Day 21: World Champions

October 30th, 2019

Kilometers: 463.1-488.8

Pakiri Holiday Park to Dome Cafe

We woke up at 7 this morning well rested. Alex slept in the queen bed last night and was able to rest up his leg quite nicely. He is definitely still hurting but icing multiple times seems to have reduced the swelling a bit.

With our now extensive collection of breakfast bars, Alex ate four and I had three before setting off for the day.

We met up with the Belgians and Phillip as we set off from the holiday park.

There first three kilometers of the day were an easy road walk with minimal elevation gain.

The road eventually turned into a driveway which led to a stile. We crossed the stile and began a steep 300 meter climb up over the course of 1.9 kilometers through farmland. The climb was tough due to the brush covered terrain but we slowly made our way up.

From the top, we had a stunning view of the farmland we had just climbed with mountains and the ocean in the background.

From the top, we carried along a ridge line for a few kilometers to the summit of Tamahunga. We stopped there for a quick snack and a view point.

Following the summit, Charlie, Peter, and Alex got off to a quick start while Phillip and myself were still getting situated. Both Phillip and myself missed a turn for the track and ended up descending over 200 meters in 1.5 kilometers in the wrong direction. After almost two hours, we finally had rectified our mistake and gotten to where we were supposed to be. We found the others waiting there tanning. We quickly ate lunch and then set off again. With 15 kilometers left and it already being 1:30pm, we knew today was going to be a long one.

We had another two kilometers of easy road walking before returning to a tramping track. The road ran through a spectacular neighborhood with houses which had unbelievable views.

After returning to the track, things got wild again as the trail became very steep very quickly. Alex and I listening to the Nationals game every time we got to a ridge and got service.

Eventually, we ran out of ridge and had to drop down to a valley where we lost service completely, the Nationals losing 2-0 in Game 7 of the World Series. We were able to refill our water as this would be all we had for the climb and tonight.

After leaving the river, we began climbing to the Dome on a forestry road.

As we neared the top of the road, my phone serviced sparked back to life and I got a notification that the Nationals had extended their lead to 4-2. I was ecstatic. Re-energized, I powered through the climb and eventually found myself on a ridge with enough service to listen to the final half inning. The Nationals won by a score of 6-2 and I found myself screaming in joy with tears flowing from my eyes. While bittersweet because we aren’t there, it’s amazing that our home team won a championship.
The hike up to the Dome was tough and made even worse by pain in both knees. Feeling like your knee is going to give out on every step is far from a reassuring feeling when maneuvering up tricky rock passages and down complex root systems.

I finally reached the view point at almost 6:30pm and was rewarded with a golden hour view of the valley below.

The last kilometer down to where the others had set up camp were almost all stairs and my aching body couldn’t have been more grateful.

I slowly made my way down and found the boys set up on the porch of a closed cafe. While not an ideal tenting site, we made the best of it as it was our only option. A neighbor came down and did not seem very pleased with us but we explained how late we got out of the forest and that there were no other feasible camp sites. He went and closed the gate to his yard and that was the last we heard of him. We cooked up our usual quick dinner of rice with salami and retired to bed early.

Today was the worst I have felt since Raetea. With our rest days in Auckland being a few days away still, I will likely find a way into the nearby town of Warkworth tomorrow and hitch to camp in Puhoi. A day off is needed if I’m going to keep going.

-Ethan