Day 11: Another Zero — MakingMiles

Monday October 21st

Kilometers: 221.3-221.3

Kerikeri Holiday Park

Surprisingly, I was the first person awake this morning. After laying in bed catching up on the news for a little while, Toby woke up. As we had agreed on the night before, we went up to reception to extend the room for another night. Unfortunately, our suite had already been booked for tonight so we had to change to another unit.

We went back to the room and woke up Alex and Nicholas to inform them that we had to pack up everything, clean up the mess we had made, and move to a unit just 100 meters away in less than two hours. Thankfully, both were quick out of bed and the move took no time at all. Just as we had resettled, the skies opened up and it proceeded to pour for the next hour.

Despite the rain, Toby went into town to try and get his broken phone fixed. Alex, productively, took a nap until the rain passed.

Once the sky cleared up a little, we made the trek into town to take care of everything we couldn’t yesterday when the shops were closed.

First, we went to the pharmacy where Alex resupplied on gauze for his toe and I was able to try out yet another new pair of insoles for my shoes. Hopefully these ones help more than the last pair.

From the pharmacy, we went to Vodafone so Alex could finally get his New Zealand SIM card. After 10 minutes or so, the women told us she had to process the request and it would take 20 minutes so we decided to run a few more errands.

On the way to the post office, we found a Thai place and got carry out. Alex got pad Thai and I went with chicken fried rice. We took our food with us and made our dreaded trip to where our bounce box was supposed to be. Alex had been certain for a few days now that we accidentally addressed the package to a place that doesn’t exist.

We went to the pickup line and showed our IDs. She went back to look for the package for what felt like hours. Finally, she emerged with our bounce box in hand. We were immensely relieved. Upon closer examination, we had addressed the box to “6 Dobson St” instead of “6 Hobson Ave”. In the US, the package would have immediately been returned to sender or worse, lost in USPS limbo.

With our package secured, Alex and I returned to Vodafone only for the women to say there was an issue with Alex’s visa, which clearly there wasn’t. She agreed to re-run it through the system and that we would need to wait another 20 minutes.

During this break, we went to Countdown and resupplied for five more days and got some snacks for the afternoon.

Alex went back to Vodafone and I returned to the holiday park.

After eating lunch and hanging out with everyone from our group for a while, we decided to head down to the river behind our unit. Everyone went for a swim except for myself. Instead, I sat on a rock with my leg submerged in an attempt to reduce the swelling further.

Once we returned, Alex and I went through our bounce and I was finally able to switch out my shoes. For the foreseeable future, I will be wearing the La Sportiva Bushido II’s.

Phillip still needed to resupply as evening arrived and Charlie convinced him to pick up some beer for all of us. After a Sapporo and some laughs, we all headed back to town for dinner.

(Left to Right): Toby, Phillip, Peter, Charlie, Nicolas

Half the guys went to the Thai place and Alex, Toby and I got Indian. We were all able to eat in the courtyard together. The Tiki Masala was really good despite being a little spicy. Naturally, Charlie ordered his green curry too spicy and was making a big deal about it all dinner. For dessert, I had to order the fried ice cream, which ended up being significantly bigger than I could have imagined.

We returned home after dinner and all said our good nights. These two rest days have been great. Alex and I both feel significantly better than when we arrived and that we may have put back on a little of the weight we’ve lost. Tomorrow should be a really easy day on a forest track. Looking forward to getting back at it.

-Ethan