Day 138 - the end
Invercargill —-> Bluff 34km
The final day.
I couldn’t quite believe it. I met John and Leon outside at 7.30am and they were as giddy as me. One last walk to go.
We were meeting Steph in a few hours - she’d walked the first stretch of our walk today yesterday; her Dad was going to drop her off where she’d stopped.
The walk out of Invercargill wasn’t anything to write home about. After leaving the town centre, we crossed over the marshes and then through a waste water plant, following the stinky sewage canals for a couple of hours until we met the highway.
A cyclist stopped to chat and asked us if we were walking “the big walk” - he’d met a few finishers over the last couple of weeks and they’d all said that the walking today was their least favourite of the entire trail. Sewage and road. I didn’t give a scooby. We could have been walking through knee high mud and I would have loved it.
About 10.30am a car pulls up beside us and out jumps Steph and her Dad Andy. We’d be a foursome for the last 20km. I had flashbacks to 90 mile beach where Steph and I last walked as a four with Josh & Milton. I was over the moon to be finishing this with her - how we’d started.
The next 15km were down the side of the highway. I’d eaten a sausage roll for a mid morning snack, it had been in my bag for two days so that was in hindsight an error - I spent most of the 15km feeling pretty sick.
We ducked into a field for lunch and took shade from the blaring sun underneath a huge tree.
As we approached the town of Bluff, the sights didn’t improve, the run down industrial block on the outskirts of town making us feel most unwelcome.
But then we saw the Bluff sign. Not the end of the trail by any means but certainly the beginning of the end.
From here we left the road and headed through farmland to a coastal path which would hug the ocean and take us all the way around to Stirling Point, the finishing point for TA.
What a final track this was. The day certainly redeemed itself as we tracked across the tussock and hopped across boulders.
As we made the final approach down toward Stirling Point we discussed who was likely to get their first. John had been pegging it all day, but Leon was good in short bursts, I had the competitive nature on my side and Steph was just laughing along at the chat. We definitely agreed to race, the first to touch the signpost wins.
Obviously everyone had plotted behind my back this happened at the finish line. John shouting “what you running for?!” as I sped towards the Bluff sign.
I thought I’d have this wave of tearful emotion as I reached the end, but I had the exact opposite - pure unbridled joy. Josh and Andy were there to greet us, and had brought all the booze to help us celebrate in style.
3026km of trail complete.
I’ll be forever grateful to Steph for all the advice and tips she sent through the grapevine, for resisting the urge to eat all the ripe blackberries when she was a day or so ahead of me and for slowing her hike down at the end so I could catch up to her. To end as we’d started was so incredibly special.
Thank you to Leon for bringing all kindness, weirdness and entertainment to my last week on trail. For making me realise that mud is just mud and we should all be more Peppa.
Thank you to John for staying on trail and not giving up so you could keep me company through my last month. For pushing me to walk faster, be braver, for always having biscuits in your pack and for being an generally awesome trail pal.
And to Joshie, for diving headfirst into this crazy adventure. For all the incredible days we spent adventuring on and off trail. For giving me the strength to keep going when all I wanted to do was crawl into a ball and cry. For the constant unwavering support and for all the hugs you gave me even when I stank to high heaven.
Thank you.
Te Araroa ✅
17th December 2022 - 3rd May 2023
