Day 71: Fielding to Palmerston North (24km, 6 hours)

Goodbye Allison and John, hello road! I was off at 7am, although after stopping off for scrambled eggs at the cafe and a few supplies at the supermarket, it was 8am by the time I left Feilding.

John and Allison - and me with a big blob of sunscreen on my nose 🙄

Central Fielding. I originally had a room booked at the pub on the right - but there was live music, it would have been noisy!

There were more roads today - but they were more hiker-friendly than before, with walking paths, or no traffic. A couple of hours later, with ‘On the road again’ by Willie Nelson on high rotate in my head, I was in Bunnythorpe.

A path! Woohoo!

10am pic: raspberry + spearmint thickshake outside the Bunnythorpe dairy. Mmm, try it!

There was some nice variation around Bunnythorpe. A stream to cross! Stiles! Cutting through paddocks! Much better than roads.

The intrepid hiker is faced with a raging river

Didn’t even get my feet wet

Lots of stiles today, many carefully guarded. OK, these are just cows, should be safe

More stile guards

Awwwwwwww!!

Even more awwwwwww!!

By early afternoon I was on the outskirts of Palmerston North. My blister was starting to make its presence felt, so I was keen to get to my end goal - a night with new trail angels Brian and Paula.

Walking into Palmy

The path follows along the Manawatu River. Check out the wind turbines on the hills, they’re everywhere

Almost there! Just past this bridge I think…

I arrived about 2pm, earlier than I’d expected. Brian and Paula have a big house surrounded by fruit trees, so a perfect place to rest up before the big days ahead. My blister was getting sore (I hope not infected), so I borrowed Brian’s bike to cycle 2km in to get some more plasters from the supermarket. Fingers crossed it holds up for the tough days ahead.

Also staying here is Cassie! So we’ll be at the same camp sites from now on, and should be able to cross the Tararuas at the same time, which is nice. Cassie’s hiking partner gave up on the TA the first day after Whanganui, so Cassie is a bit nervous about completing the rest of the TA alone. I think it’s helpful for her to see how I’m doing by myself, and helpful to both of us to know there’ll be a familiar face at the campsites ahead.

My comfy room. This could be my last night in a bed for up to 10 days!

Erika (another TA), Cassie, Paula and Brian

Guess who was in their guest book from a year ago! My old canoe partner Jonnie! I’m following in her footsteps

On to serious matters now. For the next 3 days I’ll be heading into bush leading towards the Tararuas; and then the crossing itself, which will be a real challenge, and could take 4-7 days. I checked out mobile coverage from this point onwards, and the consensus is that there’s none. If they have a bit of wifi when I’m at the base of the Tararuas on Jan 2 I’ll do a quick post and send a few messages, but that’s no guarantee. So it’s very likely this will be my last blog entry for as much as 9 or 10 days. I plan to emerge into civilisation (Waikanae) on Jan 8, though that could be delayed a bit if there is bad weather. So, expect to hear from me around then.

We’ll I’ve washed my clothes, eaten my remaining ham roll from the bakery in Fielding, chatted to Cassie, Brian and Paula, and fretted about my blister and the days ahead. Off to sleep soon. Wish me luck - see you on the other side!

Today’s route.