good after you ditched your boats!
    Really looking forward to your Tararua commentary, as you know Reid took a rain check on that leg, given the weather forecast, so will be very interested to hear how you found trekking through there, with no water at some huts.
    So relieved you’ve had sunshine on most of the Queen Charlotte Track. Now into the mountains! Take care.
    Fields are “paddocks” and here the woods are “native bush”💚🐄🐑🌳

    • Al

      Reply

      Hi Mrs. McLeay! Thank you so much for reading my little blog! Hope the drive up the Whanganui was better than our walk! And yes, thanks for the language haha, I am just translating for friends and family back home – they don’t know the word “field” doesn’t really exist here!

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