Day 102 Invercargill to Bluff 30k
TA 2938 (soooo close to the magic 3000. I thought about just wandering around for another 62k but... nah. I’m done!)
She believed she could, so she did. I quite like this aphorism. It fuelled every step so I could meet this challenge. I also very much like what a fellow TA’er wrote when she finished her hike ...’I felt like I was one misstep away from death everyday, but at least I knew I'd die somewhere beautiful.’
:-)
Anyway. I have. Finished. The TA. Except, I did not complete it. Although I have made it to Bluff, I had to detour a couple of times on the South Island because of local conditions which included bushfire danger, torrential rain, flooded rivers and landslides. In total, I have missed 62 km. So, finished... but not yet completed. That will have to wait until I come back and fill in those pesky 62km! Thankfully, Australia is just a hop, skip and jump to the South Island and I’m sure I can find another week of leave in the next year or two to commit to filling in the gaps. I have many handwritten notes for the South Island that should have become posts on this blog. I apologise for being absent. At some stage I will collate, transcribe and offer it up to you for whatever entertainment it may bring.
I thought saving my dying device for backup navigation purposes and going old school on the notes was clever. I should have foreseen my strategy would leave me at the end of my hike with a notebook that wouldn’t magically transform into legible stories that posted themselves.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I will get around to it...and I will include what I thought were the do not miss sections in case you would like to come and hike some or all of the TA yourself. (You are welcome to join me for those 62k!) This is a truly spectacular country. I have traversed beaches, hills, forests, alpine mountains, oceans and rivers. In all weather and all conditions.
And I learned a lot on this trip.
About the interconnectedness of our relationships and actions, our world and our environment, the continuing struggle and the achievements of First Nations Peoples and the kindness of strangers.
Some are committed Trail Angels who sign up every year to support TA hikers but there are also some people who had never heard of the TA but went out of their way anyway, just to give me a hand. My heartfelt thanks to all. You NZ mob rock. Perhaps on this trip, I learned most about myself. That I can rely on myself and my own judgement and that it’s ok to have a quiet weep when overtired and overcome ... as long as I put my boots back on and keep going. Or not. It really is all ok. Hike my own hike, right?
In the quiet moments somewhere along the way, I have laid down some of the sadness, grief and anger I have carried with me for too long. I seem to have settled within to a place of hope and peace.
I feel like I have perhaps lost the rage but kept the burn.
I’m not sure where that will take me. 2020 is a big year. I feel rejuvenated and energetic and even more steadfast in my belief that disruptive change must take place in Australia if we want a more humane society that embraces all people and cultures and honours the responsibility we all have to protect, nurture and sustain Country.
2020. Bring it! I’m ready.
I know that I am more grateful than words can convey for this amazing experience. I am blessed and privileged. I have been included in local cultural experiences not available to everyone and I am humbled by this honour and offer my deepest respects to Maori people who allowed me to witness and participate in these experiences. My sincere thanks to you.
I’m sending a big thank you to all of you too, my family, friends and colleagues.
I want you to know that your messages of support carried me on those days when I was tired. Homesick. Sore. Done.
I hadn’t realised how much I needed you with me. For someone like me, a loner and self confessed non-people person, this came as a big surprise. Thanks for your patience and for taking the time to let me know I was in your thoughts. It helped me a lot. And last, I acknowledge and thank the Ancestors here. From my first step to my last, I felt connected. Protected. Safe. I have seen, heard and felt experiences on this hike that defy the everyday known world. And I am grateful beyond measure to bear witness to these extraordinary moments.
And just to be consistent, I have to let you know that today’s hike from Invercargill to Bluff included, yep, road walking :-). Of course it did!
Right now, I am off to celebrate before an early start tomorrow.
I will be heading off north to enjoy a beer with a mate from Australia who is on a visit to her sister and, happily for me, is willing to be seen in public with a smelly, unkempt, utterly dishevelled hiker. I’m also taking a few days back in Wellington, spending some time processing the last few months before I head back and things get hectic. I am looking forward to catching up with you all on my return.
My shout.
Love Steph
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