Livin' on a prayer

7 April

Koitiata to Whanganui

KM 1375

Distance: 33km + 4.7km in town

Elevation^: ascent 164m, descent 154m

Steps: 47,600 (+7,900 in town)

Time: 7:15am - 3:00pm

As Jon Bon Jovi says:

Woah, we're half way there
Woah, livin' on a prayer

Take my hand, we'll make it I swear
Woah, livin' on a prayer

Yep that's right! Even with the flip-flopping we've done, and the couple of short bits of road walking we skipped on the South Island, we're pretty sure we've reached the halfway point (by km travelled) in our journey. You may notice that we're a little bit more than halfway in our allotted time (having only the 5 months to the end of May), but given the distances we can travel on road sections in the North Island, plus the fact that we are skipping the Whanganui River section, has us fairly confident we can make it most of the way, if not all the way, to Cape Reinga.

Today dawned clear and calm, no sign of yesterday's wind. We started the day by fording the small river near the campsite to get back onto the beach, heading north. We tried a few places to ford the river, but Eliza (the one in front) kept sinking in to quicksand. Until we tried right down in the inter-tidal zone and the surface was solid enough to support us and our packs for the crossing.

The beach today had so many beautiful stones, of all different colours and consistencies. We even saw a few that had fossilized shells encased in them.

One thing was clear to us throughout the day - the power of the surf here. The breaking waves just off shore were quite loud, but also the beach, both yesterday and today, was strewn with very large logs (aka trees) that had been carried there by the water. Yesterday we even saw a log about this size being carried by the current about 2 meters off shore, being moved consistently and swiftly south along the coast. Needless to say, this is not a swimming beach and neither of us was tempted to get in to the water.

We had only a short stint on the beach today before we headed up through some farmland (having another "fun" near-encounter with some yearling bulls who had just enough testosterone to paw the ground at us, but luckily not enough to actually charge at us) and then up on to some country roads for the remainder of the day. In between playing car cricket* and finding roadside apple trees, our legs ate up the kilometers. 

We even got the experience of walking through a stop-go section of road construction! The traffic managers held traffic for us, for the entire 200m section. We asked, and they had only seen one other walker today; someone we had passed a few km back - our first SoBo TA walker of the North Island! Richard started at Cape Reinga not long after we started at Bluff, and is going to stop at Wellington for this season.

It was still early afternoon when we made it to the outskirts of Whanganui, just a couple of kilometers from the centre of town. 

Wait, you say, why are you spelling the town differently to what is on the street sign? The iwi in the Whanganui area pronounce the "wh" much more softly than in many other parts of the country, much more similar to how "wh" is pronounced in English. Many (but not all) other iwi pronounce the "wh" as an English "f". So early English-speaking settlers only heard the "w" sound in the name, and that is how they wrote it. But Maori linguists always knew that the sound was related to the "wh" sound used elsewhere. It has been very contentious whether Whanganui gets its "h" or not - and road signs, maps, etc are mixed in their spelling. But iwi and Maori linguists are fairly firm, so I definitely use their spelling.

The route we took into town took us past the Durie Hill Elevator. The hill that leads up to the neighbourhood of Durie is quite steep, and about 80m high. The town of Whanganui actually built an elevator for the public to use to get up and down this hill! Unfortunately, there was a slip just recently that blocks the bottom entrance, so the elevator is out of commission.

Even though we suffered down the stairs and ramps, we were able to enjoy this beautiful view of Whanganui from above. Also, we appreciated that we were going down, and not up that hill - any hills are tough at the end of a long day. 

We are staying in the Grand Hotel, an old-fashioned hotel over the top of an Irish Pub. It was described in online reviews as "one step up from a backpackers" but we are very imnpressed and happy with this hotel. Also, the food in the pub downstairs was delicious.

Between arriving and dinner, we added another 6 ot 7km to our trail day, going to find a replacement cooker, and buying food for the next section of trail. 

We are heading back south to Waikanae by bus tomorrow morning, and will be on the trail into the Tararua Ranges before noon. This is a nearly week-long section, and should be the last time of any length that we will be out of reception for more than a day or two. 

*Car cricket: a game played on long car trips, modified for walking on a very quiet road. Each car that drives past is a delivery. 

Car = 1 run

Van = 2 runs

Truck = 4 runs

Emergency vehicle = 6 runs

Red vehicle = out.

In just under an hour, and about 5km or walking, Vaughan and Eliza put on nearly 60 runs in an unbroken partnership.

^elevation stats are approximated by a similar but not exact route.