With a bus to catch at 7.25am we got up and organised early. The bus took us into the city centre and we walked from there to a local cafe called Orange. The food and coffee was really good and the owner gave us some kids biscuits for our walk. I greatly appreciated those later in the day. When we arrived we got chatting to a couple Peter & Lee who insisted we take their details and if we have an SOS they will come rescue us and to get back in touch after we have rated the Whanganui river.

As we headed out of town a local stopped us letting us know the Durie Elevator is currently broken down and a different way to get up if we didn’t want to do the stairs. Well that is disappointing, not because I don’t want to walk it because I really wanted to experience the elevator. When we got to the stairs we did them, it took a few puffed breaks but we got to the top in no time.

When we got up to the top very hot and very sweaty. I went up the spiral staircase to see the view, which was so good I could see Mt Ruapehu. Rowan got the energy and came up too!

In the shade of a tower we attempted to cool down. Eventually I thought I better take a look. It is made out of fossils essentially and dedicated to those lost in world war 1. I think it was erected to help give old veterans a job post war. I wouldn’t bother going up it again the views are not as good as the other platform as you are in a cage to stop jumpers.

We hit the street and get about 3km put before we find a nice berm and shade outside a farmers place. The heat of the day is insane we are at 30°c. However it is after 1.30pm when we get walking again so in theory it should cool down. Nope nope nope our theory is wrong. We get another 2km down the road and find an uncomfortable spot next to a power station. Not much to choose from and we eat some late lunch here. The day gets warmer 32°c we are baking, the tar on the road is melting and radiating the heat. After a while I realise Rowan is badly burnt. It must have been sitting at the cafe for 30min pre 9am. At 4pm we have forecast for rain which we hope turns up sooner. It doesn’t arrive, by 4pm it has cooled down a few degrees and we begin to walk again. We are only halfway there. We get to an old church and take cover under a tree. By this time it is 6pm and we have 4km to go. A bit of rain shows up and we talk about pitching on their berm. I hear the neighbours lawn mower start up and I head over to say hello. I tell her we just can’t make it to Fordell can we pitch on her lawn. She insists on giving us a ride into Fordell. Thankful but we also have no where to stay in the area. We get dropped off and Rowan says the Germans (we met in Levin) stayed on a lady called Karen’s lawn. Rowan rocks up to a lady on her mower and asks her if there is somewhere we can camp tonight. “Right here,” she said. “Are you Karen?” “Yes, I am.” That is lucky. Karen and Tony are very kind and show us where we can sleep and use a toilet in their garage. Karen makes me a cuppa which I greatly appreciate. Tony brings over a table and chair set so we have somewhere to sleep. Today was hell, this is what we didn’t want to do, walk in the North Island in summer. Even worse road walking. This is such a crappy part we need to do. Rowan is completely unmotivated and I can’t say I blame him.

It is still really hot and the rain is not coming until the morning now. At least we can’t complain about being hot tomorrow we can complain about being wet.