Te Araroa 20/11/25

Day 52, Whanganui Youth Hostel to Koitiata (1432)

The overnight rain cleared and it became a hot, sunny windy day.

'From the mountains to the sea' sculpture at Whanganui 

I'm not really sure why I decided to take the bus to Turakina this morning, it was a lovely day for a longer walk even if it was on a main road.

Engine in an old riverboat

However; I got on the bus after a quick coffee stop at the Riverboat Museum. I didn't realize that it opened early or I would have got there sooner to spend more time looking at the exhibits.

Steam and paddles, a model of the boat on the river

The bus dropped me at the filling station in Turakina, the only remaining business, the Ben Nevis bar and hotel never having reopened after covid.

The Ben Nevis 

There is an obvious Scottish connection to the town with the name of the bar, a Saltire painted on the bus shelter and and a Presbyterian Church.

interesting post box

I did ask the Asian girl in the filling station if she knew what the connection was but had no success.

Good agricultural land

There were a lot of fields of maize growing on the fertile sandy ground although I didn't see many cows. I did pass some sheep pens and a wool shed where they were loading lambs for slaughter. "Costal Lamb" as sold in New World Supermarket I was told by the person loading them, they lamb early in June.

Sheep and wool shed 

Koitiata is a really nice beach village and has an excellent small campsite for tents and vans with kitchen facilities and hot showers.

Koitiata

I was there by lunchtime but there is nowhere to camp for a long way further so I set up camp and went exploring the river estuary with its piles of dead trees that had been washed down in floods over the years.

I found loads of interesting bits of wood and shells on the black volcanic sand but I don't feel like carrying them all the way home. 

Pity I can't take it home

I met an interesting character on the sand who had driven down from Whanganui and was collecting lots of bits to take home.

The river crossing that I didn't do 

When the tide went out it did look possible to cross the river but I still didn't like it. Happy to have avoided the road and river.