Winter in Hamilton

Had two days blobbing out in Oamaru then walked a 22km day to Waitaki Holiday Park just out of Glenavay. I initially checked out the beach but it was all large pebbles which would have been exhausting to walk on and I was trying to save my knees from too much jarring as they have both been aching again recently. I was carrying my backpack as I could find no one to carry it on. I found a sealed foot track out of Oamaru I had been told about which followed the train tracks. A short rough grass track then took me to back roads which I followed for about 15km. The countryside has changed from hilly sheep country to flat dairying land. A truck driver stopped to chat and advised me I could walk along the beach but when I checked it out it was the same big pebbles and went back to the roads. When I ran out of back roads I thought I would have to walk on SH1 again but found a rough 4WD track to walk along instead. The Motor Camp was 3km down a side road and a local farmer stopped and took my pack for the final 1km. When I arrived at the camp Derrick the camp owner was very helpful and searched on the internet for options of where I can stay further up the coast.

The following day I walked another 22km. Derrick gave me a ride back to the main road and then took my pack a further 3km onto Glenavy so that I would not have to carry it over the Waitaki River Bridge. Walked 2km alongside SH1 and then 1km across the bridge where there is no footpath but a very narrow step up which was OK while cars were crossing but large trucks I found very intimidating. There are small platforms about every 100m but only managed to use these once while a truck was passing. Once over the bridge I discovered I had crossed from Otago into Canterbury and my 3rd province. Collected my pack from the petrol station then walked back roads to Waihoa Inlet. Saw very little traffic, although I  did see a LIC (company I worked for on and off for 40 years) truck and flagged it down and chatted with the driver.  Later a ute stopped and I was offered a ride but the driver could think of no safe place to drop my pack off and so I carried it for the rest of the day. Stayed in an informal campsite with just a toilet and no other facilities and no one else there. There is a strange box construction across the river mouth to keep the river mouth open. I had hoped to be able to cross the river here and next morning did think I might attempt it but although it was only a couple of metres across the sea was surging in and I decided to return to the road. Part of me congratulated myself on a wise decision while another part of me berated myself for being a whimp! Where I had camped there was a memorial to a young boy who had drowned here some years previously and I later learned that others had also been drowned attempting to cross there. While in my tent the night before there was a strange glow coming from outside and the glow kept changing hues. I thought that there must be a lighthouse nearby but investigation revealed  a large plastic butterfly atop the memorial and this was glowing with different colours. When I got up to pee in the middle of the night the glow had gone so I guessed it must be solar powered.

As I was running short of water I had cheese and crackers for breakfast instead of my usual porridge. I passed a number of houses but they were either too far back off the road or it looked like nobody was home. As the water situation was not desperate I walked on and was looking for an opportunity to approach someone for water when a ute stopped. The two local council workers were interested to know where I was walking. My enquiry regarding water brought the answer that they were the two people responsible for the local water supply and they took me back 250m to a water cock where they filled my bottles. They also confirmed my planned route, gave me some fruit and wished me good walking. Some hours later after I had turned onto a road to take me back to the beach a local farmer droving sheep stopped to chat. We talked for about 20 minutes and then he took one of my water bottles back to his house and refilled it as I was not sure where I might get the next refill. The beach was still large pebbles and I walked on a 4WD track that ran parallel to the sea. After about 2km I found an old doorless concrete hut with a pebble floor. I had only walked 15km for the day but decided to stop there for the night. Not far away I found an old broken wooden sign so I laid it on top of the pebble floor and placed my sleeping mat on top of that. When I walked down to the beach I was entertained by two dolphins playing in the surf. Also saw a couple of skinks sunning themselves on the pebble. Surprisingly these were the first skinks I'd seen on the walk so far. I had though I would see quite a few.

As there was a fireplace in the hut and lots of driftwood about I lit a fire. Not that it was cold but there is something comforting about an open fire. Later the wind must have changed direction as the smoke came back into the hut and now my gear smells smokey. During the night I heard an animal moving around in the hut and fearing a rat I turned on my torch to reveal a hedgehog. The same thing had happened to Alan when we spent the night in the cave. Maybe it was the same hedgehog, stalking me?

During the evening I spoke on my cell phone with Charissa and as she was having a stressful I offered to return early to Hamilton.

Next morning I walked until I found a road end, taking a last look at the sea I once again saw two dolphins playing in the surf.  I then walked up the road until I came to SH1 and hitch hiked 250 km to Christchurch where I stayed for two nights with ex work colleagues Karla and Troy. On the second day Karla loaned me her car and I went into the city centre and viewed the red zone. This is where buildings are still being demolished after the series of earthquakes last year and the year before. Although I had read and seen TV images of the devastation I had not appreciated just how much of the city centre was still closed for business. Basically there is still only a very tiny part of the city centre open with many, many empty spaces where buildings have been pulled down due to earthquake damage and still many buildings awaiting the same fate. I also visited the outlying areas of Sumner and Lyttleton and saw the damage in those areas.

I am now back in Hamilton for the winter and will return to my walk in either late August or early September  During the winter I will attempt to get a job and will also be house sitting for 7 weeks for another ex work colleagues.