Distance travelled today: O km on trail, plenty of walking about town.

Another restfull day.

Having a rest day today was not scheduled. I had got ahead of myself and arrived in town a day early. That’s all good. I haven’t really had a two day break at all since starting at Cape Reinga so having a day off in Whanganui and another today in short sucession is great. Another opportunity to recharge the batteries, both kinds, my electronics and my body.

It was a quiet day. Another sleep in, lots of reading and eating nice food. Towns are a trap though. Too many tempations to waste money. I got to the movies and saw the new Star Wars. I grew up with the series and had to see it. For any other fans it won’t dissapoint.

Towards the end of the day as shops were starting to close, I got my freashly laundered hiking pants off the line and noticed that the stiching on both rear pockets had come apart making the pockets unless. I was going to try and mend them by hand but shot off down the street and found a clothing alteration store not far from shutting the doors. Lucky for me they were more than happy to fix them on the spot.

Then walking out into the main square of Palmerston North I bumped into McKayla, Shania and Seffen. I haven’t seen these guys since Peach Cove Hut I think, about a month ago. That was awesome. Looks like there will be some other TAers over the Tararua’s to share the adventures with.

Sarah gets into town tonight and we’ll rip into the range tomorrow. Due to logging however there is a section just out of Palmerston North that is closed for 20km. Straight out of town you can walk about 22km along the trail but then need to backtrack as it runs into the closed section and there are no side routes to take to skip around it. So we’ll look at our options tonight and decide what might suit Sarah best. We can get onto the trail via Shannon but there is then no opportunity for resupplying for 6 to 8 days. Thats a lot of food to carry for a fresh tramper. The other option is to head to Levin and get onto Te Araroa and carry 5 to 6 days food. That’s probably a bit more managable. So watch this space.

With a day off today I managed to get some more stuff planned. Accommodation in Wellington is sorted and I have a water taxi arranged from Picton to the start of the Queen Charlotte Track on the south island. This was timed well as it fits in with the Cook Strait crossing times on the Interislander.