Te Araroa, Day 102

The first almost 15 km are good to walk. There is a gravel road parallel to the highway, then a 4-wheel track before I have to cover the last kilometer or two on the highway. That highway is crazy. Extremely busy, and almost no shoulder to walk on. There is a bridge over a river with no shoulder at all.

I am glad that X sends me a text saying that the river is dry and one can walk down and through the dry riverbed. Walking on the road would have been suicidal. After the bridge, I reach the small town called Hinds. I take a break at a bus stop.

X sends some further information about the way ahead. The highway is not an option. He will take some detour, still trying to cover the whole way, and recommends that I hitch a ride to Orari and walk the last 8 km from there on a country road. This sounds okay to me.

I get a ride with a South Korean guy who has been living in NZ for a few years. He asks lots of strange questions. I am glad to get off in Orari and start walking.

The road is exposed to the sun, which is once more relentlessly burning. After 5 km, I give up and hitch a ride for the remaining 3 km to the Holiday Park.

When X arrives, we have to adapt our plans. For the past 3 days, he has been walking more than 40 km each day on roads, and today his feet went on strike. The next two days would be very hard road walks again, more than 40 km each. I knew I couldn't do it, and X now needs to rest his feet.

The accommodation to the next town (Fairlie) is booked, so tomorrow we will just hitchhike there and the day after hitchhike to Lake Tekapo. From there, we are back on the Te Araroa, which will mean a 60 km bike ride since there is no accommodation in that 60 km stretch. That gives some more rest for the feet.

Impressions of todays walk:

Dry riverbed next to the highway:

Bench in Hinds:

Attending to a blister. No. 2, same spot as No. 1, that happened on day 2.:

On the country road to Geraldine: