• Te Araroa Day 62
• Summerhill to Manawatū River (and back to the motel) – 6.53km in 1 hour 15 minutes
• Calories consumed – lots???

It was good to have a nice relaxed start to the day, and try to sleep in at least. Still working our way through the handy Neat Places guide to Palmerston North we headed off to have lunch at social enterprise Wholegrain Organics. On the menu was a delicious pumpkin soup with gluten free foccacia – I think all made with local produce from the farm they run on the outskirts of town.

Then we enjoyed a lengthy browse in the bookshop, where I picked up the Tour Aotearoa cycle trip guide to plot the next adventure, and added quite a few books to my ‘to-read’ list. It was a tough choice of afternoon tea treats but a rhubarb tart and lemon tart won.

In my research a couple of other bloggers had mentioned the good bus network, and I was keen to make use of it after the slack-packing bus success of the Huntly-Ngāruawāhia section. It was a short bus ride from the city centre up towards the hills, and then about 5 km of Te Araroa heading back towards the city – taking in IPU, Massey from a distance, some animal farm testing type places, and huge Fonterra offices. Not particularly scenic, but at least there was a shared pathway to follow and doing this saved me from a 35km day leaving Palmerston North and will make it a more manageable 30km. Palmerston North is also famous for having the best Te Araroa signage and it sure does!

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Yatai Japanese Izakaya was our choice for a celebratory mid-TA dinner tonight, shouted by Dad from afar. The authentic menu and atmosphere made it feel like a mini trip to Japan – or as close as we can get in Covid times anyway. I was in green tea heaven with this dessert – とても美味しかったです。

One of the lovely owners came over to chat and we explained what had brought us to Palmerston North. Her first question to me was “Are you doing it alone?!” followed by “And how do you feel about that?” to Mum. I guess the combination of sitting next to Mum while she was asked this, along with memories of the recent hiccup at Tongariro, made the question really hit home. The previous day we’d been trying to figure out what official day I was up to for my blog, and Mum had taken out her notebook she said she’d been counting in. I hadn’t realised that Mum had been recording every satellite & text message (along with my location and time) I sent, and seeing it written down had given me an instant insight into what it’s like for loved ones at home who aren’t on the journey with you. With the treacherous Tararuas looming, it seemed an appropriate time to be reminded of what I’d recently decided was most important to me – coming home in one piece safely to my family and friends that I love, not doggedly walking every step of this sometimes seemingly impossible trail.