Post # 3

Wanganui to Wellington

km 1402 to km 1733

331km

At the south end of the North Island - 'Wellington'

Early morning on the Wanganui river - the 'Waimarie' paddle wheeler
.........A beautiful start to a glorious day!..........

And a shitty finish!.....pissing rain!....waiting for a ride!

OK again by morning....Santoft forest walk.

Beach by Koitiata..... painful ....wind driven sand!

 A kiwi Christmas tree......
Toss them on the ground and you're a low life...
Hang them on a tree and you're a hero!...go figure!

A road walk to 'Palmerston North'... northern California anyone!

City hiking along the 'Manawatu' river.

Climbing back into the mountains -
first day of four in the outback

And the first night ....so far so good!

Second day of four in the outback......

Second half of the second day of four.......this sucks!

still the second half of the second day....couldn't take it!
...bailed to town for a venison burger and a  motel

Finished the hike along the beach......much better

Back on the trail at the escarpment trail
popularly known as the 'Stairway to heaven'
Only 10 km and 1480 more steps to go!

Nice reward at the end.... thanks to a young Kiwi entrepreneur....
 a $2 lemonade with a couple of Belgian TA hikers.

" Bite me! "

Final descent into Wellington.
The end of this leg in sight!

That's it....can't go any further here......done!

====================================

COACHES CORNER

====================================

Sunshine with Darrell in 'Bulls'

'Bulls' city.......pun capital of the world

check out the sign!

The beach at 'Otaki' ...cold and wet but ever optimistic......

....life guard station up and running and ready to go!

This is for real...a genuine 'Maori' electric guitar

(well at least it was made by a genuine 'Maori')

Open and all will be revealed!

And so it was!

 Yin and Yang......small and large.....Kayak out.....Tour boat in!

(I assume they have a good reason for doing it this way)

A toast to our commercial kitchen.......they allowed us to use it to make dinner

Us on the 'Stairway to heaven' -

part of the Te araroa trail

Complete with at least 1500 steps!

Highway and rail line below 

Our kind of sign......options!! ...... Which will it be?

.....walk back or take the train back?

Actually a no-brainer......Train it is!

Outside of Wellington.........Waiting for Darrell.....Again!

Downtown Wellington.....Hostel row.....home for two nights

(think of Gas Town, Vancouver)

Kind of institutional inside.....and disappointing

bunk beds....hot rooms...no A/C...no windows....

But as Darrell says " We were put on this earth to suffer!"

Goodbye Wellington .....boarding the 'Interislander'

Next stop........

South Island!

Till the next post!