I couldn’t sleep longer than 6am. The rhythm is just there. So I got up to do some writing. Rose’s boyfriend had arrived during the night and will join us for the last three days on 90 Mile Beach. It is actually not 90 miles but “only” 100km long but that’s just what it’s called. Since we had a car we quickly went to Kaitaia to get breakfast and do the food shopping. It was 11am until we left Ahipara. And then we finally entered the last section of the TA. 100km of beach walking. When you make it to here you know it’s just going to be three long days but nothing will stop you anymore from getting there!
We just left after high tide which didn’t give us much room to walk but it got better and better. The weather started out as expected: rain showers on and off and wind probably up to 30km/h. We strolled up the beach and enjoyed the fairly easy walk. We messed around with the foam on the beach, played shell poking with our walking poles and just walked.
We soon left Ahipara behind us and enjoyed the view on the beach and the dunes.
My hand got messed up by some viscous thorn bushes yesterday. But it already looks better than yesterday.
Well, and the rest of the day was just getting tougher and tougher! The wind picked up to 50km/h and in gusts more than 60km/h – of course straight in our face. We had 32km to do today to get to the next reliable water source. It was just tough! Light rain in between and the wind was not only physically but especially mentally challenging! For the last 10km we formed a line and took turns going in the from providing slipstream and shelter from the rain. We just wanted to get out of the wind.
When we exited the beach and entered the campsite which was marked on the map we couldn’t believe our luck.
A fully equipped kitchen, cabins, showers, toilets – everything! And everything was just open and based on trust. We were to exhausted to make use of any but appreciated being out of the wind. Had dinner and went to bed completely exhausted.
