Monday 21st November to Thursday 24th November
Total kms covered this section: 116.24
Day 58: Whanganui to Koitiata
- Official trail kms: 1373 – 1407km
- Distance walked today: 34.63km
- Total walked so far: 1307.42km
- Time today: 8 hours 24 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 4558kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 238m
- Weather: Wet, showers during the day, clearing in the evening
- Happiness rating: 5/10 (road walking all day, plus a beach to end)
- Accommodation: Tent – Koitiata Beach Campground
Today was a brutal reintroduction to the trail after 2 days sitting around waiting for the weather. We knew it was basically all road walking with a beach to finish which really didn’t create any great rush to leave the backpackers this morning. We eventually left with Jon and Sara around 8:30am after saying goodbye to Adam who was planning on skipping forward to Palmerston North tomorrow. We headed off down the riverside trail and promptly stopped 1km later after spotting a coffee cart on the side of the road. We sat down by the riverside and enjoyed our second coffee of the morning in the sunshine.
Eventually we dragged ourselves to our feet and continued on. The trail ran along the river for another km before crossing over the bridge and headed up almost 200 stairs to the War Memorial at the top of the hill, overlooking the city. At the top we caught up with Menno and he and Jon took off ahead while the rest of us made use of the public facilities.
And from there we left the most exciting part of the day behind us and headed down the road that would take us into Fordell 12km later. We caught up with Menno again hanging out on the side of the road sipping some of his remaining cask wine in a coke bottle. Sara, Sam and I sat down next to him for some snacks and to rest the sore feet which were taking a pounding on the tarmac road.
We set off again, grizzling and moaning and 5km later we arrived at SH3, one of the busiest highways in the area, just as it started raining. Great! Thankfully, it was only a 3km stretch on the highway as it was pretty sketchy walking on the shoulder of an oncoming passing lane with trucks right next to us. Out of nowhere Jon reappeared after hanging out at a rest stop just in time for a house to pass by on the back of a truck.
We were all pretty happy to turn off the Highway and back onto quieter roads – even if they were still tarmac. Lunch was calling a few kms later and we stopped in a perfect hiker trash haven on the side of the road. The concrete boxes are meant to be for cattle underpasses I believe, however, they provided the perfect shelter for us to hide from the rain while we ate our wraps.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for long as we were racing the tide to get across the Turakina River mouth further down the beach, so we continued on, willing the bodies to comply. Thankfully the tarmac gave way to gravel further down the road as we passed through a farm en route to the beach. Sadly, that’s were the relief ended as we got down to the rugged west coast, black sand beach. Even at low tide, the steep sand banks made for painful walking as your feet are constantly on a sideways angle which kills both your left arch and the outer tendons on you right foot. Sammy was really struggling with her left arch and was not a happy camper at all. We finally arrived at the river crossing point a few painful kms later and stopped to don our sandals to avoid wet shoes for tomorrow. The crossing wasn’t overly high, however, the bottom was covered in soft silt, meaning you sunk into it if you stopped moving. Sammy almost learnt this the hard way as she very nearly fell over after getting stuck in the soft sand. Thankfully we all made it over relatively dry and bush bashed our way through the sand dunes until we reached Koitiata and the campsite we are calling home for the night. The campsite seems to have had a newly built toilet and shower block and we had a glorious hot shower to help ease the throbbing in our feet and legs. We set up camp and made another dehydrated Back Country meal for dinner before retreating into our tent for running repairs. A few vitamin I, a couple magnesium tablets and half a tube of Voltaren later, we’re now ready to get some well deserved sleep after a tough 35km day.
The alarm is set for 5am tomorrow morning to try get some low tide walking in before high tide at 9:30am. Then it’s more road walking to just past Bulls for a 42km day. Let’s hope the body is up to it tomorrow.
Day 59: Koitiata to Mt Lees Reserve
- Official trail kms: 1407 – 1449km
- Distance walked today: 42.91km
- Total walked so far: 1350.33km
- Time today: 9 hours 42 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 5222kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 219m
- Weather: Hot and sunny during the day, thunderstorms in the afternoon
- Happiness rating: 4/10 (more beach and more sketchy roads)
- Accommodation: Tent – under a shelter at the Mt Lees Reserve
It was a cracking morning this morning, not a cloud in the sky and almost no wind at all. We had heavy downpours overnight, sounding reminiscent of when we camped at the golf course and the sprinkler came on, so it was a little surprising to wake up to such nice weather. By the time we’d had breakfast and coffee and left at 6:20am, all the others had packed up and left before us. If we ditched the hot coffee in the morning we’d be so much faster, but that’s just a sacrifice we aren’t willing to make just yet!
