Finishing Abel Tasman with a minibus ride that left me green, then shower, food, bed
Distance: Walked, 11km, Minibus, 80km
Total Distance: 3460km
Up not too early today was finish day! Whilst Christmas was still going in the UK, and just started in the USA, I was off, up over the big hill (200m, not that big really) to the finish. Here I sat with French, German, Isreali and Chinese hikers waiting for a prearranged bus. He arrived early and we were soon off back to the start.
The road out of the Waipu Car Park is all switchbacks. ALL switchbacks. And the driver knew each one, so he could hit them at the highest speed possible. He was a pleasant, friendly, older gentleman, but his driving made me green in minutes. Thank goodness I hadn't eaten much that morning. I tried to sleep, must have managed some, then just tried to get my body to accept the turbulence of the drive. Should I have asked him to slow down? Maybe, but I just wanted to get back.
Once returned to the start of the walk I lay down for a while, drinking all of my water and recalibrating my systems. There were showers at my next stop. I hadn't had a shower in days. Go. Get up. Become clean. Become human again.
The campsite was called Old McDonalds and had a few animals and such about the place. It was busy, but I found a quite spot under a tree for my tent. After an ice cream I went and stood in the shower for half an hour. Just stood there. Just let the water was my sweat and muck away. It was lovely. I could have stayed there forever.
I left and went to the local cafe. As well as not showering I also had no hot food nor meat whilst walking. Time for a treat. Stone baked sea food pizza with a beer. I tried to work through it slowly, make it last. But I was tired and bed called. Before 9 I was in the tent, rapped up, asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment