TA Day 8 – Illness and stupidity

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31st October

28.3km

Makene road 155.6km to bushcamp 183.9

I arrived at the store around 9am. I was not in a good way. After the short 6km roadwalk I felt like I was burning up. Coughing and clearing flegm from my painful throat. My ears were sore and my throat glands were swollen.

Sometimes I do stupid things. I think I do them less often than the general populous my nonetheless it happen.

This is how my day should have gone…

After only a 6km walk to the Mangamuka General Store I set up my tent on the grassy lawn behind the very welcoming store. I eat what I can from their grill while resting and keeping my fluids up. All the while taking some form of medication to alleviate my man flu.

Instead, I eat a bacon and egg roll, washed down with a litre of milk. Another hiker gifts to me a couple of paracetamol and I convince myself I’m fine. I continue hiking.

In my semi stupid state I forgot my 10am photo, I know some if you like them. I was probably sitting at the cafe table blankly staring at the menu. Worse than forgetting the photo, I forgot to resupply. I have 72km to hike with only 1 dinner, 1 breakfast and some snacks. That’s a rather long distance to hike with my man flu. And to make things worse. I only realised this when I opened my food bag to cook dinner at the end of the day.

In the history of thru hiking, have you ever heard of a hiker leaving a resupply store and forgetting to buy food. As I’ve covered about 22km of the 72km I’m sitting in my tent contemplating a 50km hiking day. And I’m still coughing up half a lung. I suspect things will only get worse.

Next – Day 9 Man Flu

All the tips you need to hike the Te Araroa Trail : 
Complete Guide to the Te Araroa Trail
Te Araroa Trail Resupply Guide
Te Araroa Trail Gear List
Te Araroa Trail Gear Review

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