Start – Taumarunui
Finish – Taumarunui
Daily Distance – 0 km
TA Distance – 1075 km
After a great deal of thoughtful beard stroking I have burnished my facial hair to the level of mirror shine
more commonly associated with Crufts winners. Almost as importantly, I finally have a plan.
Pictured – a plan coming together…
Today (Fri) I have taken a bus from Taumarunui to National Park. There is only 1 bus per day, so today
has mainly been spent mooching about (or more accurately on a pizza and cake bender).
Tomorrow (Sat) I will hire a mountain bike and ride the 42nd traverse part of the TA route. The bike will
save me 2 days or so of walking, which will allow me to at least travel this section under my own power
before my Whanganui river start date.
Overmorrow (Sun) will see me return to Taumarunui, stock up with food for 9 days and along with TA
walkers Jasper & Marion, be taken to the Whanganui start point. We will camp at the canoe hire company
overnight for an early start the following day.
Mon 11th – Sun 17th will see us kayaking the Whanganui river from Taumarunui to its completion at
Whanganui.
Mon 18th & Tue 19th will be spent walking to the town of Bulls.
Wed 20th starts a week where I am abandoning the official trail. This will start with a bus North from
Bulls to Taupo.
Thu 21st. Weather permitting I will be undertaking my first tandem skydive over the beautiful lake
Taupo.
Fri 22nd. Catch a shuttle to Tongariro national park for a week or walking. This will encompass the
Tongariro alpine crossing (part of the TA route I couldn’t fit in now) and the Round the Mountain trail,
which isn’t part of the TA, but looks stunning. Also, Christmas in the mountains should be pretty special.
After all of that, I will rejoin the TA route back at Bulls and continue my march down to Wellington.
Somewhat convoluted, but it seems to be the best way to fit everything in. A special thanks is owed to the
folks at the Taumarunui iSite (tourist info) office, for all of their booking help and advice. They really
made this process easier than it would otherwise have been.
Addendum
Swiss Chris unexpectedly arrived in town yesterday evening. Having last seen each other in Auckland it
was great to catch up on trail stories. It’s always a little extra special reuniting with people who started
from Cape Reinga on the same day and shared those first fledgling days.
Even better we now have a 4th member for our Whanganui adventure! It’s funny how scheduling works
out. This will be the first time Chris and I have traveled together since Raetea forest (Day 9).
Addendum 2
Played mini golf with Austin and Charlotte in National Park outside of a schnapps bar. There are no
shops, but there’s a mini golf course. NZ is a weird place!
