I woke up a bit later than usual. Which was fine as I was in no rush. An easy road walk to the boat crossing and from there I could see where I wanted to sleep.
The other two hikers weren’t ready yet. So I sat off alone hoping I would get i boat hitch and otherwise I would call the water taxi. Unfortunately, no boats came to the boat ramp and after an hour Tim and Ron hadn’t come either. Strange but alright. I called the water taxi and. He would come in half an hour.
After 40 minutes still no boat and no hikers. But the water taxi drove actually passed Tim and Ron. He arrived and launched his boat for another short job. By then Tim and Ron caught up. Apparently, they went for breakfast in town.
We were brought across in a lovely but bumpy boat ride. On the other side, we would walk along the beach to Waipu. It was high tide and therefore we were forced to walk on the soft sand. This also meant that we couldn’t follow the beach the whole way but use the bridge in Ruakaka.
As I was around lunchtime in Ruakaka, I resupplied, bought a cider as a drink, and a to go hamburger and fries. I walked back to a public table and enjoyed a long lunch. I also contacted a trail angel in Mangawhai for tomorrow and also asked if I could stay an extra day. My first zero day. Once that was settled, I continued.
In the morning it took a while to find my pace and in the afternoon it became worse. I really didn’t want to hike. But I kinda had to because I just arranged a trail angel. And so I pushed to Waipo. I saw Ron and Tim there. Both were feeling fine and continued to Waipo cave for the campsite.
Last time I found a really good stealth camping spot. So that was my aim. Walking was still a mental struggle. It took a breath to decline an offered hitch because that would mean I couldn’t search for my stealth camping spot. Dumb decision. No stealthing spot and another 1,5km off trail for the campsite.
I arrived with the last bit of sun. Extremely tired from the mental challenge from today. It was really busy with other hikes whom I hadn’t met before. But I couldn’t muster the energy. So I cooked, and ate my food in my sleeping bag (I tend to cool down too much, so being in my sleeping bag prevents this). I was fully ready to go to sleep when at 10;30 pm a cabin decided to play music really loudly and to yell over the music to each other.
I WAS NOT HAVING IT
So I stormed over there. Angrily asked them to turn off the music and to be quiet! I didn’t wait for a response. Stormed to the bathroom and when I came back. It was indeed quiet.
And so I could finally go to bed.
Zilla-in-the-wild 