Day 76 - Riverton to Invercargil

I planned to leave early to make it the 25km across the beach before high tide hit at 3pm, but I found myself telling stories with Troy and Chance and loosing track of time. The three of us decided to leave together at around 10am, and after a quick stop at the Super market for some fruit we were walking along the rocky and sandy beach towards invercargil. Memories of Nintey Mile beach came rushing back to my mind, and I could feel the full circle of the trail coming to an end. It was no short beach walk companied with heavy wind and on and off rain. I didn't take my rain gear off all day, and the three of us didn't take a single break until we reached the road that lead us towards invercargil. On the flat ground we were able to hike 5-6km per hour making up good distance in little time.

It was a solid 37km we hiked today and after many more hours on the road we reached invercargil and made our way to Southern Comfort, a Hostel located in the city. Our whole crew was here and I could feel the exciting jitters from everyone as we were now so very close to the finish line. Troy, Chance and I spent the evening at a McDonald's putting in as many calories into our bodies as humanly possibly. A big Mac, a cheeseburger, large fries, large coke, and a sundae came to just under 2000 calories. We burned over 7000 calories today so I was still far from my mark!

Tomorrow I will walk into Bluff. Tomorrow I will finish Te Araroa.