Day 67: Koitiata Campground to Mount Lees Reserve (1405-1442)

Saturday, February 4

As soon as I woke up and packed, I walked out onto the beach by the campsite. The day started with a beach walk and then turned into a gravel road walk through a forest. After I made it into the forested area I saw a couple walking their dog.

Soon the gravel road meandered to the end of a paved road and it was back to road walking. I walked by lots of houses and farms. As I was getting close to the town of Bulls a couple drove by and asked if I was walking the TA. I told them I was and they offered me a really nice deli sandwich. It was plastic wrapped and had veggies, deli meat and some hard boiled egg. They had a friend walking the TA too. I was planning to get food in Bulls, so I put it in my pack to eat for dinner.

Shortly after talking with the couple who gave me the sandwich, a big dog started barking at me. It came out of its driveway and started following me. Even though it was terrifying, my options were to stand there or keep walking. There wasn't any way of avoiding it once it was in the street. The dog didn't want to go far from its home, so it stopped following me once I made it to the next house.

Before I knew it I was in Bulls. Everything is bull (and cow) themed there so I walked around and took photos of things I found funny. As I was wandering I ran into a nice couple named Ron and Mary and told them about what I was doing. They hadn't heard of the trail before. They were getting in their car to leave town so I said goodbye and started my hunt for some food. I was about to walk into a pasta shop when Ron walked up to me to ask if I needed a ride to Palmerston North. That's where he and Mary were headed. I told him I didn't want to skip a whole day of walking and showed him my map. I didn't have too much further to go today and I was walking on a road off the highway most of the rest of the way.

After saying thank you and goodbye I ordered some pasta and walked to McDonalds. Then it was time to walk the last bit to Mount Lees Reserve. My headphone adapter had stopped working so I'd been playing my podcasts out loud and listening to them. Luckily the roads haven't been very busy.

It was all road walking, which I was starting to get sick of, but the reserve was a really nice place to camp. The care takers let TA walkers stay there for free and they even told me I could cowboy camp in a nice little shelter (Julia taught me that cowboy camping is what they call camping without sleeping in a tent). Plus there's a little kitchen we can use and an outlet to charge up electronics.

Marjolein and I were Facebook messaging each over when I got to the campsite. She was with Erinn, Trevor, Sara and Creya in Fielding. That was only about 11 kilometers from me and she didn't think they'd leave town early. I decided I'd try to leave at 7 am to get there by 10 and hopefully catch up to them.