Days 62 - 65
- john51648
- Jan 17, 2021
- 11 min read
Before I post this a short apology and explanation. After completing the Whanganui River section there were a number of long days, lengthy periods without data coverage and frankly I was getting pretty jaded and tired. Consequently while I continued to write the blog text most days I didn't post it due to the time involved the posting work and and getting the photos uploaded. My intention was to complete it once I got home for Christmas but again I failed as the lure of rest and relaxation and time with the family meant i kept putting it off. It is now a few days before I depart again on the South Island leg and I'm doing a big push to get up to date .
Day 62 (27 November)
Whanganui to Koitiata (35km)
Well after six days of not walking and enjoying the company of the guys on the river, today I'm off on foot on my own again.
My initial plan was to have a somewhat cruisey morning but I found that once up I really was chomping at the bit to get away. So packed up and headed off about 7.30.
It was a bit sad saying goodbye to Mingle and McVet, while I was looking forward to getting back into my hiking routine the last few days have been fabulous and I’m sure I’ll miss the company.
One of the features of Whanganui is the Durie Hill Lift, this takes you from the river level up to the top of Durie Hill (hence the name!) and saves climbing the stairs. It opens at 8.00 am each day so I expected it to be opening when I arrived there bang on 8.00. Alas no sign of life so hung around waiting for it to open, just assumed this must be Whanganui time. I asked a couple of school kids who were also hanging around and they said its just unreliable, which really gave me confidence. Finally at about 8.25 (I could have walked the stairs in ten minutes!) a lady came wandering along the access tunnel and advised there’d been a power cut and hence the late opening. She did look a bit sleepy and dishevelled having the look of someone who’d rushed to get to work so my suspicion is she’d merely slept in! Anyway, after the wait, the lift, while old worldly, was underwhelming but did save me walking up a couple of hundred steps.
The official route today goes to Fordell then runs to the coast where there is a short beach walk, finally crossing the Turakina River to reach Koitiata. The Turakina River is one of the more significant river crossings on the North Island TA and consequently given the couple of days of torrential rain we’d just had and the state of the Whanganui River yesterday, I decided the crossing was likely unviable and ill advised (especially as I was travelling alone). This being a rare bit of common sense and caution on my part. Perhaps these traits are contagious and being with Mingle for a few days has reprogrammed me!
Anyway the upshot of this newfound caution is I decided to road walk to Koitiata which added about 5km to the day but did guarantee I’d get there and not be swimming towards Australia.
The road out of town, while not a state highway was very busy and unfortunately had little or no shoulder so was a bit of a challenge. Although the majority of drivers do try to give us hikers space, there’s always the odd one who is either inattentive or just a tosser who makes you jump off the road to avoid being skittled.
Once I got to Fordell there was a shortish walk along a quiet road before I joined SH3 to walk to Turakina. In a word this was horrible. A really busy bit of main road with countless large lorries and again little or no shoulder to walk on.
At Turikina, before leaving the main road and heading to the coast, I stopped at the antique shop/cafe for a well earned smoothie. While there I met Darrell, another TA walker (one of the few older than by me!), who was intending to stay there and then walk directly to Bulls the next day.
Tempting as it was to stay in Turakina and bypass part of the next day, I decided to box on and continue with my commitment to, as best as circumstances allowed follow the TA route.
The road to Koitiata was long, flat, very windy and exceedingly boring. I, having had so much time off hiking over the last couple of weeks, was also feeling the effects of a long day and full pack. A local lady did stop and ask if I wanted a ride or some water, neither of which I I accepted but both of which I wanted!
As a bit of an aside here, when I commenced this journey I was not sure what my approach to accepting rides, or catching busses or even bypassing some of the more difficult sections was going to be. My instincts told me that by nature I was probably going to religiously stick to the trail but until I got into it I didn’t know for sure what form my journey would take.
I was first offered a ride at Mangawhai (about km 450) and declined based on having got that far in a “purist” manner I may as well see it through. This has become a bit of a theme for me and to date I’ve turned down innumerable rides and resisted temptation to skip sections.
Purist hikers are the Jehovahs Witnesses of hiking (or for the millennium’s, cross fit fanatics). They can’t wait to tell anyone listening they are doing every meter of the trail and in doing so denigrate the efforts of the not so pure adherents. This is something I’ve been aware of and am careful not to come across as an anal purist. Frankly everyone does the TA in his or her own way and there are neither rules nor a better or worse way to achieve your personal goals.
