Day 130 | This is the end: Back in Tamarunui!
20 February 2023 | 22°C | 24km
I slept like a baby. I don't really like to get out of my sleeping bag but the fact that fresh pancakes are waiting for me finally gets me going.
After a delicious breakfast and the first euphoric hour of walking, the trail gets a bit boring but I meet quite a few bikers that do Tour Aotearoa, the bike version of the Te Araroa hiking trail, also two gentlemen that are already in their 70s/80s. Chapeau! My last lunch: coffee and a chocolate croissant that I have been carrying for several days. already. Still yum. During the afternoon I make friends with several cows that follow me along the fences as far as they can.
A bit of a shock for me: I witness how (a lot of) sheep are loaded into a truck, they have little windows in their cages ( "rooms" for 4 or 5 of them) but the whole thing looks like a 3 story house. Everything goes pretty fast and I wonder if they are used to it or just move so that the continuously barking dogs finally stop. Either way it must be stressful. I stop and stare for quite some time and then continue walking. As soon as the big truck passes me by on the gravel road, I am covered in dust and start coughing.
As always the last miles seem to be never ending, another turn, another long road. Once the road starts its long decent into Tamarunui, I pick up speed until I greet another hiker walking upwards towards the canoe hire place. Though I am a bit in a hurry already, we chat for quite a while. If I still had time, it would be the perfect timing for finding a partner for the canoe ride but not for me this time.
The last meters are full of thoughts and pass quickly .... suddenly I am standing on the main street of Tamarunui, opposite the i-site bus station from where I stopped my southbound journey ... OMG!
