DAY 73: Hiking, Torture, and Possum Hunting

We slept as late as possible that morning, because we couldn't cross the beach until 2:30 pm. So we stayed in the tent to avoid the sand flies until we got so bored we had to pack it up. Washed our hair in the sink only to find out there was a shower.... Awesome.

Emma and I were stuck on this little peninsula with no where to go and nothing to do. When I was a kid, my family would go to our friend's lake house in the Adirondacks.  There was no cell service and very spotty radio. So aside from hiking, fishing, and berry picking, there wasn't a lot to do. I would play with our friend's son on the beach (the start of the elementary education major...) while my brother would spend hours look for the perfect straight thick stick to smack rocks into the lake with. So when I was stuck on the beach (with no small children to be seen) I took a page from Joe's book and started hitting rocks as far as I possibly could. It was actually pretty fun! And I now understand his anguish when his stick broke and he had to go find a new one. I feel your pain bro.


When we finally thought the water was low enough, Emma and I set out to cross the beach. The water was still about 2 feet high, so we tied our boots to our packs and hiked our shorts up. The walk was about 3 football fields and had lots of shells on the bottom. I feared that we were going to cut our feet on shells, or maybe fall over if we hit a sharp one. So I put on my flip flops, Emma put on her sneakers, and we started to cross.



The sand had some clay in it. Because my flip flops were sinking in reeeaalllyyy badly. And the fabric on the flip flops was cutting into my feet. When I finally got out of the water, my feet were in pretty rough shape. I won't go into details, but cuts on each side of your feet and tidal water really don't mix. I walked barefoot to the nearest stream (about 10 minutes away) and set about the task of cleaning them.

...And then I realized I gave all of my anti-bacterial wipes to Lizzy when we hiked Waikeremoana. The only thing I had left was.... Purell. My parent's friend Janet gave me hand-sanitizer for all of the airport traveling I would be doing. I don't think she intended it to be used for this... but... Janet, thank you. It's because of you that I still have feet. It burned, and I think the CIA should consider it's use for cruel and unusual punishment, but still- Thank you.

We kept hiking, and soon it started to get dark. Luckily, we invested in head lamps and there was a full moon that night. But the second we got off the beach and back into the woods, the possums were everywhere!

FUN FACT #32: In 1837, some very forward thinkers thought it would be a good idea to bring Possums to New Zealand from Australia to establish a fur trade. But remember that time when New Zealand has no animal predators and the possums killed all of the native bird life???!?  Currently, there are over 30 million Possums which is about 7 to every person in New Zealand.  They actually use their fur for yarn! Except they have a fancy name for it- Merino. Nowadays, if you swerve to avoid a Possum on a road, it's considered a disservice to New Zealand. It has gotten to the point where we hit one and actually considered going back to make sure we got it good. Thats how hated they are here.


So here Emma and I are, hiking in the dark, and we we come upon some possums. Now, normally, I'm not that scared of wild animals. But that's because they typically run away at the first sight of you. These little monsters wouldn't move! They just stood there, 3 feet away, in the middle of the trail with no intention of leaving. So we did what any sane person would do.... We picked up some sticks and ran past them! When we got to the next beach 5 minutes later, we found some QUALITY drift wood. And made ourselves some clubs.

Yup, just me and Emma... hikin through the woods... Her with a spear, me with a club. Ready to take on anything.

Ready to take on the Possums... but without the beard.

It only got weird when we ran into some American girls also hiking the trail and they asked what the hell we were doing.... Awkward. Don't worry guys, its casual. We're from Vermont...

We hiked with them in the dark for a while and found some seals on the beach!!! They were sooo cute. When we finally made it to the last campsite, we were exhausted. Tomorrow was the last day of the hike.