Day 146: Colac Bay Tavern to Invercargill (2919-2964)

Monday, April 24

I woke up early enough to leave around 6 am, but it was raining out. It was an absolute downpour so I sat around until 6:30. By then the rain had gotten much lighter so I headed out. I walked down the road to the beach in the dark. It reminded me of my walks on 90 Mile Beach through the night. I guess I've come full circle now.

After a bit of beach walking, the sun came up. I'm glad I didn't leave earlier because I got to some muddy and overgrown trail just after it got bright enough out to see. Although the trail was along the coast, it had to go up and over some rocky coastal areas. Some of it was through overgrown brush taller than me, but some of the trail was on grass. It felt like I was walking the seaside cliffs from the Pride and Prejudice movie.

Eventually the TA attached to a day walk trail and then followed a road into Riverton. I stopped at a picnic table before the road walk to take off my rain gear. It had cleared up quite a bit since this morning. I made it there around 10:30 and went to a cafe to get a wrap and custard square for an early lunch. While I ate I took my phone off airplane mode to text Marjolein and let her know I'd probably be getting to town around 7.

Then I started the long beach walk to Invercargill. It started off a little bit difficult. I hit it right at high tide, so all the sand was too soft for me to keep a good pace. But the tide gradually went down and I was able to get to my normal walking speed. There were weird balls of sea stuff on the beach. Maybe the tides made them. They reminded me of those decorative balls people display in bowls around a house.

As I got further along the beach, I started to notice cars like there were on 90 Mile Beach. The last few kilometers I walked toward a Jucy Snooze camper van. When I made it to the road where the trail turns off the beach, I struck up a conversation with a lady from Philadelphia who has lived in New Zealand for 20 years.

Now I just had a 9 kilometer road walk to the hostel in Invercargill. I turned my phone off airplane mode again and saw Marjolein had messaged me. She had gone around town finding the best place to rent a bike so we could bike together going to Bluff. Tomorrow was a holiday and I'd get to town after the bike place closed. It was so nice of her!

This was an easy road walk because there was a sidewalk almost the entire way from the beach to downtown Invercargill. When I was a few kilometers from town, Marjolein biked out to meet me. She'd finished running some errands. It was so good to see her!

We walked to the hostel together. She knew where we were going. As we walked up, we saw lots of people outside the hostel. The fire alarm had gone off. They figured it out soon after we got there and I checked in and showered. Marjolein went to get the bike she had rented for me and started to make dinner for us. It was an amazing meal. Belgian mashed potatoes filled with yummy veggies. It was so delicious and it was so nice of her to make dinner!

We ate and talked. Around 10 we went to bed. Since I'd woken up so early I couldn't stay awake much longer. It had been a 45-kilometer day.