Day 5: A Zero Day

Today has been a wonderfully lazy day to give my legs and feet a wee break before tackling the approximately 8 days to Kerikeri. Funnily enough, my silent companion from Te Paki turned up at the campground in Ahipara with a fish and actually engaged in conversation- turns out he was so taciturn because he was suffering blisters! 

I want to talk gear for a moment- my hammock in particular as it has attracted attention. How has it worked out so far? With this cold snap I have definitely had to use all the tricks I know (admittedly, not that many as I have only been hammock camping for about a year). 

Here it is with tarp rigged for the storm.

Since I've taken this pic, it has been raining heavily creating puddles of standing water on the tentsite, which is one of the beautiful things about hammocks- you stay above cold, soggy ground!

As for warmth, I have a wearable poncho liner as a sleeping quilt, and another encasing the underside to insulate me from wind. Surrounding all of this is a breathable hammock sock that helps create a warmer microclimate.

So I feel snug as a bug!

You might think this creates a bulky and heavy burden to lug about, or that it takes ages to put up. While definitely not ultralight, it's lighter than many one man double-walled tents, and the bonus for me is it is far more comfortable. Setup, including tarp is taking about 10 minutes which I'm happy with. My hammock is a Warbonnet Blackbird (double layer, 1.1oz. Ripstop nylon). Hammock suspension is Dutchwaregear-made dyneema whoopie slings with Dutch hooks and tree straps. My tarp is a Zpacks hammock tarp made from cuben fibre.

 I have also been really happy so far with my Zpacks cuben fibre rain jacket which has been extremely light AND waterproof. I'll look to tweak/add/delete some gear in Kerikeri, more on gear later! I may be out of cell range for a while, so perhaps the last blog for up to a week? See you on the other coast!