We headed out of the campsite and turned left to follow a track marked on the map back down to the beach. The rain overnight had turned it into a shin height stream and our dry shoes that we’d spent all night trying to dry out instantly were saturated. Sammy almost burst out into tears and just had to laugh instead – classic TA curveball. Turns out everyone else actually turned right and had dry feet the whole way but ended up spending more time walking along the beach – I’m not sure what I’d prefer to be honest!
After a km or so of wading trough the stream, we were back on the beach fighting against the incoming tide and trying to avoid soft sand. Instantly our feet started complaining but all we could do was to keep moving. The tide kept coming up, shrinking the beach, meaning we often had to walk amongst the driftwood making for slow progress.
Three shitty hours later we stepped off the beach onto a 4×4 track heading inland. Not far down the track we bumped into Jon and Sara having a break so we flopped down beside them, pretty shattered after almost 15km on the beach without a rest.
The rest of the afternoon didn’t really improve as we were back on the tarmac roads heading towards Bulls. Headphones went in and I cranked my heavy metal playlist which made me feel slightly better. Our next rest came in the form of a bus stop next to the Rangitikei Golf Course. We were pretty happy to have done 28km with only 1 rest by midday. We were even happier that the Bulls Kebab shop was only another 5km down the road!
Bulls is always an entertaining place as it leans heavily into the bull puns -they’re everywhere! The best by far was on the Plunket building (baby health and well-being centre) which was a sign saying “non-return-a-bull”. Classic.
A kebab, chips and a sprite were quickly demolished as we hadn’t eaten much all day. We were well aware of an impending thunder storm that was due at 6pm so we headed off again quickly. Thankfully, the Mt Lees Reserve was only another 10km away and it was only 3pm at that point. We headed across the Rangitikei River on SH1 before shooting off down the back roads. Even though they were back roads, they were still shit to walk on, with little to no shoulder to avoid traffic. What’s worse is that the storm had arrived early and the darkening clouds were closing in on us. We very nearly avoided getting wet as the first shower had started as we were arriving at the reserve. Welcoming us was a couple of shelters with some tatty but comfy looking couches which were definitely a sight for sore eyes after our 43km day. The sky opened up just as we arrived, bucketing down on Jon and Sara who were 15 minutes or so behind us.
With the forecasted storm overnight we decided to make full use of the shelter by pitching our tent inner underneath it and to avoid camping out in the elements. A quick dinner was made before retreating to our tent, shattered after our big day today. Tomorrow we’re heading 36km into Palmy so another early start is required to make the most of the afternoon to resupply, do some washing and other admin before we head into the Tararua Ranges.
Day 60: Mt lees Reserve to Palmerston North
- Official trail kms: 1449 – 1476km
- Distance walked today: 31.59km
- Total walked so far: 1381.92km
- Time today: 6 hours 24 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 3104kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 333m
- Weather: Rain in the morning, fining up during the day, high winds in the afternoon
- Happiness rating: 6/10 (sketchy roads, but happy to have the section done)
- Accommodation: Our friend Sam’s place
The rain kept coming down all night and we awoke to a lake outside of our little shelter. I’m very glad we decided to hide away under a roof rather than put the tent up in the now flooded grassy area.
The enthusiasm for the day was at an all time low as the previous two days have been pretty shit if I’m to be honest. Today wasn’t to be much better as it was entirely roads once again.
We ventured out of the shelter, fully rugged up with jackets and pack covers on with my camera safely tucked away in my pack as it was still a heavy drizzle. Heading out of the reserve we were straight back onto a busy road with cars flying past, spraying water on us as we scampered into the ditch to avoid them. We were miserable and frustrated from the shitty past couple of days and we’re pretty bloody over it.
Nonetheless, we soldiered on and eventually made it to Fielding after 12km. Menno was already hanging out at a cafe in the town centre so we detoured off trail to join him. A second breakfast and a couple coffees helped raise the mood a little as we sat there for well over an hour, avoiding the inevitable.
