Te Araroa, Day 32

I left at 5 am this morning. The "trail" started just after crossing the highway via a bridge. It is pitch black dark when I try to set foot on the start of the trail.

I get my headlamp. The first step is right away into water and mud.
For a short moment, I consider walking back and along the highway instead. I should have done that. Really.

The following 3 km are the hardest so far. The first maybe 500m go up very steep and down very steep; the path is just very slippery mud. It is no fun. I lose the trail. I wander around but can't find it. I know that X stayed in Mercer too, and at 6 am, I see him struggling down the muddy, steep hill.

When I walk towards him, I see the next marker. I should have waited for more daylight for the start.

We go on, wet plants shoulder-high, and even building a narrow tunnel. I am drenched within seconds. We do our best to tackle the very steep, slippery, and muddy path. Actually, there is no path, just markers in trees or poles to give directions. It is no fun at all. In my eyes, it is very dangerous, and we have to be moving very carefully. Still, I fell twice but luckily did not hurt myself.

Then there is a section with very high and thick kind of reed grass. The ground under my feet is swampy. X, who is ahead, warns me of a section that looks like walking on flat wet reeds but is more like a knee-deep puddle. Well, I seemingly enter that section a little bit on a different angle than X. I take a step and "whoosh," I sink into cold water till my chest.
I struggle myself out and am glad when we get past that section.

Based on the experience just now and the recent rains,  we decide to walk to the next destination (Huntly) on country roads. The official part would be along a big river, but we would have to struggle through a lot of wet passages again.

After that decision, I quickly move on. Pants, socks, shoes, and part of my shirt are drenched. There is no sun, so I need to move to keep warm.

To get to the country roads, there is no way else than walking for 8 km along a big highway. Big trucks create a lot of wind that gets me dry quickly. I struggle with the situation and try to help myself with using the noise-canceling earbuds with and without some music.

At some point, I catch myself thinking for the x time that I should have taken pictures of all the strange things one sees along roads. Stuff that people seem to just throw there. One could do a special exhibition with all those road finds. Anyway, I decide not to start it and keep on focusing on being out of the way of the traffic.

Finally, we can exit the highway and move onto country roads. Still, those roads are close to the highway, and it can be heard too for most of the next 28 km.

I struggle a lot today. I feel teary. At a break before the last 14 km, I break into tears when X asked me if my feet hurt. I think it is all the cars and their noises that make me crazy, but looking at it more deeply, it is much more than that. It seems to be also coming to terms with that I am not just being in nature, far from civilization like I experienced in Lappland in Sweden. This walking a country from top to bottom in a very different setting. The realization is important. What it will bring, I will see.

I arrive at the accommodation in Huntly after 10.5 hours and 37,5 km of road walk (except for that few km in the beginning). After a shower and two large pizzas I feel much better.

Start of the very beginning this day. Headlamp on. There are no further pictures of that section It was so much struggle, I could not take pictures.

Along the highway. Turns out even part of the official trail is along the highway. The orange triangle is a marker.

Country road...

After my sparring session, some blue sky and sun come out. The weather aligned with my inner weather.

Spectators along the way.