The beach is back: day 6, the bluff to hula there

Today we walked the beach again. Nick and Mel didn't make it to the bluff last night sadly, so we set off without them. In the morning there was a heavy fog rolling in off the sea that accumulated a salty dew in my beard, which was annoying but far better than the sun we had all day yesterday. 

Around lunch however, the sun returned with a vengeance, and continued to pound down on is throughout the day. We did our best to stay out and get on enough sunscreen, but we both ended up with some burns today.

 The walk was long and flat, found another 20 mile day was difficult but rewarding when we arrived at hukatere lodge in the end. I chose to stay in their backpacker hostel because my sleeping mat decided it would be a good time to go AWOL off the back of my pack. The shower felt incredible , and the fresh aloe on my burns was a nice touch provided by the owners. The people here are kind and relaxed, and the view of the sea is incredible. A nice reward for a hard day.

I've been reading some of thoreau's walden when I can and I came across a passage that struck a chord with me today. "Public opinion is weak compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself... Indicates his fate"(5). I think this certainly holds true for myself and most people I know. I feel like the main reason for this is that our very perception of the world around us is inextricably linked to our opinions of ourselves. The world we see around us is shaped by how we see ourselves. Either as better or worse, aggressive or defensive, strong or weak. The way we behave in the world is a direct result of the way that we see the world behaving around our warped sense of self. Private opinion is incredibly strong in this way, so it is important to remember to seek outside counsel on things. People don't just see problems differently, they see the world differently from you, and will always have a different way of looking at things, even within ourselves. Sometimes the most keen internal insights are made from without by those around us. It seems to me a valuable lesson to be pulled from those words of Thoreau. While private opinion can be a mighty tyrant, remember that it is not the arbiter of fact, but merely a shaper of perspective.