Decided to catch up a day by heading cross country to Palmerston North and rejoining the TA there , and onto Pahiatua which is a very  pleasant place to stop,  at the carnival campground. The carnival campground is so called from a settlers era festival to drum up money to buy the local woodland, I think.

The route was very pleasant , and I think passed the walking TA route , via Fielding. We did this on a Sunday and the traffic was very light even on the main roads.