Finally arriving at the Koitiata camp ground I was surprised, but pleased to find a new group of TA walkers here. Since Auckland I’d really only seen Tahlia, Alan (who unfortunately was skittled by a jet boat on the river) and Darrell (yesterday), with passing encounters with a couple of others on the trail.
By the nights end there were seven of us (Charlotte, Sally, Cara, Ritchie, Dave, Charlie(Dave’s wife) and myself). So a bit of a culture shock socialising with such a large group.
A really windswept campsite here and consequently a noisy and windy night with a bit of rain thrown in to ensure I didn't get a really good sleep.
Day 63 (28 November)
Koitiata to Mount Lee (43km)
Well this was a big day, probably one of the longest I've done so far on the TA. While you hear stories of some of the younger guys doing 50+km days I think 40 is about my comfort point, any more and I do find the pain (both mental and physical) sets in towards the end.
The day commenced with a walk along the beach which, incidentally didn't seem to have a name. Getting to the beach from the camp entailed walking through a wetland area and hence by the time I got there my shoes were wet and "squelchy", so a pretty standard start to a TA day. That is if you start in dry shoes from the day before they will be wet pretty early in the day.
The beach was a typical West Coast black sand beach with rough seas, steep dunes and much drift wood. It really was quite spectacular and a change from the white sand beaches we'd been on further north.
After about an hour on the beach the incoming tide made the going pretty untennable and I decided to see if I could navigate a way through the plantation forest that ran along the back of the dunes. It was a bit of a mission finding one of the forestry roads but once I'd fought through a bit of scrub and found a road it was pretty easy going through the forest and onto a road that connected with the rtoad that exited the beach.
Interestingly, along the way I came accross some orange triangles (the standadr TA markers) and on talking to a lady who was out riding through the forest with her dog, I discovered the TA did previously come this way.
Once on the road I made good time to reach the intersection with the road that ran through to Bulls and was back on the trail route. Unfortunately (and more on this later) I did have a slightly sore big left toe and on removing my shoe at the intersection discovered a rather larg blister on the top and side of the toe. It seems the black iron sand is quite abrasive and despite thinking I was immune to blisters after 1200km it would seem that is not the case.
The walk into Bulls was long, hot and pretty mudane. I did listen to a bit more of the Obama memoir which helped pass time. Arriving in Bulls I was a bit undecided on whether to stay there or move on a bit further. After a late lunch I decided I'd move on to Mt Lee reserve (another 10km). This meant I'd make it to Palmerston the next day and also as the forecast was not so good for a couple of days would at least reduce the time spent walking in the rain.
The walk between Bulls and Mt Lee was again a relatively boring bit of road walking, although there were a couple of airforce training aircraft flying around at one stage that did help with the monotony.
Mt Lee was a fascinating place as there is a large reserve area that actually looks like it's part of a country estate’s yard and what is called the "summer house" which is an open building with a lounge area and kitchen. All very well kept and despite being open no sign of vandalism or misuse.
Slowly the whole group from the night before drifted in and the lawn in front of the summer house became a little tent city.
Day 64 (29 November)
Mt Lee Reserve to Palmerston North (34km)
Another day of road walking today, seems since Whanganui options to get away from roads are pretty limited until after Palmerston North.
It started raining during the night and I woke to heavy rain that showed no sign of abating, so no choice but get out of my dry warm tent and pack up. The pack up was assisted by having the summer house as a shelter as I was able to pack my pack in my tent then leave it in the shelter while I packed up the tent.
Not many photos today due to the miserable weather and my general demeanour!
I decided against breakfast today as Fielding is only 12km away and I thought a good coffee and brunch there would be good option (mistake, but more on that soon).
The walk to Fielding was uneventful albeit very wet and I arrived there mid morning looking forward to my brunch. Unfortunately I hadn’t fully consulted the route map and when arriving in Fielding it became apparent that the TA route avoided the centre of town and hence any cafes or other places that served decent coffee and brunch.
After a couple of fistfuls of scroggin (trail-mix to you non-Kiwis) I decided to head on out and get the Palmerston. As I neared the end of Fielding I spotted a Jesters Pies sign outside a Caltex servo, so decided some respite from the rain and a pie for brunch might be go. Amazing how after a few weeks without a pie (the last Pie I’ve had was before I embarked on this adventure), even for brunch, they taste really good!
