Day 1:

First of all, thanks to everyone who gave me a hitch! It took 14 hitches and two days to get from Waikenea to Cape Reinga. Not bad!

At the cape, constructions were well underway, however, the official trail is still closed. Just like all other hikes starting from the Cape. It looked fine, but the sign was clear (although to some it wasn’t) I even asked two different guys working if there was any way I could take the trail. Not only because it’s beautiful. But from the moment I decided to do the TA again, I saw myself walking down to the first beach and recalling the emotions of the first time (freight, excitement incomprehension, and pain because my backpack was very heavy).

My attempts were feeble and there was no way around walking the first 15 km on the road. Apart from hitching this time around I want to walk every step. So that wasn’t an option either.

Even though I was road walking I still had similar emotions. Although the feeling of incomprehension was replaced with unbelieve. Am I really going to do this again? Four months of hiking.

Yep

As I started late afternoon, the road was nice and quiet. The sun wasn’t very strong and my backpack fell heavy because I loaded up with water in case of a dry camp (=no water available at your chosen camp spot). The beginning was fine and even a car stopped to offer me a ride but full hardily I continued.

As usual, the last bit was the hardest. Determined to finish the road walk, I was very pleased with the camper place at the end of my road walk (well tarmac because still 5km of gravel road ). It was getting dark so I followed my routine. Tent, bath, food, tea, blog writing, bed. Perhaps I should have swapped bath with food. It was not yet dark, two houses had a direct view and I had a fuck that attitude. Oh well, it’s probably more hilarious to see me bathing than anything else.

It took a while to fix everything. Despite my experience, I still needed a few nights to smooth the process. Now of to bed and hope I don’t forget to take a picture from my tent in the morning.

Oh by the way, my hips feel bruised so the process of laying down is painful. Just so you know it’s always nice and lovely.