Day 14 - Wooly Beach

The days are blurring. I’m not even sure where I woke up this morning. Im starting to lose it… Perhaps it’s because of yet another detour. This time half of the Onekainga forest track was closed because it crossed private land. The previous owner allowed hikers to cross his part of the forest, but then he died and his children don’t allow it anymore. The consensus was that this was a dick move. 

But in good company the reroute went quickly. I talked to Curtis, a local Christchurch’ian kiwi, who broke his ankle last year on a muddy track on the South Island and had to be air lifted out. The logical thing to do was to hike 3000km just a year later. 

11am photo. Once again sitting around 

We reached Whananaki, where most of our group was staying for the night at the holiday park. Not wanting to pay for a piece of grass next to camper vans I chose to walk another 9km down to reach a free one. 

Whananaki is home to the longest footbridge in the southern hemisphere. Built in 1947 so kids could get to school without the teacher rowing them across. 

The track to the camp was stunning, and we elected to scramble off route along the beaches. 

A memorial for a shipwreck. 

Camp tonight, Wooly Beach.