• Te Araroa kilometres done: 826km
• Official kms: 15.5km
• Garmin kms: 17.45km (gps wasn’t liking thick bush)
• Total time: 9.52
• Calories burned: 4563
• Body battery: 7/10 I need a day off!
• Accommodation: tent a trail angels
• Tent nights tally: 9

Woke up at 5.15am this morning, well really woke at 1am to blow my air mattress back up as I can confirm there is a leak! There was also a small pool of water from condensation down the end of my tent, so I packed away a damp sleeping bag. Then as I was packing stuff away a made a small tear in the tent (gear aid tape repaired that) hopefully that’s the end of my bad luck today!

We headed off just before 7.30am & I decided just to take my time today & enjoy the climb. I stopped for my 1st break after gaining the 600 metre elevation point. With the can of coke that Roger & Robyn bought with Kfc last night I stopped & had this & a muesli bar.

The rest of the climb was steady & steep in parts & was undulated until reaching the summit & the platform of Pirongia where Gokul, Lilly & myself stopped & sat down for lunch for a good 45 minutes.

After lunch it was a short walk to Pahautea hut another 30 minutes away, I stopped to take some photos & to refill my water for the next 6km section, the sign said 3-5 hours 🫣.

It wasn’t long before we had to steeply climb to the summit of Hihikiwi. Oh & some how the tip of my pole bent, so that wasn’t the end of my bad luck.

The rest of the track was steep up & down through mud. I think it took around 4 hours to do this 3-5 hour section, so not bad really. Once we exited the track we all sat down for a break. Gokul & I had a 2km road walk before being picked up & taken to our trail angels. The other 3 had a 9km walk to theirs. We said our goodbyes after stopping at our point & it wasn’t long before we were picked up. While waiting we seen & heard a thunderstorm not far from us.

At our accommodation we showered, had dinner, I called Antonia who is almost feeling normal after her second time having Covid. I’m looking forward to seeing her in a few days!!

Tomorrow we are leaving here at 8am & walking 26km to our freedom camping spot as there is no accommodation options unless we did a 40km day into Waitomo. I don’t think I’m up for that.