• Te Araroa kilometres done: 914km
• Official kms: 32km
• Garmin kms: 35.75km
• Total time: 8.37
• Calories burned: 3354
• Body battery: 7/10
• Accommodation: Motel in Otorohanga with Antonia
• Tent nights tally: 10

This morning the alarm went off at 5.30am. We are leaving here at 7. Breakfast & coffee was had & making sure my bag was packed & ready.

I’m going to try & get a 30km day done today to get some distance & keep us ahead.

Antonia drove me to the New World in Te Kuiti which is my start point today, not long after arriving, Ayumi walked up & said hello before heading into the store for a resupply. And then Kevin wasn’t far behind either, doing the same thing.

I decided to head off as I need to get the distance done today. It started with a 2km walk through town before the start of the Mangaokewa river track. I followed this for just over 3km before getting to a broken bridge that I needed to cross to reach the road on the other side.

I decided today I would go the long way but faster way. Which was to follow the road for most of the day before reconnecting with the trail as I’ve been told that the river track is quite slow going & we have all our accommodation & plans booked & payed for up until the 14th of January. So I need to keep on schedule.

Just over 19km into today, Antonia turned up with lunch & we sat in the boot of the car having a cold drink & eating last night’s Chinese leftovers. It was such an awesome thing to have Antonia turn up for lunch in the middle of the day!

After she left i had a further 16km to do, so it was head down, bum up to get through it, with the last 8km being gravel road.

I finished at just after 4pm & just sat & chilled out while waiting for Antonia to turn up. (I also typed most of this blog!)

After being picked up it was straight back to the motel for a shower & get ready to meet up with Gokul, Tamara, Jon & Caroline who are staying at the same place, we are going to go out for dinner & catch up!

We got there 30 minutes earlier & ordered as we want an early night. It was a nice dinner, sharing stories & ideas & just in general catching up!

Back at the Motel now, ready for bed as we have to be up early, pack the car & aiming to leave at 7.30am. It’s been a very hot day & that sun has me beat! Let’s hope tomorrow is slightly cooler!