Day 27 - Mercer

Today Joren and Florian decided to hitch until the town of Mercer, 45km down trail, and walk to Hamilton from there. I think yesterdays road walking got to them, and this next stretch has some more. I decided I still want to walk because I’m a sucker for pain I guess. I woke up early and figured I would just walk until I didn’t want to anymore. I hoped to at least get to the town of Mercer. 

The first part of the day was treacherous road walking and it put me in an annoyed state. But as the morning progressed the weather became gorgeous, a drastic change from yesterday. This turned my mood around. 

11am photo wasn’t much different.

Fortunately the middle of the day brought a nice track over Mt. William. I saw some sheep herding in action, a classic NZ sight, and some very angry turkeys. 

From the top of Mt. William I could still make out the sky tower in Auckland in the distance. 

After this section there was a big ungodly bend in the track that was mostly road. I chose, from the advice of last nights trail angel, to go off official route and take a short cut through the town of Pokeno; good advice. 

I reached the town of Mercer, my original goal. But even after 45km I still was feeling pretty good so I decided to charge on with the hopes of wild camping somewhere. By complete coincidence I ran into Chris and Lindy; The Aussie pair I started with on ninety mile beach. It’s been some 20 days since I’ve seen them, a very pleasant surprise. 

Eventually and suddenly my gas ran out and I started to crash; More mentally than physically. Time to set up camp at the next good spot. Ended up some ways outta Mercer in some big grazing fields. Hope the farmers don’t notice anything. A little over 50km today, a good feeling to reach that milestone.