Day 54 - Santoft forest, Bulls, and Mt Lee's Reserve

I awoke to a tough wind coming off the sea, which gave me some trouble packing up camp. As much as I love beach camping, I hate the way the sand managed to get in everything from my shoes to my food.

I left camp barefoot with my pants rolled up as I knew I had to ford the Santoft forest swamp first thing. When I stepped into the dark thick bog I was surprised with the depth of the water. I soon turned back, and stripped down to underwear in hope that the water wouldn't get deeper than my waist. It didnt. There were no signs of a designated direction, but I figured if I kept going straight I would eventually get out of the swamp. It would be easier to find the trail through thick bush than thick swamp. The water was painfully cold, but after 20 minutes I lost most of the feeling in my legs. So much so that I didn't even notice when a small sharp object slipped through the under skin on my right foot. I eventually found some direction, and after thirty minutes I was out the other side and dry.

I pushed forward towards bulls, but it was another 17-20km away yet. I walked through a logging track, and at the other end I found a farmer burning a huge smokey fire that bellowed through my walking direction. I used my handy buff as a smoke mask.

Around 7 km left to bulls I ran out of water. I could have easily asked a passing farmers house for more, but felt no worry of dehydration and pushed forward to Bulls.

When i reached Bulls I had a nice lunch at a corner cafe, and after a few people staring at me I continued the next 10km to Mt Lee's Reserve.

Eventually I made it to the reserve and had camp set up and dinner made. The reserve was absolutely stunning and hidden within it was a bushwalk. So after 30km of road walking I jumped into a 2 km bushwalk, and was stunned by how beautiful it was. I made a promise to myself to return.

The night was calm, and my legs were sore. A little less sore than they were yesterday, and I saw that as a good sign. The pain was expected. My body was adapting.