Day 137 - back to long walks on the beach

Riverton ——> Invercargill Tuatara Lodge 33km

Steph’s Dad was flying down from Kerikeri to be at the finish with her. Josh and I were really looking forward to seeing him again after spending such a wonderful Christmas with the Mentor clan a few months back. He’d hired a car whilst he was here which Steph was picking up this morning; she’d wonderfully offered to drive me back to Riverton this morning so I could start walking from where I’d hitched yesterday. Huzzah!

I’d started this very long walk on the beach so it only felt right to be (almost) finishing it on the beach too. Josh and I had averaged around 4km an hour on 90mile beach, but now, with my trail legs and a slack pack?! I was pushing almost 6km/h.

It was easygoing, a high tide in places but navigable without having to push too much into the dunes. By midday I’d done 16km and caught up to my pals who’d stayed the night in Riverton.

We cruised for another couple of hours, Leon picking up anything that he could fashion into a present for friends and John still picking up elastic bands - “I always need elastic bands!”

We cruised over the bridge into Otatara…

…and stopped for ice cream as soon as we hit a shop.

The warmth of the air was really throwing me. I’d been on countdown mode for three weeks, gutted to be finishing but glad to be getting out of the cold. But now it wasn’t cold anymore - I could carry on?! My legs felt the strongest they’d felt all trail. I practically skipped the final 6km into Invercargill. (Maybe helped by the fact my bag only weighed a kilo…!)

John, Leon and I headed straight to the pub and had a congratulatory few bevs.

John’s alarm went off. He’d been adding the following day’s destination into his calendar for a while now, and for a reason I’m still not quite sure of, he’d get a reminder of the destination around 5.30pm. I couldn’t work out whether today’s was wonderful to read, or heartbreaking.