tramping new zealand

Organising my gear for a trip after a long hiatus seemed to take forever, even if all the food was already divided up and ready to stuff in my pack. Bits and pieces were scattered all over the place, and I’ve had the experience of leaving essential things behind in the past.

Emails to deal with, and some national park campsites to book.

The weather looks atrocious, but it’s supposed to be clearing later on.

Carrying my tent you can sense I’m an optimist.

As they say, it’s never as bad when you are out in it. Well, unless it is.

Also, I stopped to see an old friend along the way, so it was almost 3 pm when I finally had my boots on and was striding off into the gloom. Drizzle.

I should have made note that in the week the shortest day, it’s getting quite dark in the forest even at 5 pm. Setting up camp in the drizzle and dark seem pointless when I could set up camp at Appletree Bay in the semi-dark and drizzle, but pitch close to the crashing waves.

I had booked two nights at the Te Pukatea Bay campsite, but, one would have to suffice.

Unsurprisingly in the conditions, only a couple of trail runners were sighted out on the trail. Also, no surprise with the wind doing its thing, even if precipitation had ceased.

My new tent and sleeping mat were simple to sort out.

I was horizontal by 7 pm. Good night.