Home Stretch (part 1)
27 May
As the day progressed, the sky turned from perfect blue to a mixture of darker and lighter clouds scudding overhead. While we felt maybe a few drops of rain only, we could see rain showers out to sea. And later, after we arrived at the campground, safely ensconsed in a cabin, the rain started to come down more heavily. We are glad we splashed out for a cabin tonight! Our tent would definitely keep us dry, but it's just a little bit more relaxing inside solid shelter when there is wind and rain.
As beautiful as the beach was today, we were still glad to see the signs for the campground at the end of the day. Here is the view from the camp kitchen - just inland enough to be off of the truly shifting sand dunes but still with the stunning view of the coast and waves (This photo taken about 5 minutes before the rain started). We are currently sitting in the kitchen with a coffe and biscuits watching the showers come and go while writing up this blog. Soon we'll shower, do some stretches and prepare dinner. It'll be an early night so we're refreshed for another 30km day tomorrow.
Ahipara to Hukatere Lodge / Campsite
KM 70
Distance: 32km
Elevation: ascent 6m; descent 6m
Steps: 45,300
Time: 7:15am - 3:15pm
We set out in the pre-dawn light, so were priveleged to see a rosy-fingered dawn over the southern end of 90 Mile Beach. For those of you wondering, no, it is not actually ninety miles. As close as we can tell, it is just under 100km, so more like 63ish miles? But let's be honest, "Ninety Mile Beach" has a good ring to it!
Look at these smiling faces at the beginning of the day - super excited to be on the beach and within sight of the End! And it is absolutely lovely. You can see how wide the beach is, and this photo is less than an hour after high tide. Granted, not all of the beach had this expanse... some had even more! By the time low tide came, the beach must have been 100m or more wide.
We officially passed under 100km to go today. Since we're on the beach, which is ever changing with tide and time and storms, it's hard to have a permanent marker of this achievement. So we made our own, to be washed away by the next high tide.
The beach was a great opportunity to do a dead bird patrol - a very important "citizen science" effort wherein birds that have died at sea and been washed up onto the beach are identified and counted - this helps researchers get a better idea of the diversity and numbers of birds in a region, even those that are not always visible from shore. Vaughan saw quite a few dead birds although no true rarities, and we even saw one fur seal!
We also saw evidence of other forms of life on the beach - what we assume are korora (Little Blue Penguin) footprints; blue bottle jellies; and pipi, a local small shellfish.
Remember my comment about how wide the beach gets at low tide? Can you see Vaughan in the middle, for scale? And where Eliza was sitting when she took this was still 20m or so from the actual base of the dunes. This was also our lunch spot, and we both took mini cat-naps as well. How could you not?
As the day progressed, the sky turned from perfect blue to a mixture of darker and lighter clouds scudding overhead. While we felt maybe a few drops of rain only, we could see rain showers out to sea. And later, after we arrived at the campground, safely ensconsed in a cabin, the rain started to come down more heavily. We are glad we splashed out for a cabin tonight! Our tent would definitely keep us dry, but it's just a little bit more relaxing inside solid shelter when there is wind and rain.
As beautiful as the beach was today, we were still glad to see the signs for the campground at the end of the day. Here is the view from the camp kitchen - just inland enough to be off of the truly shifting sand dunes but still with the stunning view of the coast and waves (This photo taken about 5 minutes before the rain started). We are currently sitting in the kitchen with a coffe and biscuits watching the showers come and go while writing up this blog. Soon we'll shower, do some stretches and prepare dinner. It'll be an early night so we're refreshed for another 30km day tomorrow.
I would think walking on the sand would be very difficult unless you're walking at the water's edge? Bub
ReplyDeleteHow was Gabi?
ReplyDeleteGabi was great! Really helpful. Nice camp too.
DeleteIsn't the story that the French (de Thierry?) charted that bit of coast and measured it as 90 km, but their metric name got anglicised? If not, that's the story I've just perpetuated here.
ReplyDelete