Te Araroa 26/11/25

Day 62, Tokomaru to Makahika (1571)

It was a bright morning but clouded over later and looked like rain on several occasions but it kept away in the end.

Bright morning 

The first part of the day followed the river up to the Tokomaru number 3 reservoir along a gravel road before turning off into the bush.

Tokomaru dam

The path wasn't too wet so slightly less mud today but there were some quite steep bits.

Drier through the bush

The trail climbed up to 690m before coming to a view point where I met a day walker who had come up from the south end.

View point number one

Not much of a view from this point or the next but it was a nice change from the enclosing trees.

Viewpoint number two 

One of the many stream crossings 

Down then to meet the beginnings of the Makahika Stream which had to be crossed multiple times before reaching the line of the old timber trail.

Farmland

A final river crossing to open farmland and then the road to Makahika Outdoor Centre and the little TA campsite with it's sheltered cooking area, shower and toilet.

Entrance to the outdoor centre 

The shower was most welcome. Another TA walker, Tim, arrived later having walked all the way from the Moturimu hut.

Campsite 

The weather forecast is looking bad for the mountains ahead. SJ, Di, etc went to Levin today and are spending the night there.

Te Araroa 25/11/25

Day 62, Kahuterawa to Tokomaru shelter (1553)

Cloudy with sunny intervals but again very warm in the afternoon.

Cycle track leaving the carpark 

Kahuterawa is a mountain bike area but there were few people about in the evening and only one car arrived as I was leaving in the morning, after that I didn't see anyone all day.

View from the track

The first section was an easy walk on a gravel bike track up to the road then gravel road to the Whare o Moturimu hut that I had thought of going on to yesterday. 

Whare o Moturimu hut

It was a very good hut, SJ and co. had stayed there the day before and it would have made today's walk easier but it didn't matter it wasn't a long day but there was 1000m of up and not much less down.

Start of the Burtton track

The trail continued on a gravel track until turning off into the bush on to Burttons track, once more into the bush; mud, tree roots and lots of up and down, very enjoyable.

Some duckboards 

Up and down a couple of big hills and I arrived at the Tokomaru River at Burtton's Whare site, or home site.

Tokomaru river

Jim Burtton lived there from 1909 until 1941 and farmed 170ha there with no road access until 1919 when he built one in after coming back from serving in the war.

I followed the river up from there, roughly on the line of Jim Burtton's road, which slowly improved as I walked, from bush path to gravel road just before the Tokomaru shelter, also known as Ian and Franks hut.

Dead? Tree

A good shelter with camping space, toilet and water supply (stream). 

Tokomaru shelter

No-one here so I decided to sleep in the shelter. I saw in the hut book that SJ& Di gang had stayed last night.

Te Araroa 24/11/25

Day 61, Palmerston North to Kahuterawa car park (1530)

The forecast threatened rain for today but even though some of the clouds looked rather black the rain kept away and by the afternoon it was bright and sunny again but quite windy.

Esplanade park

The path leaves Palmy through the Victoria Esplanade Park a well kept area with a 10 1/4 gauge railway running through it, diesel unfortunately.

Bridge over the river

A new footbridge goes across the river to Massey University farm where they are doing research into grass growing and other dairy type subjects.

Morning river

There was a very nice café amongst the buildings and, even better, a free coffee for TA walkers.

University hedge

Café 

The trail follows good paths and cycleways until clear of the town and then a mixture of minor road and paths.

Footpath / cycleway

Of course I managed to go the wrong way at one point, following a well marked path, but unfortunately the wrong one! Only a short diversion.

Countryside 

I arrived at the Kahuterawa car park in good time and spent some time debating with myself about wether to go further today, in the end deciding to stay, probably a decision that I will regret tomorrow.

Halfway!

The car park has an ideal campsite with a toilet, cooking shelter, water and a nice Mauri decoration, plenty of space and no-one else here.

Footbridge on the path 

Interesting tree

Car park decoration

Te Araroa 23/11/25

Day 60, Feilding to Palmerston North (1506)

It rained a bit last night but it had stopped by morning and I started under grey skys but the sun soon broke through and it became hot and humid again.

Leaving Feilding 

Only a short distance today so I got to Palmerston, or Palmy as they call it here, by lunch time.

Footpath, road and railway leaving Feilding 

It was a nice walk but basically on the road or beside it, I caught up with Tom and Eden and walked most of the way with them.

Eden with a tentative horse pat

We stopped at Bunnythorpe for a pie at the shop, 9 am was a strange time to be eating pies but the cage next door was closed.

Steam, I wasn't quick enough with the camera

On then followed the road and rail to the outskirts of Palmy, quite a long way from the centre.

Nearly in Palmerston North 

After coffee and a scone we went out as separate ways to get shopping for the next eight days and find accommodation for the night 

Nice little coffee shop

I had booked a motel room for a bit more luxury before heading for the hills so I checked in and went back to the town to buy some gas that I forgot to get on the way through and had dinner at Rosie O'Grady's, another Irish pub!

Central square Palmerston North 

Palmerston North is a big town, built on the standard New Zealand pattern of wide streets and big squares, very nice.

Palmy

Starting the Tararua hills tomorrow, a lot of food to carry and some big hills to climb. Not sure what the phone signals will be like.

Te Araroa 22/11/25

Day 59, Bulls to Feilding (1486)

Slept well despite the road noise and woke to another day of mainly sunshine. Charlie had gone early as he was walking all the way to Palmerston North, I was only going to Feilding so a more leisurely start was in order.

River Rangitikei outside Bulls

All road walking today, minor roads and gravel once clear of the N3. Very pleasant but increasingly hot.road walking today, minor roads and gravel once clear of the N3. 

Agapanthus?

Lots of cows and grass paddocks but there were some sheep as well, no maize.

Holsteins 

There were some very nice houses the closer I got to Feilding and the approach to the town is very impressive.

A non-pretensions house

Very wide streets with some old buildings in the centre but mainly well spaced bungalows covering a large area.

Corrugated iron cow sculpture on the way into Feilding 

It got the impression that it is a 'leafy suburb' of Palmerston North even though it is a proper town.

Feilding public park

I walked out to the Holiday Park and campground which looked quite nice on their website but when I got there it was rather run down and grotty so I went back to town. An extra 4 km in the sun but on the way back a car pulled up and someone got out, said "hello grandpa" and handed me a can of cola.

Feilding 

It was Dave, a trail angel who as been following Charlie's YouTube videos and knew about me from them. He suggested that I was the oldest Te Araroa walker this year!

A rather nice house on the way to the holiday park 

I stayed at the Feilding Hotel, rough enough but cheap. 

The Feilding Hotel 

A good meal in the Irish Bar before an early bed.

Another old building in Feilding