• Te Araroa kilometres done: 752km (25%)
• Official kms: 20km
• Garmin kms: 20.89km
• Total time: 8.03
• Calories burned: 4209
• Body battery: 8/10.
• Accommodation: Sam & Eves place
• Tent nights tally: 7

This morning I woke just after 6am. We are leaving here at 8am & are looking at completing around 30km. This includes going up & over the Hakarimatas into Ngaruawahia.

We left at 8am & were dropped at our starting point just before 8.30am. The 1st 5km was fast going & we were at the start of the Hakarematas within an hour. As the first 5km was easy I rang my wife who’s back home in Christchurch to check up on her as she has Covid. I wish I was there to take care of her.

This part of the trail started climbing steps fairly steeply before a right turn to do the Kauri track which wasn’t as steep, just as we approached the giant Kauri, Nichola & Ayumi were there! It was good to see our hiking buddy’s (Tramily) that we met on day 1.

We hiked for a while together until the lookout where we stopped for a quick break. From here Gokul took off & then me, followed by the girls.

This next 9km had to be some of the toughest terrain I have done on the TA so far, probably due to the fact it was so humid! Before the last climb I ran out of water & really struggled as I was hugely dehydrated, wet throughout just from the humidity & sweat. I was glad that I was able to get some water off a runner at the top, who gave me half a litre.

The last part of this section was a steep descent down with lots of steps. About a kilometre down & 250 metres of elevation loss there was a small stream where I drank a litre of water through my filter & filtered a further 750ml to rehydrate myself.

After the descent was done I walked a further 2km around Ngaruawahia before calling it quits just over the 20km mark as it had been a long & hard day. My brother in law Sam picked us up not long after & we arrived back at his house to have hot showers & an amazing healthy meal (just what the body needed) so grateful for family & friends & all they have done to support me through this.

Tomorrow we are slack packing it as we are staying a 2nd night at Sam & Eves place, so will aim for a 30km+ day. Hoping to meet up with Sam in town & take him out for lunch.

Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day…..