Day 53: Peter’s Pollution Emporium
December 2nd, 2019
Kilometers: 1361.5-1393.6
YHA Whanganui - Koitiata Campground
I was the first one up this morning as football starts at 7:00am here. I watched NFL Redzone on my phone from my bed for a while before the others woke up. Once everyone was up, we went to the kitchen and ate our pizzas we had bought last night for breakfast.
Peter left before the rest of us in hopes of being able to get a new phone before we left Whanganui. Charlie, Alex, and I headed for the Countdown a few blocks from the hostel.
At Countdown, we got a relatively small resupply as we will be in Palmerston North is just three days and there are multiple towns along the way.
After our resupply, we went to the Post Office just across the way and got all of our bounce box items out of our packs and sent them to Wellington.
At about 10am, we set off for the day.
We immediately crossed the bridge back over the Whanganui River and found ourselves at the bottom of Durie Hill, “the garden suburb.” We had to climb a long, steep staircase which led to a steep pathway to the top.
From Durie Hill, we continued along the road and quickly found ourselves back walking along farmland.
We stayed on the same road for almost 12 kilometers with cars speeding by us and a lot of flat, uninteresting farmland.
Peter, bored of the road, was able to get a hitch and skipped a few kilometers of it.
At the turn, Alex and I stopped for lunch. We each ate a wrap, some dried fruit, some nuts, a little chocolate, and had a Red Bull. After not walking for six days, a kick from the Red Bull was really helpful in keeping us going strong.
We walked on that road for a few kilometers before meeting up with the dreaded State Highway 3. The shoulder was really small and almost all the cars and trucks were going over 100kph making for a nerve-wracking three kilometers. Charlie especially hates these road sections and has no problem yelling at the drivers as they go by.
After the highway, we had 8 kilometers left through more farmland to get to the beach. We came across one of the largest cow farms we have seen yet with what had to be over 1000 cows. At this time, a drizzle started and the wind picked up. We are expecting a bad storm tomorrow and I was assuming this was a precursor to that.
After 8 more kilometers of road walking, we found ourselves back on sand. It was nice to be back walking along the Tazman Sea for the first time since 90 Mile Beach and our first beach walk in over 700km.
We took a long break once arriving on the beach as we had a river crossing a few hours ahead and the tide wasn’t yet low.
Peter passed the time by gathering garbage along the beach and making a museum for future walkers. Naturally, we named it Peter’s Pollution Emporium.
After about 45 minutes of relaxing, we grew sick of the increasing number of flies and decided to start the beach walk.
This beach was the first black sand beach we have come across so far and it was stunning. It was covered in thousands of pieces of driftwood which spanned most of the width of the beach.
The sand gave way much easier than on previous beach walks meaning the four kilometers quickly began taking a toll on my knees and ankles.
After the four kilometer walk, we found ourselves at the river, three hours before low tide. We sent Peter first as he is the tallest and he crossed holding his pack over his head with water at just below his waist. Charlie and myself followed just behind. Alex was the last to go.
After crossing the river, we walked through some brush and found ourselves right at our campsite for the evening. A small campground set up by the community with a coin operated hot shower, drinking water, a toilet, and plenty of room for camping.
We set up quickly and all showered before making dinner.
Tonight we had beef teriyaki bowls with actual beef, peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, and rice. Alex and I both agreed it was the best meal we have cooked while camping so far.
By 8, we were all in our tents. The forecast for tomorrow is very bleak towards the afternoon so we are going to wake up early and be out before 7 to beat the worst of it
-Ethan