Te Araroa Trail Whanganui River
I had an amazing night’s sleep last night. The Flying Fox has a wonderful vibe about it that ensures you leave your troubles behind. Not that I have any of course.. my biggest dilemmas these days are what flavour museli bar to have this morning! After the drama of a couple of days ago, life is good.
A late start
Anouck, Ines and I left at midday. We were aiming to wild camp tonight about 22kms away. We didn’t want to rock up in the middle of the day, hence leaving at lunchtime. We showered briefly in our clothes before we left, in an effort to cool ourselves down.. on yet another 30 degree day!! We said our goodbyes to Kelly and Jane, and got the cable car back over the river to the road.
Anouck and I walked a little faster than Ines, and we made decent mileage, stopping frequently for water breaks. It got so hot that we changed our mids on the ‘taking an unsolicited lift’ to thumbing a lift.
Super-hitch!
Today’s trail angel came to us in the form of Val, whose car was already packed to the gunnels. She squeezed us in, and took us all the way into Whanganui. En route we enjoyed her tales of local life, and very excitingly her wedding plans 🙂
Val dropped us right at Braemar House, the YHA hostel in Whanganui. Again I’m humbled by the generosity of the very special people who go out of their way to look after others.
Once ensconced, I popped into town for a bit of food shopping.. and bought my fave ‘in town’ backpacker meal, which is fresh broccoli and asparagus with grated parmesan cheese. Desert was a danish pastry, strawberries, blueberries and yogurt – yum!
Anja and Markus arrived today on their bikes, having completed the river journey and cycled from Pipiriki. It was great to catch up on their river adventures.