TA Day 76

TA Day 76: Tuesday 4 March 2025

Koitiata Campground - Whanganui (Braemar House - B&B and YHA Hostel Whanganui)

We started the day with eating small pancakes together with a whole jar of jam 😂 Then we said goodbye to Jan, who had woken up early to say goodbye to us. But he also said, that maybe he could come to Whanganui this evening to have dinner with us :)

We needed to start early today because we were going to do some river crossings, and we needed to do them while it was low tide, which it was at 8.

Lulu and Jules teamed up with us, and we started with crossing Turakina River. We crossed where the markings were and it was mid thigh deep for both of us. Kim juuuust managed to keep her underwear dry, and for Lukas it was similar, but he also crossed a few steps to the right, where it was slightly deeper.

We continued ahead along the beach, about 5 km until the next river crossing. Kim and Lulu talked all the way, as best as they could in the relatively strong wind. Jules, or "purple pants" as he's also called now, was a bit behind but we stopped by the river crossing so he could catch up.

The TA trail actually don't cross this next river, Whangaehu River, but follows it upstream and then you road walk all the way to Whanganui. We weren't so keen on doing that, and after Lukas tried to cross the Whangaehu River and it, just like Turakina River, was only mid thigh deep, all of us followed him across. No issues. So much easier than we had thought! Someone had written on FarOut that it was chest deep which had made Kim a bit anxious. The deepest part was just like Turakina.

After the crossing we continued along the beach for a bit more than 10 km. Still windy, we tried to talk a lot but it was a bit difficult and after some time we were talking less and less.

The beach finally ended and we started to follow a road. Immediately when we left the ocean it got less windy and easier to talk, but also a lot warmer!

Along the way we met two ladies who fed feral cats, then catching them to sterilise them and rehome them! We also met a cute, friendly horse along the way that was in a very dry, yellow pasture and was very happy to receive green grass from the other side. He didn't seem so happy when we left though and kept running after us 🥺

When we reached Whanganui, Jules wanted to go up the famous Durie Hill Elevator there, that is over 100 years old. Lulu is afraid of elevators though and refused to follow. So instead Lukas went up with him while Kim stayed with Lulu and they both went ahead to the nearest bathroom which was very needed 🚽

Then all of us continued towards our accommodation for the night. We were so hungry though, so we couldn't help stopping by this little Asian store to buy some random snacks before continuing. We were disappointed to find though, that we couldn't check in to our accommodation yet. So we took a detour to the supermarket to resupply for the next few days until Raetihi.

When we were finally at our accommodation, we crashed for some time before Lukas did laundry and Kim took a bath (gotta used it when it's possible, right!?). Jan had promised to come and have one last dinner with us so we were waiting for him. He wouldn't come until 20:30 though so Lulu and Jules went to bed before he arrived, and we ordered take away and had burgers and beer outside at the patio late in the evening. Super nice but we were so tired!

Today's:

Distance: 25.60 km

Ascent: 285 m

Descent: 292 m

Tent nights: 43/76

Weather: Windy and cloudy with some light showers, a lot of rain in the evening and afternoon