Day 3: Maunganui Bluff to Hukatere Campsite (30km, 8 hours)

Up at 5:30am today, and off down the beach. It was good seeing the sunrise as I walked. 

5:30am on the beach

Today's walk was uninterrupted beach. No streams, islands or other features - just beach all the way! 

My 10am pic

My shin is less swollen than yesterday, and is coping ok (mostly). So I made pretty good progress. Again it felt like a pretty gruelling slog - you just get into a rhythm and keep trudging along. The view today never changed - my 10am pic applied for the whole 30km.

Quite a few birds - terns, oystercatchers, herons, seagulls, cormorants, some dotterels. Clare and I were wondering, is a cormorant the same as a shag? (No rude answers please)

Could it be a bear? No, probably a dog. In the middle of nowhere, so clearly lost.

In fact my progress was so good that I overshot the campsite at the end, after 8 hours! There was no signage from the beach, just as well I stopped 500m away to check my location, I was sure I had another hour to go.

The Hukatere campsite is run by Gabi - it has a warm shower, limited wifi, a place to charge my phone, and a little kitchen. She even made me a cup of tea. Luxury! 

And ice packs! 

I texted Paul to let him know I was ok. I sent the pic above, which perhaps wasn’t a good way to say all’s well! My leg was a bit swollen, but not quite as bad as yesterday, and the icing helped. But after I stop moving for the day it swells up more, and I end up hobbling around. More Nuramol for me again tonight. 

Otherwise, I have sore feet, a bit of chafing from the pack, and a few other aches. But those are all minor and to be expected. Still no blisters!

View from my tent site

Well, I’ve had a shower, finished posting the last few blog entries, had my dinner (Thai chicken curry), and am back at the tent ready for bed. Clare mentioned there’s bad weather due to arrive up North on Christmas Eve, we’ll see what happens. Too far away to worry about just yet!

PS: I said goodbye to Clare, just in case I leave early again tomorrow, as we won’t be at the same place tomorrow night and she won’t be stopping in Kaitaia afterwards like I will. I told her I’d add her givealittle link to my blog (see Day 1). Happy hiking Clare and good luck with the rest of your TA journey! Thanks for the company these last few days, maybe we’ll bump into each other down the line.