Day 2

An uncomfortable night with a sore body, wind flapping the tent, and rain. In the middle of the night, I moved my tent so it was more sheltered. Which helped a lot. Not all pegs went in smoothly but in the end, it was fine. For the rain it wasn’t. Before The Philippines, my tent was waterproof, but I think the heavy rain in the Philippines took its toll. And so the tent was leaking. I tried rearranging it, because the two layers ALWAYS stick together in one of the 4 corners. but it didn’t work. Very annoying and it needs fixing. For now, the best option was to pack and start hiking. It should be dry and sunny soon.

After half an hour I saw another lovely camping option and looked for a dry area. Thus after a bathroom break, I continued. Soon after was another parking spot with camping options. This time there was a dry seating area. Thankfully I sat down started to eat snacks and made tea. Soon the sky became lighter and after another 30 minutes, it was dry!! Whoop whoop.

Also, two other TA (Te Araroa) hikers arrived and had a brief chat. Two Kiwi brothers (Colin and Gordon) hiking their own country. They also confirmed that the trail was just the river. Love that and luckily the river wasn’t too high with the fresh rainwater.

Soon I arrived at 90-miles beach. Today was the first of three days it will take me. Another 20km and I would be at the campsite. I saw one more hiker and with different break intervals, we passed each other several times.

The hike was much tougher than expected. I mean last time was gruesome. But I expected it to be different this time. And it is much better, still my body is sore and I have to put in effort to keep walking. Maybe the hardness of wet sand or maybe I’m just a pussy. Regardless it was tough but I made it.

At the campsite, I met:

Gorden and Colin (New Zealand)

Andy (Switzerland)

Anna (Japan)

Grant (New Zealand)

As I was earlier on the campsite I had plenty of time to do all the chores. There was even a cold shower!! For dinner I invited everyone over. They didn’t come running, but in the end everyone came to the same spot and we had a very relaxed and happy banter.