Tuesday 27th OctFirst milestone completed - have finished Ninety Mile beach and currently staying at Ahipara. The stretch of beach certainly will have bittersweet memories. The joy of finding firm sand to walk on and get a good walking pace. The relentless head wind from Bluff to Hukatere - then the welcoming Oasis of finding Utea Park Campground with water, showers and cabins. Avoiding traffic that motor down the beach - including sandcarts with sails. Seeing weird stuff that gets washed up onto the beach. The solitude, then the company at the end of the day. The sun, then the rainy day, then the sun again. Friendly characters who are keen to showcase the far north, and of course the 80's music on my ipod saved down about 8 years ago that got me boogying through some tough soft sand days - thanks Talking Heads, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel and Annie Lennox. For a more detailed break down of each day - check out my Daily Diary tab on this blog.
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Bag is packed and ready to go.... the day has arrived and off to Kaitaia I will be heading this afternoon. Very excited and pleased to see the weather forecast for Friday up North is looking relatively clear. Thank you for all the supporting texts, calls and emails. Thanks to Chris for your brilliant solar panel creation plus the location App. Also a special call out to the Melbourne Learning team - 'The Originals' teeshirts are just fantastic and add an interesting element to my very small range of packed clothes that I'm taking with me. Looking forward to start walking on Friday.
On the countdown.......Sitting in the sunshine here in Hastings and feels a bit unreal that this time next week I will be walking Ninety Mile Beach. Reading the other blogs of people this morning and can see that the starting beach walk from Cape Reinga is certainly going to be a long, sandy, tiring start to the trail, so am feeling that sitting here soaking up the sunshine is probably a 'make the most of it while you can' moment.
Am heading back to Wellington tonight to do the final fine tuning on the gear and enjoy my own bed for a few days before flying to Kaitaia on Wednesday 21st Oct. Will stay overnight there and pick up supplies before getting a lift to a camping spot on Spirits Bay and stay the night on that Thursday before walking on Friday 23rd. Not long to go now....... Wellington and Wairarapa put on a great weekend for a walk to the Roaring Stag Hut in the Tararua Forest Park. Four hour tramp into the bush to stay over night with a group of others - great company and afternoon in the sun on the deck of the hut. I stayed in my tent to try out the gear again and all worked well with the extra practice. Thanks Janet for the new dinky tent light!
The weather was so great on Saturday afternoon, that I decided to go for a walk along Wellington's South Coast and trial my gear and weight of the pack. Took my tent too just incase I decided to camp out overnight. So pleased I did as it was a great confidence boost and a very calm night to stay out on a stretch of the coastline that normally blows a gale. I left Owhiro Bay and walked out for about 4 hours past the Red Rocks and beyond. Very pleased with how my gear went and I'm getting the hang of setting up the tent as quick as possible. Was a windy return walk the next day, but clear and dry. Am trialling map placement on this blog too, so below gives you an idea of where I was walking in the weekend.
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HelloI'm Sophia Lewis and 2015 is the year I am going to commence walking the NZ Te Araroa Trail. This blog will track my progress from Cape Reinga to Bluff + Stewart Island. I start walking on the 23rd Oct and plan to finish mid April. Archives
April 2016
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