I woke with the palest light of dawn, and as traffic was picking up on the road I dropped my tent and packed it away, again without needing to get up or out of my sleeping bag. I then snuggled back down to get more sleep if I could since the ground was hard and sloping and therefore not really conducive to having had a good night's sleep (possum and bugs aside).
As the day really got started Taylor stirred and we both packed up our gear and adjourned to the picnic platform for breakfast. Casting one last appreciative look at the river below we set off down the winding road that would meet up with SH4 and take us into Whanganui. We made good time and with only a short break or two we soon were back alongside the river (now muddy and nowhere near as picturesque as it had been upstream). We marched along the bank, Taylor going on ahead, eager to get into town and get to a shop that might be able to tell him if his twice-flooded phone was salvageable. I had warned him at Pipirki after its first dunking that he should turn it off and not turn it on again until he was sure it was 100% dry inside and out--which might be expected to take a few days if left alone and dry, but might be expedited if necessary by utilising the oven at the Pipiriki Campground (on very low heat! c. 40 degrees) to make sure all the water had evaporated from its innards. Taylor meanwhile was keen to see if the thing still worked, and without the heat-treatment turned his phone on. I winced and resolved to say nothing when he explained that it had come on and worked fine for a few seconds before turning itself off again. I greatly feared that would be the last thing that phone ever did.
With Taylor rapidly gaining ground I gave up trying to keep up and stopped to take in some of the few sights along the highway, including a historic Maori site and the remains of an old brickworks. Finally we reached the outskirts of town where Taylor had stopped to wait for me near where, on the opposite side of the river, we might otherwise have expected to be putting in our canoe anytime now and leaving it for Yeti to collect. We couldn't help but laugh. We'd made it to Whanganui...just not quite in the manner we had expected.
Taylor calculated the fastest route into town to the i-Site where he planned to charge his phone, specifically which bridge to cross, and for once I was grateful for his insatiable desire to take the most direct route. Being the end of my trip for a while I was rapidly declining into physical and emotional exhaustion and was as keen as he was to just get there, though I planned to bypass the i-Site and make instead for the nearest cafe to buy a late second breakfast and a smoothie. I had a hankering for eggs benedict if I could get it! this isn't to say that I didn't stop to admire the refreshing assortment of sculptures lining the riverbank on the approach to the city center. One comprising oversized HB pencils made me chuckle as I was reminded of my school days, filling out computer-read multiple choice exam answer sheets with the prescribed soft HB pencil that was the only lead the computer was guaranteed to be able to detect. I also particularly liked one composed of native timber and stone entitled "From Mountains to Sea".
Taylor had gone on ahead again and I didn't catch up with him until he was already installed in the i-Site, obviously stressed about his unresponsive phone. I let him know I was heading to the cafe next door and wished him luck. Aware that I, or at least my clothes, smelled (bad!) I stalked the fully occupied outside tables for a few minutes as one group was finishing up. As soon as they had left I muscled in and claimed the table with my big pack leaning against the railing. Collecting up the previous group's dishes it wasn't long before they were taken away and a waiter proffered a menu. As desired I ordered eggs benedict and a smoothie. The eggs were good but by no means the best I've had (that honour goes to a quaint little cafe somewhere in Edinburgh), and the smoothie hit the spot. Unfortunately as I camped out there for the day and later moved on to an iced chocolate my final impression of the cafe was of this fairly average beverage.
I was mid-eggs when Taylor came past. He could get no response from his phone and no help from the people at the i-Site so was off in search of the Vodaphone shop to help him out. though I felt sure the phone was toast now was obviously not the time to say anything so we merely thanked each other for our respective parts in our combined adventure and wished each other well on the trail. Taylor set off and I sat to wait for my sister and brother-in law who had offered to come and pick me up. I had hoped to walk to their place--the trail goes right past their gate--but I had not been fast enough on the trail and was still 2-3 days out from their house. Walking this would mean I would miss my flight home for Christmas and they had very kindly offered to pick me up and take me home for a shower and a bit of a rest where I could join in the family BBQ planned for the next day, before they would also very generously drive me down to Wellington where another friend would put me up for the night before dropping me at the airport for the first flight out in the morning. Honestly, where would we all be without such wonderful relatives and friends to help us out on our adventures?!
Mid-afternoon a white station wagon pulled up and my sister and brother-in-law climbed out and, despite my sweaty-bushy-rivery-dusty aroma gave me a big hug. I'll admit it was with a sigh of relief that I slid into the backseat of their car. I'd made it to Christmas, after 71 days on the trail, and now I was indulgently getting a nice long break to go home and see my family and friends. I was sorry to be leaving the trail--taking a break in this way means that I am technically not "thru-hiking" any longer, but "section-hiking"--but as I planned to pick up where I had left off in the New Year and still finish TA over a single summer I figure it amounts to nearly the same thing.
With everything already arranged I had nothing to do but enjoy and look forward to the break ahead. Between Christmas, New Year, a possible trip to Lake Wanaka, a potential job interview and a wedding, I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself plenty busy over the next few weeks, but I also have no doubt that I'll be dead keen to get back on the trail as soon as I can. I'm not quite half way through after all and so there are plenty more adventures to be had along Te Araroa!
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