Start – Anakiwa (Smiths Family Holiday Park)
Finish – Havelock
Daily Distance – 14 km
TA Distance – 1818 km
The link pathway between Anakiwa and Havelock seems to inhabit the same plane of existence as lost
socks and anything you ever put in a ‘safe place’. If definitely exists, several times I saw where it rejoined
the coastal road. I even spent a blissful 1.5km on it once. Try as I might though, I juat kept ending up
back at the road and wondering just where I went wrong. Unfortunate really as coastal views aside the
road was narrow, windy and populated almost exclusively by people towing large boats.
On the up-side I had only planned to do a short 14km day to Havelock, so my road slog was soon over. I
had planned this for 2 reasons. First is that I needed to spend the afternoon restocking on food for the next
12 days. The second is that I haven’t yet planned where to take a rest day. It doesn’t look like it will be for
a while, so I am deliberately keeping my walking days a little shorter than usual to avoid burnout. This is
especially important as the next section comprising the Pelorus river track and crossing the Richmond
ranges is the longest stint between resupply points on the whole TA. This could mean that there will be no
blogs uploaded until I eventually reach St Arnaud, but hopefully I will find reception every now and
again en route. This is reputedly a tough section, but featuring some of the finest alpine scenery on the
TA, so it is with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I will set out on this leg of the journey.
