CW: Blisters

(CW = content warning)

January 2nd

Invercargill to Riverton.

Distance: 33 km

Steps: 42,000 (probably more because we used poles the whole day)

Today was L O N G and T O U G H.

It started off with a little bit of road walking, which had its own perils (wish we'd had this warning the day before, when we got buzzed by a kereru!)

Basically, we walked along a beach. One beach. for the majority of that 33km.

Now, don't get me wrong - it's beautiful! This photo was taken while we were still in love with it :)

But after about the 5th hour of basically the same thing, we got a bit over it. It was a long, arcing beach and one local had the cheek to say "it's only one corner, what's the big deal?"

Oh, and also, the blisters came out in force today. About halfway along the beach, we had to cross a small river - maybe up to our knees? But we were smart and took our hiking boots off before crossing. And that's when we realised that the hot spots we'd been feeling were well-developed blisters. Eliza's feet especially had four absolute doozies, that required attention right there (don't worry, we had planned for this and our first aid kits are properly stocked).

This was also where we stopped for lunch, so here's your trail food photo:

It was also HOT. According to Metservice, 31 Celsius. With absolutely no shade, no break from the sun bearing down on us and glaring back up at us from the white sand.

So yeah, we both had a few moments today of 'we're not going to make it', 'should we just stop here', 'can we call someone to pick us up and take us into town', 'should we just call the whole thing off'.

Turns out we do inspire each other reasonably well, because each of us would just look at the other struggling along, and think 'yeah okay, i can go a bit further'. And we made it!

Here is a dinner photo, and our tent setup, as proof:

But we're also reasonably intelligent people (I'm betting none of you actually believe that right now...), so we've decided to take a "zero day", or rest day, here in Riverton. It's been two pretty long days, and while our feet and legs were as well-prepared as Auckland lockdown could let us, we feel that we owe our bodies a bit of a break. After the past two days we also need to stock up on sunblock, and maybe a few plasters (band-aids), so it's good timing.

Ok, here's the content warning for blisters, if you don't want to see, look away now. But I know at least one of you has had blisters and will want to see mine so...

Seriously, if you don't want to see blisters, stop reading. there is nothing more except feet photos!