Sep 3 day 3 free camp to Holiday Campground 40 km 7:15-4:00

Carefully packed in the rain, hoping to keep much of the equipment dry, though all was completely covered in sand. Of course it started to rain just as I was finishing up. Got out to the beach at 7:15 and, just like Robinson Crusoe, was amazed to find footprints leading down the beach. I trailed them a couple of hours, to discover it was Teddy. He had only planned to hike short days (former pro soccer player with bad shoulder), but was so frustrated with the brutal boredom that is hiking a beach all day long, he was pushing hard to finish this section. We had two camping choices, one we hit at 12:00, and decided it was too early to stop, so we pushed for the next, which necessitated a 40 km day. Both of us were exhausted when we got to the Holiday campground, but it had hot showers and a kitchen, and we pitched tents out of the worst of the wind. Spent the evening wearing all my warm clothes, just wanted to be hot, dry and non-sandy for a little while. The good news is that it is only 13 km into Ahipara, so I’ll have a long day to do laundry and get caught up on correspondence.