Despite the early start, I still found myself no further from Mercer in the first hour... Got a grip of my annoyance and applied map to ground, contoured around until I found the trail.
I also found this monument, which was pretty special. The turret is from an original gunboat from the NZ wars.
And I climbed a hill and my annoyances vanished!
Lots of
stop bank walking today, lots of cows, which means lots of 'special' mud. Happy days! But the views were awesome!On the way into Rangiriri, I ran into some more dodgy characters...
My Uncle Chris and Auntie Jocelyn on their way to a flute convention in Australia! (Is that really a thing?), it was a lovely surprise and I was happy to receive Apple juice and cake! I'm starting to worry about the Beath Clan and how they manage to hunt me down in hard to find places!
Rather than trying to push on to Huntly (another 11 kms of so), I found a room in Rangiriri. But not before running the gauntlet of crossing the highway, Frogger-style. Once safely across , it became clear what all the earthworks were about. A replica redoubt was being built to protect the Rangiriri rugby ground, probably from those cheating bastards from Meremere. They had electric fences (I'm not kidding), and what looked like an anti-tank berm. I took a pic, and immediately security was on to me, which confirmed my theory that the All Blacks were training with the Rangiriri First Fifteen to hone them in preparation for the Springboks this weekend.
I had a pleasant night talking to local characters and stocktruck drivers, and enough said about that. So time to call it a night! Mañana, all!
What do u meanyou'll leave it at that! Details! Details! :-) yup, sounds right that you met up with the requisite cow patties. I was, however, astonished that you didn't also get sopping wet in the last 36 hrs. Must be some dry spell!:-) I think it's great that you are running into so many Beaths on this journey. Stay safe and good to know you really are pleased with your new hammock!
ReplyDeleteSo gutted. If only I had read your blog one day earlier you could have crashed at our place in Meremere. I can't believe that Jocelyn is your Aunt. How small is the world these days!? Used to do flute with here back in highschool. All the best with your walking. Good luck!
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