It was almost 11am by the time we left still with another 20km left in the day. Thankfully, the road out of Fielding had a path running alongside it for most of it, so it wasn’t as bad. As we passed the Bunnythorpe Tavern, we thought it would be a great idea to pop inside for a beer to try distract us from our shitty moods, but much to our dismay it was closed – as was most things in Bunnythorpe to be honest.
The trail left the road just after Bunnythorpe and went through boggy farmland which ended up being the last straw – we were completely over it and decided to take a zero in Palmerston North tomorrow. To be fair, after 110km on mainly roads in just 3 days, our bodies were definitely ready for a break. Thankfully, the rain had stopped a couple hours prior but the wind had really picked up to almost a gale and we were basically blown the rest of the way into Palmy. We passed the airport and stopped for a break at a bakery part the way down Vogel St. The disappointment from missing out on a beer was still fresh from earlier so we said “bugger it” and decided to cut today short and head into town for a beer or two instead.
Sammy had had soggy feet all day and her shoes had been rubbing so she took the opportunity to put on dry socks and her sandals for the rest of the day. We took off down to SH3 where we found a couple of e-scooters and sped into town, straight to Brew Union (which is my favourite place in Palmerston North). Rebecca, Menno, Jon and Sara all filtered in over the next couple hours and we had a good ol’ bitch session about how shit the past 3 days were and how crap the weather has been. It was definitely cleansing and we walked out feeling much better about life.
One of our friends, Sam, had kindly offered us a place to stay tonight so we ordered Vietnamese food to share for dinner and have just spent the last hour hanging out in his spa pool. We have another real bed with a real pillow again so life is definitely on the up!
Day 61: Nero day in Palmerston North
- Official trail kms: 1476 – 1483km
- Distance walked today: 7.11km
- Total walked so far: 1389.03km
- Time today: 1 hours 19 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 707kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 43m
- Weather: Fine with the odd shower
- Happiness rating: 8/10 (made the most of a rest day)
- Accommodation: Airbnb – By the Fitzherbert bridge
It was a rather lazy morning today as we hung out in bed while we waited for our washing to finish. The main objective for the day was to do our resupply the 6 day stint into the Tararuas and then finish the 7km of trail we bailed on yesterday.
Once we had finally got out of bed and packed up, we headed down the road to the bus stop to head into town. First stop was Bivouac Outdoors for some Backcountry meals, then we stopped in at Sam’s work to say goodbye before heading to Cafe Cuba for some breakfast and coffee. It is Graduation time here in Palmy, so it has been quite amusing walking around with our big packs on while most people are dressed up in suits and lovely dresses for their big occasion. After we were fed and caffeinated, we headed to the supermarket to grab the rest of our resupply. With fully loaded packs we jumped on some more e-scooters to head back to where we left off yesterday to complete the Manawatū River Trail. It started persisting down as soon as we left (because of course it did), but thankfully, we happened to be right outside a pub and it was only logical to pop in for a cold one as we waited out the rain. One pint later and a lot less rain, we reclaimed our scooters and headed back to the trail.
The River Trail was a lovely section that followed the Manawatū River all the way through town. We were only going as far as the Fitzherbert Bridge where Sam had organised us a cute little Airbnb for the night, only 100m off trail. In just over an hour we had knocked out the 7km and arrived at the Airbnb. We’re currently just hanging out in bed watching crappy daytime TV and catching up on the socials and blog. The body has definitely needed a rest and I think this is the best thing for us right now.
Our current plan is to push on to Te Whare O Motorimu tomorrow and then onto the Makahika Outdoor Pursuit Centre the next day where we’ll make an assessment on the weather before deciding whether to carry on. The forecast looks pretty average with rain and high winds, however, it has been improving over the past couple days so hopefully we get a sneaky little window to get up and over. Fingers crossed, because at this point, there isn’t much else we can do!
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https://events.mentalhealth.org.nz/fundraisers/mattburton/matt-and-sam-tackle-the-te-araroa
Love the updates, I’m sad that you’re not feeling positive though. I noticed this is being posted a week behind, but it seems that maybe, just maybe, don’t want to jinx it, but the endless rain might be stopping! And the Tararuas are coming up, so the road walking will be coming to an end! The best is yet to come…
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Hey Matthew, yes the trail definitely improved after these 3 days! I’ve just been a bit slow on the updates
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