The final day of 90 mile beach. It remains such a milestone to complete it and I was looking forward to a change of scenery, although the thought of the following road walks terrified me.
To complete the beach, I had the same game plan as yesterday. Get up in the night, walk as far as possible in the dark and dawn, and then suffer the last kilometers with the sun burning. In comparison to yesterday, I felt much better! Packed my bag faster, got more headgear ready as soon as the sun got out, and carried more water. This resulted in a doable 25km.
Of course, I took breaks to enjoy the beach, to eat, and most importantly to air my feet. I saw hikers behind and on my first break (7,5km) Hayden speed-hiked past me with the message he might as well walk to Kaitaia (an additional 15km).
On the second break (km14) I saw my hiking buddy Grant. Unfortunately, he stayed halfway so we could only walk the remaining 3km together. He was so kind to take photos of me where I posed like I was hiking.
At the exit ramp towards his destination of today we said goodbye. Unsure if we would see each other again so we swapped phone numbers. I continued my happy stride along the beach. Fully submerged in my audiobook.
On my third break (24km) I tried to find (affordable) accommodation in Kaitaia for tomorrow. The cheapest I could find was $40 and that is way way too much for me to pay for a tiny tent and the cold shower I prefer. So I decided on a more complex schedule. I wanted some shorter days to have a less taxing day for my body and more time for recovery. So I would stay two nights in Ahipara and the lovely and to me still expensive ($28) holiday park. Tomorrow I walk to Kaitaia and hitchhike back. The day after that I’ll hitch from Ahipara to Kaitaia and continue from there.
The plan made me happy, but at that point, the skin on my heels had enough. And when my skin has enough it becomes red swollen and hot. This meant that normal foot motions weren’t possible as stretching my foot was extremely painful for the swollen heel. Now this is something I have experienced before and I know tomorrow it will be fine. So grit my teeth and push on. The pace subsequently slowed down. I chose a parked car ahead of me as the location where I could pause. Unknowingly this was 2 km ahead so it took a while. But having a clear aim helps. Once I arrived there the sun was high and I ate my two peanut butter wraps in the blazing sun.
I continued to finish the final 3km. I decided that it was worth it to walk in the water, so my skin could cool down. Didn’t help. But I did make it. Of course because as tough as it was. The first 4 ago was SOOO much worse. So in comparison, it wasn’t that bad, but it definitely wasn’t as easy as I thought before starting.
I arrived in the afternoon. So still plenty of time to recover. I chatted with TA hikers who finished yesterday and who were enjoying there rest day. But I mainly did the things I had to do (pitch my tent, cold shower, and hydrate). I joined the other group for dinner, but I was too tired for much of a chat.
So off to my tent and on my way to a good night (and long) sleep
Zilla-in-the-wild 