Yesterday was the end of our walk until spring time - as we had planned. We have things to do at home and are off to Melbourne to visit our son in 10 days or so. So this will probably be the last blog post until we start again from here in Taumarunui - maybe sometime in October. The bus was due to depart Taumarunui at 1430 so we had the morning to kill. The lady at the motel was happy for us to leave our packs with her after we checked out so that we could pick them up before heading to the bus. We decided to do a little river walk (as you do on your rest days!!) and headed along the Whanganui River to the confluence of it and the Ongarue River. On this little trip we also discovered how the locals exercise their dogs!! Then it was back into town for some early lunch and a look around the town. We also saw some evidence of why we were wearing orange through the bush the last few days - see photos below!! Then it was onto the InterCity bus for a 1430 departure - changing buses at Bulls to get back hone to Paraparaumu. The trip took us down through the Paraparas to Whanganui then across to Bulls via Marton, stopping at all the main towns on the way!! Hadn't been that route for a long while. One certainly noticed the erosion on the papa country as we wound our way down the Whanganui - the road is still washed out and down to one lane in a number of places. I assume this is primarily a result of the massive rain events in June last year. I hate to think what the overall cost of recovery from those floods in the wider region must be - huge!!
Arrived home safely later in the evening. While we have hugely enjoyed the walking, it's also nice to be home for a while. Now it will be a matter of maintaining fitness and watching weight until we start again. New trousers will be the order of the day for me as, having lost 12kg over the last couple of months walking, pretty much all my trousers are too large and belts are struggling to fit!! Not a bad thing that both of us have dropped some weight - we'll see how it goes over winter! See you back in spring.
1 Comment
21/2/2022 16:44:37
I wouldn't get used to visiting this place. Every visit is like your first time, breath taking indeed.
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AuthorBelinda and Anthony (aka Tony) Hadfield made a decision, in their late 50's, to do something a "bit different" and walk New Zealand's 3000km Te Araroa Trail over summer 2015/16 - although updates will now tell you that this plan will take longer now!!. As the old saying goes - "don't leave home 'til you've seen the country"!! Archives
January 2018
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