(2800-3041km) Don't look back in anger

Misty morning. Muddy forest. Bushwacking through ferns and tussock. Bellbirds, Fantails and Tomtits. Rotten wood blue as indigo, river-stones red as rost. Meet nobos every couple hours. All of them have a message for me: "You never gonna make it!" It's from Melissa and Chris. After more than two weeks together we share a sense of humor.

Out of Takitimu forest. Cellphone coverage on a nameless peak. Reunion with Jeremy from Grenoble. He was the first nobo I ever met, when he was preparing on northisland. See a deer and couple hares. Farmland, paddocks. Cows and calves and muscular heavy bulls. Still frighten me. Eat white mushrooms. Scenery reminds me at the first weeks. Too lazy to put shoes off for river crossing. What have I become?

Funny day. Sun chases me out of tent. It's heating up quickly. Good chatts with the nobos. Eventually clouds cover the sky and all of sudden it's pleasant to walk. Kiwi couple walks with me until the evening. Then camp in the pines.

Hitchhike to Otautau for resupply. Both rides by the same Dutch lady. Sun is relentless. Umbrella helps. Waiting helps more. There have been times, when I soaked my hat in water. Now I soak all I wear in water. Beech trees shrink from 15m to 2m tall as I climb up Bald Hill. Can see Bluff and Steward island - the promised land, my Mekka, my mount doom. Is that the reason, why I slowed down?

Get up with the sun. Martins hut is old and rustic. Nobody there. Finally a stream that's big enough to have a bath. Soak all my clothes. It's 10am. Ferns are back. Fantails look different here. Meet a bunch of nobos. Longwood forest is long. Burger in Colac bay. Best thing ever! Keep on walking till late. Camp in-between flax bushes at the beach. This was the hottest day in Invercargill since decades.

Get up before sun. Find a big Paua shell  Walk into the awakening Riverton. Feel like a rockstar. People tell me that I smile. Then they smile, too. Along the beach. Meet two Americans that have umbrellas. Pretty much everyone without one is already dying. Hundreds of people at Oreti beach. Invercargill Backpackers.

Strong winds, weak rain. Could have stayed in the hostel, but this is my day, day 114. And tomorrow won't be day 115 - tomorrow will be just thursday. Hide out heavier rain in a rustic shed. 15 km along the highway, mainly in a trench between road and rails. If I'd have to walk this into the other direction untrained and insecure it would be a disaster. Now I actually genuinely enjoy it. I'm on my mission. Nothing's gonna stop me. A sign proves me wrong: "Caution, bulls on property, no entry, not advisable to use track. There has already been one injury. You don't want to be the second." Well I don't want to be the second and I still shit my pants encountering bulls. Walk around it, climb the hill and make my own way to Stirling point. Sit down, watch the tourists. None of them knows, that I just walked more than 3000km to get here. That's ok. It feels like leaving the cinema after an extraodinary good movie. Knowing that it wouldn't be the same watching it again. Unable to tell anyone about it. Then all of a sudden two supercute girls congratulate me, hug me. Smiles all over their faces. We even have a glass of wine to celebrate. I'm so puzzled. Emilia from Finland is about to ultrarun the length of both islands to end the silence around interpersonal violence and change societies way to deal with it. She will be doing marathons each day for 50 days. Mina from England, who did the trail herself, is supporting her with logistics, driving a van along. Mina cookes a second dinner - just for me. Smiles and smiles and questions, thousands of questions. THIS IS THE START!