Taumarunui to Whangamomona


 It wouldn't be a long walk without a moa, they do pop up in the oddest places. And that shop across the road was where I paid only $19.99 for a cable to link my powerbank to my phone, on Christmas Eve. I'm embarrassed to admit I never thought of checking when I bought the new phone a couple of months ago, and I was in Kaingaroa Forest when I discovered the mismatch. Thanks goodness for battery saver mode and for my brother in law, who lent me a cable in the meantime.

I spent Christmas and Boxing days cowering from the heat (29 deg) and solving crosswords and walking the streets of Taumarunui. In the doing I found a fly store.


Note to self, check that website.

Yesterday, early, I left town. By rail cart.


It's a petrol powered golf cart with plastic wheels and a top speed of 20km/hr.  I shared with Opal, one of the rail company workers (she has 5 daughters and 12 grandchildren and is in her forties). 


Notice the rails aren't quite parallel? This line from Stratford to Okahukura was decommissioned about 20 years ago after a carriage derailed and was dragged for miles without the driver's knowledge. It wasn't financially worthwhile to fix the damage. Instead, rail cart travel was born and boy, does it beat walking.


Lots of wonderful bricked tunnels and a breed of cow I didn't recognize.





Japanese walnuts are weedy in this valley, they seem to follow water courses. 

After about 7 hours, you chunter in to Whangamomona.


Beer, burger, and a bed at the pub. Rather shocked to find no mobile reception and no wifi. 



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