Adventurer Nic

My third session with Derwent Athletic Club 😃

A fab day on the fells with James, Liz, Sarah, Bryony and Adrian. We added in fells as we went along and kept the route dog-friendly for Eddie and Dave 🐶🐶 Last night's pizza went down well at lunch! Great to be back in the fells after our travels 🥰

An active catchup with James, Liz and Sarah around Derwentwater.

Really wasn't expecting to be so close to my PB! Looking forward to seeing my training pay off over the 5k distance this year 😃 A lovely lady brought homemade tablet stamped with the Parkrun logo for runners to enjoy, how sweet!

A leg-stretch after finishing our long walk.

Our last day walking Te Araroa trail! We left the hostel around 7am. The route took us out of the city and beside the estuary on a nice gravel path for quite a while. We spotted various birds including the Royal Spoonbill (Kōtuku Ngutupapa), Pied Stilt (Poaka) and Black Swan (Kakīānau) before the path led alongside the main Invercargill/Bluff highway. The kilometres fell easily and it rained on and off. We soon reached Jasper's Freedom Farm (a Trail Angel). We met Jasper who was so welcoming and lovely and ate our lunch before continuing on. We posed with the big, steel BLUFF sign before starting on the path which leads alongside the coast (Foveaux Walkway). It rained heavily here and icy antarctic blasts made us question whether or not we should walk along the more sheltered road instead but we cracked on, bracing against the wind with views of the Foveaux Strait and Stewart Island and the waves crashing against the rugged coastline. We reached the top of Bluff Hill before dropping down to Stirling Point, to the signpost which marked the end of our journey at Bluff (Motupōhue). Here we met a lovely Latvian hiker who finished walking around a similar time to us. We took lots of celebratory photos before walking to the supermarket to get supplies. From here, Jasper and his lovely dog Jasmine came to pick us up in his van. At the Freedom Farm we ate a big portion of pasta, chatted to hikers from the USA, Netherlands and Austria before retiring to bed in a little cabin on the farm. A great way to finish the trail!

Managed to muster a group of 6 Te Araroa thru-hikers for today's Parkrun 😃

Due to the tide times for this long coastal section of beach walking we decided we didn't have to leave Riverton until around 10am. We packed up leisurely and got off just after 10 but then decided to go to the coffee shop for a caffeine boost before properly setting off. So by the time we'd finished faffing we got away just after 11am and began the walk along Oreti beach. The tide retreated further and further away as the day went on, making the walking flatter and easier as the day progressed. Something about approaching the end of a BIG walk meant that we started chatting about the future, our adventure plans and dreams for the next 5-10yrs and how we'll make the rest of our lives fit around those goals which was very exciting 💛 We had a couple of breaks for food to split up the day, both times on a handy driftwood log. The route required us to wade the mouth of Waimatuku Stream which was unavoidable but our feet dried in the sun/wind (it got sunnier as the day progressed which helped. It feels chilly when you stop walking though as the winds originate over the cold ocean near Antarctica, traveling up to the southern coast of New Zealand). As we neared the road there were cars and small motorbikes on the beach. From here we walked on a roadside footpath into Otatara, where we stopped for an ice lolly and then it was on to Invercargill where we checked into our room at Tuatara Lodge (hostel) and bumped into a fellow Te Araroa hiker in the kitchen. Then....pizzzzzzza!

We were originally going to have a full rest day today but by lunchtime we were getting antsy so we hitched to Colac Bay with a fisherman. From here we walked on Te Araroa trail for around 13km along the wide beach. It was easy at first as the tide was out and the ground was firm but James lost a foot in a deep quicksand strip at one point somehow. The trail markers started leading inland up and down the bluff a few times through farmland and dropping back down to the beach which got more rugged as we rounded out of the bay. At one point we turned to head uphill which led to a lookout point with lovely views over to a hazy Stewart Island and Riverton. We then dropped down to a car park and followed the road back to our accommodation. A great half day on the trail.

Our detour around the Longwoods continued today as we walked from our Airbnb in Otautau to our next accommodation (a cabin in someone's garden) in Riverton. We shared a punnet of strawberries and a cup of tea at our accommodation in Otautau before being packed off with some of our host's freshly baked bread, 4 homemade cookies and 5 apples from their tree! We walked into town and got a few extra supplies from the supermarket before buying a cream bun (James) and a bacon and egg pie (Nic) from the local bakery. We ate these in the park before setting off properly. The road walking felt more sketchy than yesterday with a slimmer verge and some tighter bends. So we walked along the old disused (coal transportation) railway line for a while until Fairfax where we ate lunch. We continued on, stopping a couple more times en route (mostly to greet horses and a pig)! It was overcast but felt a tad muggy and warm. When we arrived in Riverton we went to the supermarket and bumped into 2 German TA hikers we'd first met in Locke Stream Hut weeks ago which was nice. We then walked across the bridge to the residential estate where our accommodation for 2 nights is. It's a cute little cabin in someone's garden with a good view over the bay from a decked area.