Day 32: Couple Sheep

November 11 2019

Kilometers: 758.5-790.2

Hamilton hotel to stream campsite

It was a much needed night of sleep in real beds. It was easy to tell everyone was in a better mood and had more energy today than the prior few days. I packed up quickly so I could take one more hot shower and watch some nfl red zone before we left. 

We were out of the hotel around 8am and headed for the Starbucks. A quick stop there and we then started walking to the countdown to resupply. We bought food for the next 4-5 days and some snacks for the day. After countdown we made a quick stop at an electronics store to buy the special batteries needed to power our steripens, which use UV light to filter water. 

It was around 10am when we finally got on the trail for our nearly 32km day. We walked out of Hamilton and through the suburbs. We quickly came to a little arboretum, which could have passed as a rooster sanctuary. There were hundreds of them everywhere. We then emerged and saw Mt Pirongia in the distance, the mountain we climb tomorrow, which will take us to a higher elevation than we’ve been at so far. 

We caught up to three women hikers that we had met a few days before and after walking through a few farm fields we all ate lunch together. Two of them are sisters from Germany and the other one is from France. 

After lunch the four of us took off for the last 20kms. Some road walking led us to a river walk, which was pretty overgrown and muddy. Eventually it gave way to a path that led us back to the road. 

Once back on the road we came across a goat tied up on the side of the road next to a house. We fed the goat some grass and petted it just like it was a dog. The goat loved it. As we walked away it tried to follow us. We wanted to take it with us but figured it wouldn’t be able to make the 2200km journey. 

The road eventually turned into a gravel road and began to climb towards the rolling green hills. After about 300 meters of climbing we came to the track. The 6 remaining kms was not only my favorite part of the day but was a definitely a highlight of the trip so far. 

The hills were massive and speckled with white dots, making it easy to see how humans are outnumbered 4-1 by sheep on this island (source: Ethan via Wikipedia). There were rock formations jutting out of the side of the hills. We were high enough to see for many miles. Best of all, we were finally out of the cities we had been walking through the past week and had days of strictly wilderness in front of us. 

After a few kms we walked up on a Shepard using eight sheepdogs to herd a huge amount of sheep into a different paddock. I had never seen it before and was amazed at how fast and efficiently the dogs got the job done. As soon as they had done their job the man ordered the dogs into a large cage attached to the back of his four wheeler and they hopped right in happy as could be. 

We introduced ourselves to the Shepard and continued on towards the campsite. It was beginning to get cold and windy but I could have stayed up there all night it was incredible. 

Much of the route contained cows and bulls standing in our way. After our recent run ins with bulls we have been very cautious towards them. Ethan admitted today that he has developed a serious fear of cows/bulls/steers (really the whole species). I hope he hasn’t been scarred for life. 

We walked down off the hill tips towards the creek we were camping at. Once we arrived we met a couple from the Netherlands who had beat us there. 

Ethan and I made Mac n cheese with salami and a pita for dinner. After 32 days we both agreed we are pretty sick of salami. We will have to find a good substitute for it at our next resupply. As we went to get in our tents the sky turned completely pink orange. We hope the sky is also clear tomorrow evening as we will be watching the sunset from 900 meters high in our first backcountry hut. 

-Alex