• Te Araroa Day 53
• Taumarunui to Ōwhango – 28.22km in 6 hours 35 minutes
• Interesting bird sightings: 2

I was cutting it fine this morning – ready to check out at 9:59am but at least I was well rested and had enjoyed a few cups of tea. I headed off along the main street. Yesterday I noticed on Google Maps there’s something labelled ‘Taumarunui Giant Wooden Moa’ but I hadn’t seen it. I thought it must be old, and felt disappointed there hadn’t been any giant town objects to see on Te Araroa so far. Where were the giant fruit, fish etc? Well, good news, the trail took an odd dog leg in town seemingly to include the moa! It’s not huge, but I was amused nonetheless.

Heading out of Taumarunui, the Whanganui River came into view for the first time as the trail went over a bridge and onto the road I would spend most of the day on. The cycle tour also took this road, but there was hardly any traffic on it. I listened to my audio book again, and plodded along quite enjoying the scenery and nice temperature.

The highlight of my morning was coming across the famous ostrich! Finally something cool in a paddock other than cows. My sister asked why it’s famous, and I had to admit it’s not – it had just featured in both TA blogs I read and the YouTube video series of someone’s hike, so more famous on Te Araroa than in the real world. It seemed keen to walk along the fence line with me for a bit, and I was most excited.

Next up was the very small settlement of Hikumutu, featuring as far as I could tell a handful of houses, a community centre, concrete tennis court, and an old outdoor pool. However, the lovely people of Hikumutu had kindly installed a toilet for cyclists and hikers to use! The only one on today’s 28 km journey.

The road turned to gravel and dropped into a valley, and began feeling very isolated. Hopefully no cows on the road today! I stopped for lunch on the side of the road and got out the cheese and crackers. They were crunchy and yummy, but it took time to faff about cutting the cheese and putting the pesto on. I missed my easy couscous a little bit. Later I spent ages trying to pick egg shell off my hard boiled egg.

A guy came crawling along in a Mercedes, driving kind of oddly but I’d seen him hours ago. He stopped to chat and said he was an ultra runner and ran this leg every now and again. He explained which house up the road he got water at and then went into a lot of detail about water sources on the 42 Traverse. “Mmm ok” I said remembering pretty much nothing and just feeling happy and relieved he was a normal person.

The road climbed out of the valley and the day began to feel a lot like it was never going to end. My audio book was good company and the body felt fine. It was a touch gloomy by 5pm when I finally got to Ōwhango and my hosts for the night seemed happy I’d made it.

Mike and Kay have a big old house that they rent out rooms in, and also have space for camping and facilities in the garage for hikers. The fire was roaring, and Mike set me up with a great cup of tea. I made up my pumpkin and spinach curry for dinner, but happily accepted some sausages and roast veges they had leftover and kindly offered me. Kay seemed a bit worried that I might need crampons and an ice axe on Tongariro Crossing and Mike reported that all the vehicles and bikes he’d seen come out of 42 Traverse recently had been absolutely covered in mud. I checked the DOC Tongariro Crossing page again carefully and was relieved April is still classed as the summer season, and reassured Mike I would check with the holiday park people and DOC before entertaining doing it.

Ōwhango has a cell tower nearby but it only services two companies and not 2 Degrees, so my phone shows signal but doesn’t work. I guess it will be a few days at least before I have reception.

As for tomorrow’s walk, there hasn’t been any heavy rain recently so the stream crossing the day after tomorrow should be ok. I have plenty of food if it isn’t and I have to wait for some reason. I hope the trail isn’t a muddy mess, but who knows…. I do feel a little worried about the roar and hunters who use the forest a lot, but everyone says you’re fine on the trail. Hopefully camping in the forest will also be ok.