Heading to the Start Line

Finally I am on my way. I left Waikouaiti at 1215 on 21 March heading to Dunedin Airport.

I found it funny that my flight started 21 Mar at 1450 and I was scheduled to arrive in San Diego on 21 March at 1630. Only 1 hour 45 minutes for a journey that would actually take me 20 hours.

Going through security at Dunedin they pulled everything out of my bag and put it through 4 times, each time dismantling even more. The lady did not say what had flagged their attention and I had made sure to have all sharps and dangeroous items in my check in. Eventually I was through. The plane was 30 minutes late but the flight was smooth.

In Auckland I confirmed my bag would be transferred to my next flight and stretched my legs by walking to the international terminal. I was through customs and secuity without delay.

Once again the flight was late but waiting for the plane there was a pretty sunset.

As usual for Air New Zealand the service, food and seat screen quality was good. As an added bonus I ended up in a SkyClass row and had no one else in my row so I was able to put up all the footrests to 90 degrees and have a wide flat bed which stretched between the seats. This meant I was able to stretch my legs out when watching movies and lay down properly to sleep

The flight made up time in the air but then we sat in San Fransisco for 20 minutes waiting for the air brigdge to become available.

As usual for my experience in USA the customs process was long. This time there was a prescreen with the machines which I thought would make the part with the customs officer quicker but it did not seem to. It was only our flight being processed but it still took over an hour. When I got to the custooms officer it was very quick, except he wanted to talk about hiking and the PCT. I was concious my time for the next flight was getting close but he was very talkitive.

Finally I was through and off to collect my bag. I thought it wasn’t coming but then I moved around to the special luggage and there it was for some reason.

Now it was a rush to the Domestic Terminal but I was pulled aside for a random search as I was leaving. Once again the customs guy was very talkative and this one could not seem to search and talk at the same time. He was very friendly and polite and only did a very cursary search of my pack and thankfully did not make me open the well wrapped check in bag.

Thankfully I was able to check in my bag at that terminal and got the train to the new terminal. Once again securty was excruciatingly slow but I arrived at the gate with 5 minutes to spare. This let me change my seat for a window, instead of middle as I had been issued back in Dunedin.

My bag came out as expected and I contacted Justin who had offered to be my trail angel. He arrived shortly afterwards and we learnt about each other in the drive to his home, with a stop at the supermarket on the way for me to get my first 2 days of food.

I met his wife Casey and two children and everyone was really welcoming. Casey produced a lovely dinner and we talked until bedtime.

I played with the packages that I had delivered here and put the new tips on my poles. The photo below shows how worn out the old ones were, though to be fair thay had done over 5,000 km.

The next morning I joined Justin for his first task which was picking out some trees and plants for his property. Then he dropped me off near some shops so I could get a USA phone plan, luunch and buy some last minute bits of gear from REI.

This was my first REI experience and I was impressed. The store was huge and the staff helpful and knowledgeable. There was a huge range and I had no trouble getting what I needed. I then walked around drooling at all the neat stuff before paying for my things.

At the door was a coffee caravan and the front looked closed. The side door was open so I asked if she was shut for the day and she said yes except for coffee. As that is what I was after I was happy. Then when I went to pay she told me it was on the house – must have been the accent.

I wandered back to the food court to wait for Justin. Shortly afterwards he picked me up and we headed back home. We talked for a while and then I started packing.

Once again it was a nice dinner and after talking a while I headed to bed.

I was so greatful for Justin, Casey and the kids for letting me stay with them.

I went to bed excited to begin my adventure the next day.

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