Day 70: Wellington to North Island Finish

Distance Covered: 12 km

And now we come to the end of the island. 70 days of adventure. Many stories, both shared and unshared, of the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the great, too. We have had so many little experiences that it’s hard for us to put them together to make one picture. Every attempt to hold something up for others to see feels “less than” and incomplete. 

We started this momentous day by crossing the street to the grocery store. We were there to buy delicious things, of course. And then somehow the universe clicked into alignment. We were in the store for less than a minute when we heard a song start up on the speakers: “I would walk 500 miles”, by The Proclaimers. Being out here was primarily Emily’s idea and we put a lot of things on hold to support her crazy plan. And I’ve thought about this song more than a few times along the way. Hearing it played on the speakers first thing in the morning on this day of all days was startling and beautiful. I was getting misty eyed. I wanted to say all sorts of lovely things to Emily, but I was feeling choked up. So I just held her hand instead.

We went back to the hostel and packed everything up. No cheating! We were carrying every little bit of our gear all the way to the end, even though we would come back here afterwards. Then, just as we were getting ready to walk out the door, we got a text from our Finnish friend. She had to do 10 km to get to us, but maybe we could walk to the end together? Finish with a Finnish? OK! So we sat back down and waited a couple of hours. A short nap later, she was downstairs and we were ready to go. Onward to the end!

The overall route today was 12 km of touring the peaks around the south side of the city. We started at sea level, walking by the city beach and then meandering to the start of the Southern Trail. The trail from there more or less followed the remnants of the green belt that used to encircle this part of the city, but has been chipped away at by various housing projects. We would often be in a “forest”, but it was just 20 or so meters wide with a dirt trail in the middle and houses on either side. And these sections only lasted a few hundred meters before we were road walking in neighborhoods again to get to the next segment. It’s great to have anything, but sad that the remnants of something much greater were so clearly visible. Each little project over the years justifying why it was okay for them to take just a little slice of the best real estate until now there’s not much left to slice up. But I digress.

We climbed a couple of peaks, each one giving us just a little more of a view of the southern coast. As we have many times on this journey, we climbed up and up and then down the other side to climb up and up again. What was different today was that neighborhood streets in this part of the city don’t go straight up so we kind of circled around and around, getting views of the city, or bay, or ocean as we switched directions.

Finally, having taken much longer than expected, we wound down to the final walk along the coast. It looked like there was a great little place for the end of the island marker at the southern tip of the rocky coast. But we had less than a km to go so that couldn’t be it. We approached a little coastal park that has a “snorkel route” you can follow around the bay (what an awesome idea!), but the end was not there either. Hmm…

Then the route took us inland a block and to a small city park. There were a number of families with kids running around the seesaws and swings. We walked on the cement sidewalk bisecting the park and headed back towards the ocean, wondering where the end could be. 

And then we saw it… a rock with a bronze plaque just kind of sitting on the grass against a wall. The path didn’t even go to it… nothing about the area at all suggested that this might be important to anybody. The South Island continues from here by taking the ferry, but you have to go the 12 km back to town to get to the ferry terminal. This isn’t the southern most part of anything. There is no scenery, nothing around to suggest a destination, and it inconveniently ends far from things so that you have to pay a bus or try hitchhiking in a neighborhood park. Also, parents with children seemed to be keeping one eye on us, wondering what these adults with backpacks were doing around the kids play area. I don’t think there are too many other places the trail organizers could have come up with that would be more anti-climactic or even uncomfortable. In literal terms, it truly was not about the destination, but the journey.

We did not touch the rock, though. Instead we sat down 10 meters from the end and ate lunch. We talked about our favorite things and things we would improve if we could. And little stories were shared. And we talked about the people we met and the other hikers. We ate lots of delicious things. (Our Finnish friend was amazed at everything we ate and our variety, but we were actually running short of our usual standard.) And then… an hour later… it was time to touch the rock.

Emily and I held hands and slowly approached the rock. At Cape Reinga, there is a signpost that more or less marks the beginning of the trail. There, Emily and I put our backs to it, held hands, and took the first step together. Now 70 days later and the 1,702 km of trail behind us, we stood one step away from the end. We smiled, reached out to the rock with our free hands, leaned forward and touched the marker. We kissed. 

And we looked down on the plaque signaling our achievement.

Not even a congratulation. Or something about the end of the South Island. Just a random plaque saying that the trail was opened on a certain date by some politician. We looked at it wistfully. After all the shenanigans pulled by the trail and its organizers they kept to the theme of "haphazard place holders for something real at a later time" right to the end. In its strange way, you have to admire the beauty of the situation and laugh about it.

We took pictures and laughed about the ridiculousness of it all and then turned around to move on to the next adventure. 

We ended up taking the bus back to our hostel. It cost us $10 and it took just minutes. We couldn’t believe how fast we were back after being on the trail for hours. Surreal. And then we went out to eat to celebrate with our friend. Truly, the best joy is in the people we met along the way.

And now we are in our room. Our conversation tonight has continued to be along the lines of “do you remember that time…” and “I was just thinking about that one time when we…”. It’s clear that our time on this island will supply these type of fun, shared moments for years to come. We are indeed grateful for all of the good times and challenges overcome. And that we could do it together.

And now, onward and forward to the next adventure!