Te Araroa (day 13) - Pakiri to Moir Hill / mile 317

"We do not know our own souls, let alone the souls of others. Human beings do not go hand in hand the whole stretch of the way. There is a virgin forest, tangled, pathless, in each; a snow field where even the print of birds feet is unknown. Here we go alone, and like it better so." Virginia Woolf

Big quote eh? I know, found it buried in my notes and since there's not much to be said today I thought I'll add it in.

Today was a long rollercoaster through the Dome Forest, lots of mud, lots of tree roots waiting to trip you over, a big friendly group of Chinese tourists, a jogger with an advice to "skip Auckland" I've heard at least ten times, two dead pussums hanging on the side of the road, empty cooler of 'trail magic' drinks, and that's about it.

I finally met few other TA hikers on the trail (as opposed to campsites), Maggie from Canada/America (dual citizenship) and Ursula from Germany. They been both taking a gap year after finishing studies to hike and explore New Zealand, it was their first big thru hike. We walked together for an hour talking about food, books and Hitler, yes this individual made for a topic of our conversation as apparently Maggie and Ursula stayed at a private campsite last night where the owner tried to convinced them that Adolf was really.. a good guy! They couldn't escape him as apparently it was too late and he kept on telling them about flying to Germany and exploring Munich museum for straight five days, during which he got enlightened! What a lost soul, don't ever stay at his campsite if you have a chance.

I said goodbye to the girls and stopped at what I believed to be my campsite for the night, a motel run by Roma and Graham, there were two other hikers here, a French girl Mathilde and a nameless German guy Graham found dehydrated on the side of the road who was recovering on the couch. Mathilde was also injured, both of her thumbs got infected, she just got back from the doctor (it's when her and Graham picked up the half conscious German guy). We sat down and drunk some wine Mathilde got gifted. She was taking time off after working at her father's winery during the summer, she was planning to hitchhike tomorrow to Auckland and stay at her friends house for couple of days to recover, she also hiked Camino and was happy to see a shell on my backpack.

When I heard that it will cost me 25$ to pitch a tent behind a motel I've changed my mind and decided to walk longer to find campsite in the wild even though I liked the vibe of this place. I hiked for another two miles and found a spot on top of a hill just outside the village. I made myself a supper consisting of mushroom pasta, chicken mayo, dehydrated peas and mash potatoes. I used all the gas from the canister to cook it, so it looks like I will be eating tortillas with peanut butter until Auckland now.

Saturday, 2nd of December - 73 days to go.