Day 78: Wellington to the end of the North Island (1689-1700)
Wednesday, February 15
Creya, Sara and I woke up and packed our stuff. We all had to move to different rooms tonight because the triple was booked. We ate breakfast and I watched a livestream of Matt Hall winning the 1000-Mile Yukon Quest!! My poor friends have had to listen to multiple updates and my ramblings about the race every day since we got to Wellington. I think Creya and Sara have been listening to me talk about it since we got phone service in Levin. It was so nice to be able to watch the finish and to see so many familiar faces in the livestream.
After watching the finish Creya and I made signs to hold for photos when we got to the bottom of the North Island. Kristen showed up just as we were finishing and the four of us walked the last 11 kilometers of the trail to Island Bay. The trail went up near Mount Victoria so we decided to go up there and take some photographs. Then we continued along the trail to Island Bay. It was a hilly trail but it was mostly off the roads which was nice.
We made it to the plaque at the end of the North Island, the 1700-kilometer mark, and took photographs before walking to the road to get popsicles and hop on a bus back to town. Kristen had to get her bounce box at the post office and we went to an Asian dessert restaurant to get Tai (Taiwan not Thailand) ice Creya had been telling us about. We went with the Mango Ice and it was delicious. It had shaved ice, fresh mango, mango flavor, what tasted like condensed milk and some ice cream on top. It was a great way to finish off a hot day of hiking.
We all went back to the hostel to check into our new rooms and quickly shower before we met Ross and Kristen at a place that had a free meal (with a drink purchase) before trivia. We played trivia with some other TA hikers and went back to the hostel. We were pretty tired once trivia was over, but I went to New World with Ross and Kristen to get a snack and said goodbye to Kristen. I won't see her again before she leaves New Zealand, but luckily she's Canadian so hopefully I'll see her again in New Brunswick.
After our goodbye it was time for bed.
Starting out our walk in the waterfront.
Random legs
Group trail photo.
Kristen, Creya and Sara on the trail.
Group trail selfie.
The view from Mount Victoria.
The view from the other side of Mount Victoria.
Kristen and I on Mount Victoria.
A fun playground we passed.
A double toilet by the end of the North Island.
The plaque at the end of the North Island
Group North Island finish photo.
Now it's nap time.
North Island finish photo.
Kristen and I after finishing the North Island.
Celebration Mango Ice!!!