Day 144: Otautau to Merrivale zero

Given we were in town, I started the day with a flat white. The hotel we stayed at included a serve-yourself breakfast so I made myself some toast with PBJ, which is always a treat these days. We didn’t have to check out until noon so I spent some time planning for after the end of the trail. We finally got going and tried to hitch back to the trail. Everyone who stopped was going another way so we finally walked up the road past the junction to see if we’d have better luck. We still had a bit of a hard time, but eventually got a lift to the trail, where the Merrivale hut is situated. It’s another hut that’s on someone’s property and although it doesn’t have a shower, it does have potable water. We arrived just after 1pm and since the next hut is 28 km away, we stayed put. The guy who gave us a lift was very concerned that the hut didn’t have a stove or toilet paper, so we had to reassure him that we had both. He also gave us each 2 beers, which was some wonderful trail magic. The afternoon passed quickly what with eating, looking at more possibilities for after the trail and chatting. In the end, 6 more hikers showed up, including some familiar faces. The numbers are somewhat worrisome as the next hut has only 4 bunks and has limited flat ground for tents and we’re all heading there tomorrow. There were some deer farms around and it’s the time of year when you can hear them roaring, which we certainly did.

Day 145: Merrivale to Riverton

Some rain had been forecast overnight, but it poured and in the morning there was even periods of hail.

Everyone was undecided as to whether to go into Longwood forest or not. Longwood has a summit over 800m, so we were concerned about how cold it would be given that it was barely above freezing where we were and still raining/hailing on and off as well as being quite windy. Longwood is also reputed to be muddy, like thigh deep muddy if it’s been raining. We decided not to go in the end, I’ve seen plenty of forest and mud on the trail and I just didn’t think it would be an enjoyable day. Cecile, Caroline and I all hitched to the end of the Longwood track at Colac bay. Just that was chilly enough as we got rained on and had to wait a bit for rides. Once in Colac Bay we had some warm drinks at the tavern and then an early lunch. I had a blue cod burger, which was very nice. After lunch, we hit the trail that follows Tihaka beach and then some headlands. It did still pour on us briefly a few times, but the sun came out in between and the the beach and coast were beautiful and wild.

The walking was sometimes hard in the small pebbles, but we usually found a decent path to follow.

Caroline even went for a swim, while Cecile and just soaked in the view. The day ended with a short climb through some fields away from the beach and then a climb through some lovely forest.

There was a viewpoint at the top from where we could see tomorrow’s beach walk, as well as the one we’d done today.

We arrived at the Holiday park in the early evening and set up camp. A couple of others from last night’s hut are also here. It’s going to be a cold night and it was nice that there was a big log fire going in the common room to keep us all warm since there wasn’t any heating otherwise. I also made myself a hot water bottle for bed so I should be warm enough.

Day 146: Riverton to Oreti Beach

It was very cold in the morning and I didn’t want to get out of my warm sleeping bag, but I eventually did. I packed up a sopping wet tent from all the condensation and got on the road. It was a short walk into the actual town of Riverton, where I had breakfast at the cafe, a egg and bacon sammie with a flat while, and then stocked up on ear plugs (my last ones flew into the longdrop at Merrivale when I took my headlamp out of my pocket) and groceries for that night. There were no bulk options so I got a bag of past with some tomato paste, fresh veggies and a tin of mussels. I also stocked up on some fresh fruit since I’m not carrying much food at the moment.

Then it was off to the beach and a long walk down the beach, reminiscent of the beginning of the track at 90 mile beach.

The tides was on its way out and the beach was quite wide so the walking was relatively easy. We stopped for lunch about 12 kms in and then it was just another 8km to the exit road.

The sun went behind some clouds shortly after we started up again and since it wasn’t that warm, maybe 10 degrees, a bit windy and my feet were wet from crossing a stream, I quickly got chilled and had to put on some extra layers. I did feel better after doing that. We saw someone ‘walking’ their dog by letting it run alongside their car as they drove the beach. After getting to the road, it was just over 2km to the Holiday park. It’s an interesting place since it has a lot of permanent residents and is proud of the fact. One of the residents gave us a jar of onion chutney, trail magic I suppose? We emptied it into one of my reusable bags so that it will at least weigh less and plan to try to make a type of appetizer with it tomorrow. It will be another chilly night and my tent was damp from condensation when I retired for the night.