We didn't leave town that day and instead decided to hang at the local restaurant and brew pub. The bartender there was a guy named Morgan who said he lived in the next town over and that we should stop at his place to camp the next night. Being in such a highly populated area, finding stealth spots for camping where we didn't have to pay was difficult so we accepted. The next morning all eleven of us left town for a long road walk before heading up onto some logging roads. In the afternoon, we got to the beach where we went for a swim and then layed in the warm sand. Where I unfortunately fell asleep without sunscreen on. I woke up after a half hour but the sun had stolen my energy and instead of moving to the cold shade, I rolled over and fell back asleep. When I woke up I was exhausted and thirsty so I got moving into town to find water. I had a headache and was feeling very loopy until there was a beach restroom with water faucet. I chugged water until I felt sick then made my way to Morgan's house. We warned him of the large size of our group but he was unconcerned about the 12 tents we would be setting up in his yard. He started a bonfire for us and we swapped traveling stories late into the night. The next day was filled with road walking and ended with a pretty brutal 15km beach walk. My ankle was still incredible sore and my sunburn was doubling. We reached a ridge and walked off trail to camp in an open field that would be wonderful for sunrise. We all cowboyed that night and woke up completely soaked by the dew of the night. Luckily the sun came out in full force and we hung around while everything dried out. We hiked through two great forests before getting to a cafe. Barely able to walk on my ankle and thoroughly cooked by the sun, I hitched into a town for the night to rest up. The next day, my friends did the same and the five of us hitched into Auckland to avoid the massive amount of road walking that surrounded the city. Right On's friend had offered us a place to stay for the night so we met up with them and they cooked us an awesome dinner. The next day they gave us the option of staying another night and having a BBQ or staying another night and having a BBQ. So we stayed again and ate tons of food. Now we head back out on the trail on Christmas Eve to meet back up with our larger group. It's a rainy morning but we're hoping it clears up for a celebration tonight. Merry Christmas to all who I wish I could celebrate with. My trail family makes it easier to be away for the holidays. Kilometer 662.