• Official kms: 26km
• Garmin kms: 26.68km
• Total time: 6.29
• Calories burned: 3221
• Body battery: 7/10
• Accommodation: bed in a bunk room at Nikau eco lodge.
• Tent nights: 5

The alarm was set for 6am this morning. I woke at 5.50am. I got out of bed & started to walk towards the bathroom, my feet are sore & swollen from all the road walking so it was more of a hobble.

Gokul & I shared a room last night & Caroline & Jon are 2 doors down in another room. They are aiming to leave at 7am. We are planning on 7.30am with the remainder of the crew. It’s just stopped raining, hopefully that’s the end of it.

We left at 7.40am & within a few minutes we reached the Whananaki footbridge. It wasn’t long after this we caught up to the earlier starters about 6km in.

I kept going from this point walking with Marko for a bit & then at about 9km in he stopped for his coffee. As for me I like to get a good 12 to 15km under my belt before I stop for a break.

I stopped at just after the 14km mark & sat down & chilled out for a 10 minute break. I then walked another 7km before the next.

While I sat having this break just after midday I realised I was only 5km from Ngunguru & that meant only about an hour from a hot burger & some chips! This was motivation to boost on to get lunch. About 45 minutes out I rang the takeaway shop & placed an order to be ready upon arrival. It was perfect to walk in there grab lunch & sit at the beach eating it!

Everyone else turned up within about an hour of me & joined for lunch which then became a swim & just hanging out as the boat ride wasn’t until 4pm.

At 3.30pm we left to walk the final 1.5km to the boat ramp where we were transported in groups of 2 to 3 across the estuary to Nikau bay lodge.

This is an amazing place, well set up for hikers with one of the best hosts! James is very accomodating & makes sure his guests are comfortable. He also goes through explaining the mornings low tide river crossings that we must do.

This means with tomorrows tides we must leave at 6am! On that note it’s bedtime with the alarm set for 4.30am!!!!