Te Araroa Trail – Day 76

Thursday January 18, 2024
Distance/ Total: 0 km / 0 mi

Today was another zero day. Yeah! I know. I just had one 3 days ago, but today is my birthday. I was able to sleep in and then got around to do some more town chores. But first breakfast. I had a good breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee.

I went by Rebel Sports hoping they had restocked their Under Armour since Monday, but no luck. I ended up with a pair of Jockey’s. I hope they don’t ride up. That would be miserable on a long hiking day. Next stop was Coffee Outdoors, a small gear shop that is really catering to the hikers. They had Injinji socks and I bought 2 pair.

I then headed to New World to pick up my grocery resupply – 3 days on the Abel Tasman and 3 days on the Queen Charlotte Track. I stopped by the Post Office on the way back to the motel and picked up a size 3 box.

Back at the motel, I repacked my food and tried to fit all my bounce box gear into the new box. No luck. I’m still going to have to use a size 4 box. I shipped it forward to Coleridge Lodge at KM 2275.

I spent the afternoon sorting through my pictures and working on my blogs. The hotel internet was pretty slow so I didn’t get much done.

For dinner I took a short bus ride to Tequila Joe’s Mexican Cantina. They advertise all you can eat on Tuesday & Thursday nights, and it was Thursday. It was all you can eat tacos with a 2 hour time limit. They had 9 different taco varieties and I tried them all (even the vegan cauliflower taco, which was pretty good). After trying them all I order a few more of my favorites. I made it an hour and a half and had to call it quits. I walked away fully stuffed.

Back at the hotel, I washed all my clothes getting ready for the next section and called it a night.