Te Araroa, Day 5

We start walking this morning at 7:30 am. Our destination is Kaitaia. It’s a 15 km road walk to the cabin we booked in Kaitaia.

A road walk is about as exciting as a road walk can be. Cars zoom past us, and whenever a car approaches me, I jump into the ditch at the side of the road. The cars are going really fast. I’m getting tired. At 11 am, I reach Kaitaia. X is already waiting there. We drop our packs at the cabin and walk to McDonald’s. I get a big fries, and X orders a big menu. After that, we buy our resupply for the next five days. For me, it’s oats, cocoa, chocolate bars, and Ramen noodles. I still have some nuts left too. I haven’t yet found the ideal food for dinner, but I hope to figure that out sooner or later.

Back at the cabin, I try to make a frozen pizza edible in a microwave. Not a good idea. I manage to eat half of it, but honestly, it’s awful. At 6 pm, I go to visit the hospital. I took my last antibiotics today, but I have the feeling my throat is still not well. I hope to get some more antibiotics just in case, but of course, they don’t give it to me. So, I’ll have to hope for the best.

Tomorrow, we’ll start the next five-day section. First, there will be a lot of road walking, and at least two of those days will be through difficult terrain with lots of mud, river walking, and river crossings, etc. I hope it doesn’t get too bad!