By Ruth

Distance: 28 km

This morning we had to leave the oasis of Rob and George’s wonderful home. The section of trail between Whanganui and Palmerston North is almost all on paved roads – which we like to skip if we can – except for about 20 km on a beach – which we wanted to walk if we could. Our original plan was to hitchhike out of Whanganui along the highway until the exit that would lead to the beach, then walk the road the rest of the way to the beach. The problem was there is a tidal river crossing about 5 km along the beach. We needed to be there at low tide to cross safely and with hitchhiking not being the most punctual method of transportation, we were not sure how it was going to go.

Luckily, our amazing guardians Rob and George once more were there with just what we needed. They offered to drive us down to the beach this morning, and even drop us beyond the tidal river so we wouldn’t need to stress about the tides. So we had a great morning, getting chauffeured, even stopping to see some sights along the way, before starting our walk at the beach.

Rob and George are truly the most generous and wonderful people and we are honoured to call them our friends.

The beach was really beautiful. We haven’t walked on a beach since before Auckland and at first we were feeling nostalgic. The sand, the sounds of the waves, the smell of decomposing sea creatures, it was all so familiar.

Pretty soon though I remembered that I don’t really like walking on the beach because it’s so monotonous. Luckily we only had about 3 hours of it today but even that felt like a lot by the end!

Afterwards we went through a weird pine forest, followed by quiet rural roads all the way into Bulls.

Bulls is a small town that takes its name seriously. There are a lot of statues of bulls around. The holiday park we’re staying at tonight has a sign declaring they pride themselves on being “hospita-bull”. They even have bulls in the paddock behind where we pitched our tent!

Overall, it is nice to be walking again. Our stay with Rob and George has left us feeling rejuvenated and once again excited to see what the long pathway brings.

And for those who are concerned about my face – it is doing a lot better, thank you!