Day 145: Martin's Hut to Colac Bay Tavern (2890-2919)

Sunday, April 23

I woke up at 7. It was already really nice out. After eating breakfast, packing, and writing in the notebook left two years ago by someone named Alex, I headed out. It was about 8.

A few minutes after leaving I realized I had left my hiking poles behind, so I went back to get them and continued. Paul quickly passed me. He went so fast. It was just unbelievable with that huge backpack.

I slid down some mud on my butt and got off trail for fifteen minutes or so. With the help of my GPS I got back on course. The trail was really muddy and I was starting to get sick of it. I just kept telling myself how close I was to the end.

Eventually I saw the machinery Puff Puff had mentioned to me when I saw her in Queenstown. It would have made a great campsite, but since I got to Martin's Hut just after sunset, I had stayed there.

Even though it was muddy, I tried to take it in and enjoy this last forest. This was probably the last part of the TA to really feel like a hiking trail. Tomorrow would be mostly a beach walk and the bit from Invercargill to Bluff will be on the road. At one point I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get under a huge tree that had fallen across the trail. Luckily it wasn't sloppy mud there.

Then I saw the sign for the Mathieson Exit. Puff Puff hadn't taken it because she walked every inch of the TA, but she had heard good things about it from other people on the trail. The mud was really slowing me down, and Puff Puff said the mud continued if I didn't take the early exit.

The exit was well worth it. It entailed 15 pretty muddy minutes, but then it spit me out on a nice farm. It would probably be my last farm walk of the TA. I walked around the farm following the trail markers. Eventually I reached an electric wire gate. A metal hook was attached to a plastic handle with the electric wire running through it so it can be opened and closed to let people pass and connect or disconnect the electric current. I learned how to use them when I was hiking with Curly at the start of the TA.

I unhooked the electric fence since no farm animals were around and when I went to reattach it I got shocked really well. It really surprised me but I managed to reconnect the fence.

Following the markers, I came to another electric fence hook. I didn't want to go through getting shocked again, so I really paid attention and made sure I was only touching the plastic handle. This one electrocuted me too. By now I was pretty sick of this, so I just threw my backpack and hiking poles over the electric wire and crawled under it. It beat getting electrocuted again.

I came to a bit of farm road where I saw some cows. They were walking back to their field after being milked, so I wasn't sure where to walk. I needed to walk in the opposite direction as the cows, but if I walked toward them they turned around. After waiting for most of them to pass, the slow ones made it to me. They just stopped and stared at me and wouldn't move, so I decided to go. They were a bit confused, but I got to where I needed to without many turning around and went over an electric fence to get out of their way.

They quickly lost interest in me and went the way they were supposed to. I made it to the road and nice guy on a 4 wheeler drove by. He asked if I wanted a ride to the end of the road and I said sure. It wasn't far, but I wanted to ask if he was Scott, the nice person Puff Puff had stayed with and told me about. He was! And as soon as I asked if he was Scott, I could tell he knew who I was because Puff Puff had messaged him about me.

He invited me over for tea and to stay, but I was covered in mud. And I planned to walk from Colac Bay to Invercargill tomorrow. I knew I'd have to leave before sunrise to make it to Invercargill before dark, so I wanted to get every kilometer in today that I could. Scott had traveled all over, Germany, China, and around New Zealand, but he got sick of the city and this was where he was from. When we reached the end of the road I thanked him for the ride and walked the last few kilometers to Colac Bay.

When I made it to the restaurant and holiday park, I got my own room with a huge bed for $25! I showered the mud off, did laundry and saw Paul. He had taken the Mathieson Exit too. As I was walking to the restaurant to get dinner, I saw a German couple whose names I'd been seeing in the hut books. They were getting their tent set up.

I got fish and chips and a piece of banoffee pie. Both were discounted because it was a Sunday. Then I watched an episode of West Wing and went to bed. I'd see Marjolein in Invercargill tomorrow!