Day 31: Repeater Campsite to Mercer Motel (685-719)

The bunk rigging of my tent worked great through the night and it was free from dew in the morning. What a great way to start the day! After packing everything up and eating breakfast I hit the trail. My plan was to make it to a campsite or try to make it all the way to Mercer.

As I began hiking, I ran into a few people using the mountain bike trails. I talked to two nice guys for a bit that seemed to have seen lots of TA hikers in the area.

A little after 10 am I arrived at the last campsite before Mercer, Lower Mangatawhiri Campsite. I stopped to check it out and when I walked out there was a TA tramper sitting next to the sign for the next segment of the trail. Peter, a Kiwi (now Aussie) was running the TA for a fundraiser. He was stopping for a snack and it didn't take him long to catch back up to me.

We ended up hiking the start of a less-marked rough forest track together, but I took my lunch break at the summit for the day and he went on. After the most technical area of the forest track, it opened up to a suspension bridge over a river. Peter was just packing up his belongings and hitting the trail and I stopped to get more water for the last 17 kilometers into Mercer.

After leaving the shade of the forest, it was a pretty hot road walk. The trail then went on a stopbank between farmland and the Mangatawhiri River. At one point about six cows we huddled together on the trail, so I scrambled down the stopbank and back up it to avoid them. In my detour I somehow stepped in a fresh cowpie! But luckily I was right next to the river and rinsed it off.

Before I knew it I was on the road and nearly to Mercer! It looked like I would arrive before 8, so I was hopeful somewhere with food would still be open. The first few weeks of the trail I wasn't very hungry and over estimated how much food I would eat. After stopping in Auckland for a few days I can eat almost anything put in front of me.

After crossing some railroad tracks, a trail was marked by the highway. At first I thought it was so nice of them to make a trail next to the road so TA trampers didn't have to road walk, but the trail wasn't much of a trail and was full of tall grass and vines covering fallen logs so you couldn't see them. State Highway 1 was the other option. While walking on a major highway probably isn't ideal, it had a huge shoulder and seemed safer than the possibility of face planting by tripping over a hidden fallen tree.

Taking the highway quickened my pace. Around 7:30 I arrived in Mercer and tried to find the Mercer Motel. It's attached to a bar with food called Podge's Place and they offer a free place to camp for TA walkers. A lady ran out of what I thought was the Mercer Motel waving her arms telling me to stay there! Her name was Sandra and she was so incredibly kind. She introduced me to all the locals at the bar, showed me where the (free!) showers were, and showed me where I could pitch my tent.

When I arrived she had told me there were two Canadians who had arrived before me. I was guessing they were two Canadians I had yet to meet. After she gave me the tour I walked over to the hikers and realized it was Erinn and Trevor that I met on the first day of the hike! I was so excited to see them and hear what their time had been like since we last saw each other in Ahipara. I quickly ordered a delicious pizza from Podge's Place and we told each other about our trail adventures.

It was a great way to end a long day of walking!

An encouraging note on the trail! 700 km down, 2300 km to go!

A fun suspension bridge. I got water in the river.

The walk on the stopbank most of the way between the forest and Mercer

The wonderful Podge's Place and Mercer Motel

My campsite for the night behind Mercer Motel