Day 89: Havelock to Pelorus Bridge Campsite (1787-1808)

Sunday, February 26

I woke up and got out of my tent to eat some hard boiled eggs in the kitchen, but I started to worry it might rain. I quickly got everything out of my tent and into the kitchen area so I could pack up my tent before it got wet. As I ate my hard boiled eggs, I charged my phone. The next section will be the longest I'll go without electricity, so I wanted to make sure everything was as charged as possible before I left.

After I was all packed up, I messaged Sara and downloaded a few more West Wing episodes before meeting her at the hostel she stayed at. There was a TA Northbounder from Cleveland that stayed at the hostel too, and he told Sara a bit about the next section.

We put on our heavy packs, loaded down with 8 days of food, and started walking on the highway. After a few kilometers we made it to a gravel road that lasted about 10 kilometers. Sara and I talked the whole time.

We hit the Dalton Track, a trail on the edge of some farms. It was much nicer than I thought it would be. Sara stopped for lunch and I just wanted to make it to the campground so I kept going and put on a West Wing Weekly podcast. It was so fun to listen to a podcast about an episode I watched last night. It's almost like being in a book club for the tv show.

I made it to the campground and checked in. Then I bought some popsicles since I was warm and noticed they had L&P. Sara would be happy. Sara arrived and we stayed at the cafe until they closed at 4:30. I ended up getting fish and chips for dinner there. Fish and chips has been my go-to meal since I started this hike, and I'm still not sick of it.

Once the cafe closed, Sara and I walked over to our campsite, set up our tents and showered. The campground was so nice! The log book was in the kitchen area so I read through it. There were notes from TA hikers as far back as 2014. Sara and I talked to a German couple and looked over notes for the trail tomorrow. She gave me some tea and made dinner with some things she'd bought in Wellington that Creya had shown her. By mixing instant potatoes, dried seaweed, dried mushrooms, dried onions and vegetable protein, she got something that was a creamy soup consistency and really tasty.

After dinner we got in our tents, played some music and talked for a bit. I watched two episodes of the West Wing before bed, but got up between them. The stars were amazing!