Legs and Borders

Last day on the trail, it was better than expected but inevitably the realisation came to me that TA was more about the journey than the destination. It rained all night but it was also very windy which was somewhat helpful, tent was mostly dry when I was folding it. I left the campsite at 6am and started the road walk towards Invercargill. Got there just before PacN'Save opened at 8am. I did a small resupply and ate a chicken, ham and pineapple bap with two apple danishes and a latte. Then the road walk to Bluff continued. At midday I got overtaken by Kasia the Welsh girl, she was meeting Scott from Australia at the finish line, they were planning to stay at the Bluff Lodge, she recommended the place to me as well. Weather got better at this point, it was still windy but rain had gone away. At Greenhills I walked next to very friendly black goat who loved scratches, for some reason it was living chained to a wooden shack by the road....

"Sergeant Colon had had a broad education. He'd been to the School of My Dad Always Said, the College of It Stands to Reason, and was now a post-graduate student at the University of What Some Bloke In The Pub Told Me." Terry Pratchett Penultimate day on Te Araroa, it was a long beach walk in the rain and wind but I managed to find a Paua shell in return! Morning looked quite grim, I could hear the rain drumming on the roof of the cabin. I set off as soon as it got quiet. I decided to walk the section to Riverton on the road, the tide was high and the beach shallow and stony. I've arrived in Riverton at 9am, had a good (but not hiker sized) breakfast at the Jacob's Bakehouse Cafe and did a small resupply at the Supervalue. It was a long sandy beach walk from here. Right at the start of it I picked up a Paua shell, it was quite surprising I even though they might be quite common here so I kept on looking but didn't manage to find another, even broken one. Looks...