The weather forecast looked really unclear, I checked three sources and they all said different things. Just before we left it started pouring, then cleared up again. That’s basically how the whole day went, poring rain then sun, then more rain, then sun again.
After an uneventful road walk we got to the beach and started our walk, most of the walk today was on the beach. It was a very nice walk, the clouds were really dramatic.
There were a lot of surfers in the water in different spots, I kept watching them, kind of jealous. Surfing in the rain is lots of fun and the waves looked on the small side, but really nice.
At the end of the beach Audrey and Katya decided to stay at the holiday park like we planned, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to hike on. There’s a storm coming through in two days and the next couple sections are jungle which get really muddy in the rain. To top that off there are supposed to be amazing views from the top of Mt. Tamahunga in the Omaha forest, so I headed off with a promise to reunite in Puhoi so we can kayak the river section there.
It was a bad decision, I mean it sounded good in theory, but I wasn’t taking into account how much it rained today. The path started fine, but then got muddy… really muddy. Basically a mud slip and slide with thorn bushes on either side, and sometimes barbed wire (runs next to a farm). I kept my rain shell on even though I was sweating because it was the only thing protecting me from the thorns, I imagine it would have looked like I was trying to juggle cats if I didn’t keep it on. At one point my foot got submerged in mud, I started to pull it out but I could feel my shoe being pulled off of my foot. I tried moving forward. Then tried moving back. Shifting my weight any way I could, but I couldn’t get my foot out with the shoe on. I pulled my foot out and then reached in and pulled out my shoe. I tried to use a little drinking water to wash out the larger debris before putting it back on, but I’m not really sure it helped.
One I got to DOC conservation land it wasn’t bad, lots of jungle with giant ferns, but not so much mud. At the top I considered keeping going, but it had taken me too long to get up there. So I decided to stay the night. The view is nice although not as big as I hoped it would be.
470 km so exactly 30 km today. To make it to Puhoi I’ll have to do 45 km tomorrow, but I’m not sure I can, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow!