I think my new time to wake up is 5 o’clock. Bit too early so I stayed in bed a bit longer. Today will consist of road walking and road walking only as the beautiful Russel forest is closed to protect the Kauri tree from the Kauri dieback disease. I applaud DOC for the drastic measures to protect New Zealand’s native forest. But selfishly I wished it wasn’t.
The road walk was okay. Sometimes nice views however without a shoulder and many bends. I crisscrossed over and over.
One part of the road walk was a quiet gravel road. Which is definitely better, but still not the same as a trail.
As the day continued I took a few breaks. Something very unfortunate happened and I still cannot believe my bad luck.
As I was making a phone call to arrange a place to sleep tonight. I heard a dog barking. A bit concerned I eyed him. Some dogs are too protective and bite. While on the phone the dog approached me. Not wishing to pet an unknown dog I gave him no attention. I hung up the phone and the dog sniffed my bag. I made sure he didn’t eat my food and while I was thinking if he was skinny and whether I should feed him some. The dog peed over my backpack!!!!! I screamed at him, which startled the dog and he stopped. Very angry I yelled go away and reluctantly he obeyed. I cannot believe this happened. I used water to rinse it away. But it is freaking disgusting. Why trailgods why??
After that break, my spirit was low. Road walking all day, blisters because I stupidly chose to wear the same shoes I wore to the UK and Sweden, and worst of all my left Achilles heel started to hurt. As the next 6,5km contains nothing spectacular (having it walked once before) I decided I would hitchhike. And so I did.
It was a short ride to the exit for my camping and for the last 1,8km, I walked again. Giving an odd pattern on strava.
The rest of the evening was simple. No other hikers. So I showered, cooked, ate, and drank a large amount of tea that would help my recovery and subsequently keep me peeing all through the night. I’ll come back with a number tomorrow. (It was ‘only’ 3x).
As it’s 9 pm my eyelids are starting to fall and it’s time to go to sleep.
Zilla-in-the-wild 