Start – Utea Park
Finish – Waipapakauri Holiday Park
Daily Distance – 17km
TA Distance – 87km
What a difference a day makes. My sleeping bag dried overnight and saved me from a freezing, sleepless
night, so disaster averted. Awaking to beautiful blue skies, firm sand and a relatively short distance has
also done much to banish the memory of yesterday’s trials. The biggest issue today has been not burning
in the scorching NZ sun. Apparently there is a hole in the ozone layer above NZ, which causes burn times
best measured in shakes of lambs tails. I’ve been keeping covered up like a latter day Lawrence of Arabia,
but may have overtaxed my feet which are looking somewhat lobstery. Frankly, for the liberating joy of
walking barefoot down the beach it was still worth it. It does perhaps explain why most of the suncream
on sale here is factor 50 though. I can almost hear the sun scoffing at the meagre protection my factor 30
provides.
Still, having taken plenty of breaks for photos, food and just because, I still strolled into camp before
14:00, which my feet appreciated. The afternoon has so far been spent idly cleaning sand out of, well,
frankly everything, rinsing my briny clothes and on the impossible luxury of a hot shower with a private
cubicle. It’s only day 4 and already bathing without the possibility of unintentionally copping an eyeful
seems like a luxury! Quite how far the rabbit hole goes isn’t a question I want the answer to just yet…
Tomorrow is a short 14km to town and the first 100km done.
Highlight of the day – Sun!
