TA Day 93

TA Day 93: Friday 21 March 2025

Taumarunui - Bennett Road Campsite

This morning was the last morning with Kim's parents before they drove south to visit the South Island and we continued walking. After breakfast we drove to Whanganui, and stopped a few times along the way to take photos of Mount Taranaki. This morning the sky was completely clear, and we could see the mountain in all its might and beauty.

In Taumarunui they dropped us off, and we said goodbye several times over, and it seemed like it was a bit hard for them to leave.

We were curious to see how it would go for them, since they now would be "on their own" completely, and drive long distances on the "wrong side of the road" etc.

And then we started to hitch. After half an hour we were picked up by a man in a Volvo, who drove us all the way to Taumarunui where we would continue our hike from where we left off at New World's parking lot.

Lukas and the nice guy chatted all the way while Kim dozed off in the backseat halfway there.

Once we arrived at New World we bought some pie, then went to McDonald's for an ice cream.

Then time to start the hike again. First some road walking under a really hot sun 🌞 Then the tarmac turned to gravel, and the sun dipped lower and lower.

Until it got dark. And we still had a long way to go. So we continued in the dark, and when we were just a few km from the campsite we started hearing really strange sounds from a pasture just beside the road. It sounded weird, like super scary zombie cows. Something grunts, like a pig. We had never heard anything like it and had no idea what it could be. Was it bulls making this kind of sound? Or something else? And we had no mobile service, so we couldn't Google either. A mystery for another day, we just had to try to ignore it for now.

We finally reached the campsite where we pitched our tent under a starry sky, washed ourselves and went to bed at half past ten, still to the sounds of the "zombie cows.

Today's:

Distance: 26.10 km

Ascent: 274 m

Descent: 238 m

Tent nights: 47/93

Weather: Sunny and hot, some clouds in the afternoon