Day 100: UltraAlex

January 18, 2020

Kilometers: 2387.8-2442.0

Lake Tekapo YHA to Twizel Holiday Park

Marathons are cool if your into that sort of thing. I’m more of a ultramarathon guy myself, call me UltraAlex. 

I woke up at 5:15 this morning. This was partially due to being excited to get my big day started but mostly because one of the guys in my dorm room was snoring twice as loud as Peter ever has. Get that guy in the Guinness book of world records. Without being over dramatic it was like 130 decibels. And this is some rando so I can’t just yell at him to shut up. People really shouldn’t be allowed to sleep in a dorm room if they’re gonna snore at that volume. Anyway, my alarm was set for 6 but i decided to just start walking earlier than planned. I ate the blueberry muffins, apple and smoothie I had gotten yesterday as I began my walk away from the village. 

It was still dark as I made my way through a neighborhood. After ten minutes I was at the canal, which is what I walked alongside all morning. The sun was rising as I walked down the long straight gravel canal road.

I was making good time as I walked while listening to a bunch of different podcasts I downloaded yesterday. Throughout the day I listened to recent episodes of “Pardon My Take, ”“Freakonomics,” “Planet Money,” “What the Health?” and “Monster: DC Sniper.” They were all really good, especially the new series about the DC sniper. 

At 8 o’clock Peter and Charlie pulled up next to me on their bikes. I had made it 15 kms in two and half hours. They covered that same distance in 50 minutes. Charlie gave me a cheese scone and we parted ways. I will be doing some big days and they will be doing some shorter days after today so that we meet up in about three days. 

I kept walking until about 10 when I found some shade under a bank of solar panels. I had walked about 20kms already but still had a massive 35kms to go. I ate first lunch and got back to walking relatively quickly. 

After some more walking on the canal road I got to some salmon farms. I didn’t put two and two together that that’s what they were until I walked past it so I didn’t get any pics. 

After about 28kms on the canal road it came to an end and I walked down from the canal to lake Pukaki. This huge lake has great views of Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest point, from all angels. As I made my way across the lake the heat intensified.

With 35kms down I stopped again for second lunch. Usually after 35kms my day is over or close to it but I had a few more hours of walking ahead of me in the heat. 

I continued around the lake. The sky and mountains appeared hazy, which I assume is from the fires in Australia. Eventually, I got to a small store and visitor center. 

At the store I ran into Noa, a woman about my age from Israel that I met two days ago at the hut. She had hitched to the store and was planning to hitch again into Twizel. Exhausted after already walking 45kms I ate a popsicle, refilled my water bottle, said bye to Noa and kept on trucking. 

The last ten kms were through some forest at first but the majority was through an open field with shin high grass. It was disgustingly hot at this point. My pace slowed a bit as I got closer and closer to Twizel. 

When I reached the edge of town I was almost too tired to get a pic with the sign but I knew I just had to. My self-timer skills are getting pretty good, which is a necessity since I’ll be hiking solo for awhile. 

I walked to the holiday park and paid for a tent site. I sat down in the shade and relaxed for a little before doing anything. I had gone 55kms in about 10.5 hours including about an hour of breaks. I think 55kms is pretty close to my limit with a pack, going another 5 or 10 would have been a struggle. My legs felt fine but my feet were just exhausted from stepping constantly on the hard road surfaces. 

When I regained some energy I sent up my tent and headed to the grocery. I bought my food for the next four days. I definitely bought too much, which seems to happen when I shop hungry. 

I then went to a Thai restaurant and got a meal to take back to the campsite. Yes, I know I had Thai last night as well, not a whole lot of options in these small towns. 

I walked back to the campground, ate, showered and charged up my devices. I’ll be asleep quickly tonight as the 71,000 steps I took today under the sun zapped all of my energy and I have another big day ahead of me tomorrow.