• Official kms: 30km
• Garmin kms: 33.46km
• Total time: 8.30
• Calories burned: 3349
• Body battery: 8/10 a bit of a restless sleep.
• Accommodation: Dad & Andrea’s
• Tent nights: still 6

The alarm went off at 6am & I awoke as planned, finished off yesterday’s blog & then cooked up breakfast of Bacon & eggs for everyone.

It’s Gokul’s birthday today so we are planning a dinner at a restaurant tonight which has been booked for 7pm. Andrea has baked him a cake & we are going to surprise him after coming back from dinner.

Today we took off just after 8am & as we were slack packing (just day packing) as dad was going to pick us up at the end & bring us back to his house. The aim is to get about 33km done.

It took about 3km just to get back onto the trail from dads , going around Marsden refinery & then we were soon on the beach which was just beautiful!

Within about 11km we hit another milestone. The official 400km mark on the trail! Not bad for 21 days with 3 zero days included!

Another 4km down the road we stopped at a cafe in Ruakaka for coffee & cake before heading back down the beach.

Gokul & I then walked about 4km of road & got to Waipu just before 2pm to have a late lunch.

After lunch there was some off road, then on road & then some off road track. While walking along the road a car pulled up behind & I heard my name called. An old friend from when I lived in Auckland recognised me & we stopped & chatted for 5 minutes. It was good to catch up with Mini, she had just been at the beach with her kids.

Gokul & I continued along until just before the intersection of the main road & Cullen road, as we were making our way there for our final break, a man walked past & wished Gokul a happy birthday, he thanked him & we carried on walking looking at each other confused? About a minute later we got to the intersection & there was our crew singing happy birthday as we approached, they had told the man they were waiting for their friend whose birthday it was!

After catching up for 20 minutes & when Jon & Caroline had caught up, we carried on up Cullen road 3km & got picked up by dad. Once home Gokul & I went for a swim while the others showered & then showered & went out to dinner in Waipu for Gokul’s birthday, with dad & Andrea.

We got home around 9pm & had the birthday cake for Gokul. It’s been a good day & evening, but I am tired! So off to bed I go, ready for another hot day of walking tomorrow!