Leaving the servo I walked on the road adjacent to the railway line towards Bunnythorpe.
After about 5km the trail moved to other side of the railway and foolishly I followed the route without questioning why we would move from one side of the tracks to the other. It soon became apparent the reason was the road on the western side was a dead end and the only way forward was over a wasteland of long grass and a couple of reasonably deep stream crossings. So if I wasn’t wet enough already I definitely was now.
Once back on the road it was flat and straight all the way to Palmerston.
Now the biggest and most significant event of the day, or probably the week truth be known. At this stage I had caught up with Darrell the guy who I first meet in Tokamaru when I stopped for the smoothy. Darrell, it transpires, is a career shoe sales man (he started in the industry at 14 and is now 68, so 54 years of shoe, and by extension, foot experience.
While walking behind me Darrell was observing my walking style and gait and asked me if I realised I had a severely over-pronated left foot and did I have any issues with it. He seemed unsurprised when I explained to him how I’d had endless problems with my left leg, as his observation was my knee had a really strange movement at each step as the foot landed on the road.
I had no idea what an over-pronated foot was but after over 1000km of having pain in my left leg (sometimes reducing me to tears) I was happy to entertain any theory and possible remedy and frankly, I had as much faith in a shoe salesman as I did in the Chiropractor at Jerusalem who thought my fibula was dislocated and tried to put it back into place!
Darrell’s recommendation was I saw a Podiatrist but given I expected to only stop in Palmerston North for a day to resupply accepted this was not likely to happen so he suggested the second best option was to visit the Shoe Clinic and explain the issue and get them to check my gait on their equipment and hopefully purchase an inner sole that might assist.
Because I’m now writing this a few days later, I’ll give you whole story now.
In Palmerston North I did visit the shoe clinic and explained my issue. The folk there were very understanding but clearly wanted to sell me new shoes not just an inner. After analysing my gait and looking at my current footwear (which, needless to say, had the distinct aroma of shoes worn every day through mud etc.) they went to lengths to explain they could provide no guarantee while I continued in the current shoes. For my part I could see little value in a guarantee, if I experienced issues deep in the Tararua’s (where I was headed next) it seemed unlikely the guarantee would helicopter in a replacement pair of shoes.
Finally after a bit of toing and froing my intransigence paid off and after consultation with the manager it was agreed a pair of hard inners might be good solution. I tried them in the left shoe and while it felt very strange was hopeful this might be the solution to my problem.
Unfortunately, as I was putting on my shoes the manager suggested I should put the inners in both shoes. His words (now burnt into my memory) were, “it can’t do any harm”.
After the re-supply day in Palmy and a bit of a rest I embarked towards the Tararua’s with my new inners. The first indication that something was amiss was when I started getting sharp pain in my right shin. By the time I’d got to that first nights shelter I was hobbling and decided perhaps the inner in the right shoe could do some harm and had done so.
The outcome of this mistake is for the balance of the North Island I had no pain in my left leg but had replaced it with severe pain in my right shin and even now, a bit over a week since I finished in Wellington, the tendon is quite painful. The only good thing is now I know and I do have a few weeks to recover before setting out again.
Getting back to the day in hand though; on arriving in Palmerston I detoured off the TA route a bit and walked past my old flat in Albert Street. When I was there in about 1991 it was a dump and seemed to be about a fall down, I can report it still stands and remains a dump. The only change is what was colloquially known as “the pink house” is now the cream and grey house.
I decided having a possible leg solution I would take a zero day here in Palmerston tomorrow which would allow me to follow up on Darrell’s advice and resupply for the Tararua’s in a leisurely manner. Also the forecast for tomorrow was for continued rain and the lure of staying warm and dry for the day clinched to decision.
Day 65 (zero day)
Palmerston North
Despite the weather being wet and windy I got out and sorted out my resupply for the next week or so over the Tararuas and also as noted earlier got a new insole for my shoes which I’m hoping will solve the leg issue.
A great rest day, with what I expect will be a few tough days ahead now as I head out to the Tararuas.
A nice read John. I bet it was great get your shoes off and put that foot down on the carpet?
Hi John, very much hoping that the right leg pain goes away for you. The recent rain will have added to your woes I’m sure. I am at the carabach with Donna and McVet and he is in training to be able to keep up with you on your south island and leg.
keep safe dear man, with love S