Day 22: Cruising Past 500km

November 1, 2019

Kilometers: 488.8-516.1

Done Cafe to Puhoi 

Everyone was up and out of the tents early today due to the quasi-legality of our camping situation. In fact, Ethan set a new personal record for the earliest he’s gotten out of his tent so far at 10 seconds til 7am. Maybe we should camp at questionable places more often to get him moving quicker in the morning. 

Ethan decided to take the day off and hitch hike todays portion of the trail. The rest of us were on the trail just after 7:30am. The trail climbed up forestry roads and four wheel drive tracks for a few kilometers. Eventually the climb led us to a ridge which provided us with some nice views. 

After 12km of hiking we hit the 500km mark! Officially 1/6 done with the trail. I waited for the group to meet me there and we celebrated with a quick snack. After our short break we resumed walking and another gravel road led us to another ridge. The ridge was followed by some farmland and bush. 

Today I felt better and stronger than any day on the trip so far. My ankle/shin has made nearly a full recovery already. It’s hard to believe I was limping so badly just 48 hours before. The body heals amazingly quick. I got into town at 1pm, meaning I had hiked the 27.3km in five and a half hours including a 20 minute break for our 500km celebration. 

When I got into town I waited at the pub (which was basically the only business in the town) for the others to arrive. As the others arrived Ethan pulled up in the passenger seat of a dominoes delivery guy who he paid to drive him to us. Ethan stepped out with our lunch, 8 pizzas. With an early day in the books we decided to grab some beers, which was followed by some captain shots. 

After a few hours we headed over to the public land to set up our tents. We set up in between a tennis court, playground and soccer field. Apparently Peter didn’t want to take a nap in his tent and preferred the jungle gym. It does actually look pretty comfortable though right?

After a few hours we headed back over to the pub for dinner. We played cards as we waited for our food. After a quick meal we walked back over to our tents for bed. Hopefully everyone is well rested and recharged for tomorrow. 

-Alex