Day 8: Ahipara Zero Day!

I woke up late today! How nice were those 11 hours of sleep. I got a brutal heat rash on my feet and ankles from the beach, but a kind hostel buddy gave me some skin creme for that which has been working wonders. Manja showed up at the park around 11, and John followed shortly thereafter. Today I also met Kasper, a 30 year old floor sweeper from Denmark and Andy an older gentleman from the states. Both of them are trying to thru hike TA, and some of Andy's gear is incredible, all of his pack weighs about 15 lbs, truly ultra light. Mel was staying at the Hostel already, and Nick came in later in the afternoon leaving six Ta thru hikers in the same place! we went out for a big dinner at Bidz' take out to celebrate finally being off of 90 mile beach and being able to relax. fish n chips carried through the night as we sat around drinking wine and playing some party games. It was good for us all to be social and relax a bit. There are tons of Germans here at the hostel as well, so we had some bilingual pictionary going which was tons of fun. It's nice to be able to form such camaraderie so quickly when we're all so far from home. It's easy to be in the moment when you are around so many other people simply out on an adventure.