5 days down.

i have just completed 5 of the most miserable days of my life. please remind me never to do that again. while we're incredibly proud to have walked the length of ninety mile beach (again, remember it's just 60 miles) and are pleased to see the looks on peoples' faces when we tell them where we have walked from, my feet HATE me for having done so, and so we are spending an extra day at the adorable Endless Summer Lodge in ahipara to rest up. here's the day-by-day of our last week:

wednesday, august 26
cape reinga to twilight beach - 5 miles
we ditched the rest of the bus tour group at the cape and at 12:31 pm officially began our hike. unfortunately, the thick and mysterious fog prevented us from seeing the clashing of the tasman sea and pacific ocean, so no pictures for you guys there. sorry. there were, however, some beautiful views as we climbed down from cape reinga to the beach, a grand start to the hike that made us overly excited for the days to come. in the first half hour of the hike, we met a german guy (everyone we meet is german - the three others with us in the current hostel, the hostel owner, two girls on the bus with us, 4 people in the auckland hostel...) who was just finishing his walk of ninety mile beach from the south, giving us hope that it wasn't completely insane to try it. after a long wait for a receding tide to make one point passable and an extremely frustrating accidental detour through what felt like a post-apocalyptical wasteland, we made it to the "campsite" (just a flat area right off the beach) and set up the tent minutes before it started pouring.

thursday, august 27
twilight beach to the bluff - 18.25 miles
this was a long day, leaving my feet aching and blistered from walking on the compacted sand. we consolidated what we had planned as 2 days into 1, but now i understand what i've been reading about beach walking being hard on the feet and am second guessing our decision. we had a short spell of hiking off the beach, across the steep and muddy scott point, an enjoyable monotony breaker even if it did come early in the day. so far we've seen 2 dead seals on the beach :(
we stopped about 3/4 of a mile short of our goal, the bluff, as the sun was already sliding under the waves and we didn't have a clue where on the bluff the campsite was located. we climbed over the sand dunes and found a decent spot out of the wind. we wasted lots of time trying to start our stove during what turned into a 2 hour lunch break.

friday, august 28
the bluff to "the nest" - 14 miles
we initially wanted to hike 20 miles today in order to get off the beach by saturday night, but my miserable feet wouldn't allow it, and we had to be satisfied with 14 miles. the highlight of the day was in the morning (low tide) when the tour buses stream up the beach and we get to wave victoriously at the faces pressed against the windows. one van stopped and the driver chatted with us for a vit about wher we were coming from and where we were headed. spent the night on the sand dunes again, in a bowl that i dubbed "the nest". we're beginning to get tired of our supply of muesli bars, which bryan has accidentally but humorously been referring to as "mussolini bars"

saturday, august 29
"the nest" to waipapakauri - 15 miles
another painful day of walking :( towards the end of each day, i am literally hobbling along, often with one hand on my walking stick and the other in bryan's hand - out of love, but mostly for support :) the hostel in ahipara was constantly in our thoughts. we could have stayed at a motor lodge at waipapakauri tonight (just 1/2 mile farther), but we don't want to spend the money and it feels a bit like giving up early. saw more dead creatures today - another seal (but also 2 live ones), a number of pufferfish and birds, and, most interestingly, a small hammerhead shark. we had a wonderful morning break with a can of coca-cola, courtesy of a friendly family that was spending their saturday morning dirt biking on the beach and sand dunes. also experienced our first cadbury crunchies - honeycomb coated in chocolate. a bit strange, but it's chocolate, so there's no real problem there :)

sunday, august 30
waipapakauri to ahipara, 11 miles
had a longer day than we were expecting, as our hostel turned out to be a mile and a half out of town. it was worth it, though - the hostel is in an adorable restored old villa that's so cozy, we've decided to spend a second night here. it's right ont he beach, but we don't plan to do any more beach walking for the next 20 years or so, and will have to be satisfied enough with the beautiful view. we have contented ourselves with hot showers, beds, and reading australian gossip mgaazines (that's my vice, not bryan's). my favorite is the column in women's weekly, in which a curly-haired thirtysomething shows the public how to make ugly crafts. her latest featured a sparkly jewelry box - she didn't make the box; she just spray-painted it silver and added self-adhesive rhinestones in a floral pattern to the knobs. gross. dad, you'd be glad to hear that we've been playing some uno, though it's just not the same without you. looking forward to a meal at the fish and chips shop in town.

tomorrow, we'll head out for 8 or so miles of road walking before heading into the forest. wish us luck!

rachel