Feilding to Palmerston North
Feilding to Bunnythorpe - 9km / 2-2.5 hours
From Kowhai Park, continue east along South Street to the end, passing the Feilding Sale Yards on left. Renowned as the largest sale yards for selling sheep in the southern hemisphere, they are worthy of a visit on a Friday (being “sale day” when the country comes to town). On the right side, there is Coach House at 121 South Street, with lots of interesting machinery and objects from bygone days, on the corner of KawaKawa Road. Worth a visit as it has toilet facilities, a cafe and a place to sit down. Open from 10 am till 4 pm.
Continue along South Steet, cross the road and turn right along Aorangi Street. Take the combined cycleway/footpath for 1km, crossing the Oroua River. At the next intersection, the route turns left, crosses the North Island Main Trunk Railway and continues south along Campbell Road adjacent to the railway line, passing the Taonui Aerodrome (home to the Feilding Aero Club).
Several kilometres further on at an intersection cross the railway line and continue south along Waughs Road till where the road ends. Climb over two stiles and continue along a track outside the fenceline. Turn right (not left) and go through a gate and keep to the right down to the Mangaone Stream crossing.. There is no bridge there. The stream is very shallow in dry weather Take care in crossing in wet weather.
Continue left up the other side. After about 150 metres cross the small Jacks Creek and continue along the track to the Kairanga/Bunnythorpe Road. (DO NOT GO STRAIGHT AHEAD. IT IS A VERY BUSY HIGHWAY BETWEEN BUNNYTHORPE AND PALMERSTON NORTH), but turn left and cross the railway line and then turn right into the village of Bunnythorpe, that has toilets and a small grocery store.
Bunnythorpe to Manawatu River Walkway - 8.5km / 2hr
The footpath through Bunnythorpe passes the old Glaxo factory that once made infant formula. (Glaxo later merged and is now Glaxo Smith Kline, one of the top ten international pharmaceutical companies in the world, and Bunnythorpe was its birthplace in 1904).
Turn right into Stoney Creek Road, After 150m, cross a stile on the right side and follow a marked track south over paddocks to the Clevely Line/Sangsters Road intersection.
Without crossing the railway, keep going along Sangsters Road. At the end of the road, there is a stile where the marked trail continues along farmland and driveways until reaching
Roberts Line
Cross the railway line and turn left on to the shared pathway on Railway Road to Palmerston North. Passing the Chilly Box on your left (good for snacks etc) and Palmerston North Airport on your right. Keep left at the roundabout, cross the bridge over the railway line (Bunning's store is on your right)
Keep going straight ahead at the traffic lights along Vogel Street. (There is a toilet for public use in the branch library 25m down Kipling Street at the start of the small Roslyn Shopping Centre) Keep going straight along the left of Vogel Street for just over a kilometre. Take a sealed path down on the left side of the road, just where it turns right down into Upper Main Street.
The short path goes down into Palmerston North earliest cemetery. When inside the cemetery go down, turn left, and follow one of the paths to the main gate exit, cross Napier Road and head left towards the Limbrick Street T-Intersection. Cafe 116 at 116 Napier Road, is just around the corner is popular with walkers and cyclists.
Cross Limbrick Street and continue along Napier Road, 300m north, and turn right into the Napier Road entrance to the Manawatu River Walkway.
More information: Te Araroa
