Great day today and I was feeling strong as I took off down the beach.
Last night I hung out with three other hikers, two young fellas from the US and a Canadian woman about the same age as me. It was fun to just relax for a while and yarn about the journey so far.
I could see we are all having different experiences. Some walk to cross it off the thru hike list, some hike to spend time back in nature and some walk to just... walk.
Hike your own hike, right?
As we compared stories, I realise I’ve been really blessed so far with regard to foot problems. I was shown some truly bloody gruesome photos of blistered feet.
On my first day of this hike, I had one small hot spot between my toes that I jumped on straight away to make sure it didn’t turn into a blister and I’ve since lost a toenail (which didn’t hurt) so I’ve come off unscathed really. Especially in comparison to feet which were blistered and bloody.
They must breed ‘em tough up there in QLD!
Anyway, today was terrific, out along the beach, sunny day with a fairly strong Easterly. Enough wind to keep me comfortable without kicking up a lot of sand. After about 9km or so, I crossed the Ruakaka River. I had missed low tide and spent some time thinking about what to do. Allison, the Canadian woman from camp, turned up and we decided we would be fine if we buddied across.
We made it without any hassle. I’m glad I waited though. The tow was strong.
We walked together for a while which was quite nice actually. We were fairly even in pace and we found lots to talk about.
We walked through a wildlife sanctuary setup to protect nesting birds but I didn’t see any.
And then it was over the dunes and into Waipu.
Pretty good day. Allison decided to press on but I stopped and camped up at the backpackers. I really wanted a shower to wash off the sand and salt.
Oh look. Spring lamb. Cute!
Oh look. Spring lamb. Yum!
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