Day 61 - an earthquake at half way
Palmerston North —-> Moturimu Whare 32km
I left my motel in the drizzle, loaded up with the heaviest pack I’d had to date. 9 days worth of food weighing me down would make my day a little slower.
Walking out of Palmerston North, a conga line of army trucks loaded with water tanks passed me, i assumed headed for the east coast to where Gabrielle had hit the hardest. I reached a bridge where groups of people were all stood watching the river. It was clearly in flood; brown mucky water overflowing onto the banks and footpaths either side. (I later learnt, that even though it hasn’t really rained in Palmie, the excessive rain in the north had flowed downstream and caused the Manawatu river to flood).
I crossed the bridge to find my path also blocked with water. Looking at the map, an alternative way around would mean a 4-5km detour, so I decided to just wade through, Josh and I had been through much worse up in Northland. Luckily it only lasted 100m or so and didn’t come any higher than my mid-calf, but it didn’t smell great…
For the rest of the morning I passed through the outer countryside suburbs of Palmerston North. I passed an apple tree, its fruit overflowing and taunting me as I walked by. It just happened to be snack time. Scrumping a couple of the ripest ones, I walked around the corner and sat under a tree to munch down.
The track for the rest of the day was fairly easy, along country roads that eventually joined up with a local walking track alongside the river.
I knew at some point today I’d be passing a giant milestone although I wasn’t quite prepared for it when I got there. Turning a corner, I saw the sign marking the half way point of the TA and immediately burst into tears; I wasn’t quite sure why. A mixture of utter joy that I’d come so far, shock that I’d actually been able to do it and sadness that I was on my own with no one to share the moment with. I sat on a picnic bench opposite the sign, ate some snacks and realised it was probably hunger too.
I sat for about half an hour, thinking about the 60 odd days I’d been out walking and how many more days I still had to go. I was half way in distance but probably not in time. As I worked my way down the islands, the terrain would be getting harder and I’d be covering less km per day.
I walked the final hour through a logging forest and got to my home for the night around 5.30pm. A gorgeous little hut called Moturimu Whare. Constructed especially for TA walkers, it was built in the style of a traditional Māori hut and had a curtain rather than a door.
There was no one else here and I didn’t see anyone else for the rest of the evening - all the logging activity seemed to have closed up shop for the day. I collected water from the stream and soaked my feet. Cold, but worth it, but not worth it enough to get all the way in.
After dinner I crawled into my sleeping bag and was reading my book when the hut started to shake. At first I thought it was the wind but as it shook more aggressively and continued on I realised it was an earthquake. It lasted around 20 seconds. I had no phone signal at the hut so couldn’t check how strong it was but I poked my head outside to see if anything had changed - all seemed normal…!
Apart from the human hand-sized spider that crawled across my face in the middle of the night, I had a pretty restful sleep.
