Te Araroa (day 30) - Whanganui to Kahuterawa Stream [skip to Palmerston North] / mile 936

"Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs" Fran Lebowitz

Today, second of my planned skips to allow finishing TA on time happened, I've took a bus over a 60 miles section from Whanganui to Palmerston North. That section was following mainly roads and beaches which I wasn't particularly interested in. From this point on I should be covering Te Araroa to it's end in Bluff.

Yesterday, just before going to sleep, I've made the final decision how to tackle the rest of North Island as it involved planning ahead. The main issue was a ferry which every hiker had to take to cross between North and South Island, Christmas-time tickets were selling fast and there were no boats at all on Christmas day.
In the morning I walked to Whanganui bus station and took the Intercity. I've arrived in Palmerston North at 10:00am, resupplied at Pak N' Save, ate at Burger King and made my way out of town. The idea was to hike remaining 135 miles from here to Wellington in five days, arrive there on Christmas Eve and stay for three nights at the Nomads Capital Backpackers. I would have booked only two nights but as I mentioned before there were no ferries on Christmas Day, and to make matters worse all tickets were sold out for the 26th which left me with no option but to book morning ferry on the 27th before even those were gone.

This set up allowed me a day off for Christmas and a day to resupply and buy things I needed for the South Island, mainly new pair of shoes and a gas canister. Looking at the resupply options on the South Island was also something I had to work out as shops there were quite scarce. To make the matters more interesting, there was another ferry I had to take after crossing to Pickton to take me to the begging of the trail but luckily I didn't have to book it just yet.

For the next couple of days I will be hiking through the region called Tararua's, it's the last of the highlights on the North Island. I'm not planning to stay in any shelters until Wellington, but it might change depending on the weather forecast.
Tonight's campsite is a well equipped trail parking just over 12 miles outside of Palmerston North. It has a toilet, an open shelter with table and chairs and many flat spots to camp on by the Kahuterawa Stream. 

Sandflies are spawns of the devil, every single bite on my legs inches and swells. I think they assassinated all the mosquitoes as well, as I'm not seeing any of them but I won't be complaining about that.

Tuesday 19th of December, 55 days to go.

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