• Official km: 29km
• Garmin km: 30.52km
• Total time: 8.21
• Calories burned: 3717
• Body battery: 8/10, arghh 4.30am alarm!
• Accommodations: tent at trail angels
• Tent nights = 6 so far

This morning the alarm went off at 4.30am! It wasn’t easy to get up but we needed to be gone by 6am to be able to hit the two estuaries that are only crossable at low tide.

It was an undulating 6km walk to the 1st crossing, with some mud thrown in for good measure.

We reached the 1st estuary crossing just after 7am & proceeded to cross. There were 3 braids & the deepest being the middle one which was only knee deep. Coming out of the mangroves to reach the road was quite muddy & I was grateful there was a large puddle at the roadside to wash off all the mud from my trail runners & gators.

8km of road walking later a footbridge & the 12% point, we were straight into the next estuary, this one was over 2km of sidling around the estuary before crossing. I then stopped for my 1st break as I no longer needed to worry about low tide crossings.

After the last estuary & regaining muddy shoe’s & gator it was a quick walk through a farm & then a steady & sometimes steep climb up the Kauri mountain track to the high point of 245m. Here I stopped for my 2nd & final break to eat lunch, before I set off to get the last 10kms done.

It was then a descent to the beach through forest & a gravel road. Once I reached the beach I realised it wasn’t going to be easy as the tide was almost in & you either had to walk on the soft sand or in the water, I chose the later. This last 6km stretch was the slowest & it ended up being over 30km today!

Once i arrived at the campsite the first person I seen was Felix. I hadn’t seen him since Waitangi. He had done to shorter days which we had done combined today.

Once we were all here the campsite got really busy! So many tents! it’s also a really windy afternoon/evening so hope that everyone’s tents hold up ok!

Tomorrow I have a mate that I met on my section hike last January joining me for the day. Dean did the TA South Island section raising money for Alzheimer’s. It will be really good to catch up with him.

Tomorrow is going to be steep, with nearly a 500 metre climb 1st off. At least it’s only 15km & we are having a zero day at my dads the next day. Looking forward to having a break & seeing the old man!