Day 4 - hard slog

Hukatere lodge —> Ahipara 31km

Until two days ago, I’d never walked 30km in one stint before. Now I’d done two 30km days in a row and about to embark on a third. The same endless beach with the same endless view. I was over it.

The penguin clearly did not like his make shift home for the evening as when we woke up in the morning, he’d managed to escape! He was huddled asleep under one of the picnic benches at the campsite - thankfully he hadn’t gone too far. DOC came to pick him up pretty early and he headed off to see the vet in Kerikeri.

I strapped my feet as best I could and winced my way slowly through the first half of the day. Josh miraculously had zero blisters and his gleeful energy, although very annoying, helped me get through until lunch.

We had the option of stopping the night at the 17km mark at Nguru holiday park, which I desperately wanted to do… but after a couple of hours respite from the sun and an ice cold Fanta (thank you Milton) my feet were redressed and we dragged ourselves another 14km to Ahipara. 90 mile beach was done!

Ahipara holiday park was a beautiful camping spot. Hot showers, a proper kitchen and an ice cream. I wish we could have enjoyed Ahipara for a bit longer as it looked like a gorgeous beachside holiday town but honestly I couldn’t stand the sight of sand any longer.

Brekkie - oats

Lunch - egg, tomato and pepper wrap

Dinner - Thai green curry (spicy!)