Day 31: A Quarter Done
November 10th, 2019
Kilometers: 736.1-758.5
Trail Angel’s House to Hamilton Days Inn
I was slower than usual out of the tent this morning. Yesterday had really taken a toll on my feet and it took me almost 20 minutes to bandage up my two pinky toes properly.
By the time I was out of my tent, it was rainy quite steadily and I packed up the rest quickly and found everyone else on the porch. Sheryl greeted me with a cup of tea, which warmed me right up.
She drove us to back to town where we were picked up two at a time as that’s all her car could fit.
We met up with the boys at a New World grocery store and got a quick breakfast of rotisserie chicken and muffins.
We knew we had an easy 22 kilometer day along a river ahead of us and that we could knock it out quickly.
The weather started a little rainy but cleared up about 20 minutes into the day.
We walked along the Waikato River on the west side until we came to a huge footbridge.
We crossed the bridge and moments later, it began to rain again. Despite the rain, we heard loud noises along the river only to find out there was a time trial boat race going on.
The first group of boats were flying up the river followed by progressively slower groups.
We crossed back over the river as the last boat of the race was speeding up past us. Not long after we crossed, we hit the 750 kilometer mark which is the quarter way mark for the entire journey. There also happened to be a bench with a cool backing on it which made for a great photo.
We followed the river ride for another 8 kilometers which put us closer and closer to the city of Hamilton, New Zealand’s 4th largest city.
Just before 1:00pm, I strolled into the Days Inn on Victoria St and found the others there waiting for me. We got situated in our room and went back out to run our errands for the day.
Alex and I went and got our hut passes for the remainder of the North Island and the South Island.
We then went to a Mexican restaurant and pigged out on great food and margaritas. While in the restaurant, the skies finally opened up as we had been expecting and it absolutely poured. Alex and I had to run across the street through the rain to get back to the hotel.
When we got back, finally showered and were able to do laundry. While doing laundry, Charlie returned with his much promised bottle of champagne. Alex and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
We spent the remainder of the day watching crappy television in the room while waiting for our clothes to dry.
At around 7, we went to a NY Pizza place just a block away. Alex and I were only able to eat about half and saved the rest for breakfast for tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning we will need to resupply for 4-5 days and get more C123 batteries for our Steripens, which have proven difficult to find in New Zealand.
-Ethan