Tuesday 21.02.2023

• Te Araroa kilometres done: 1999
• Official kms: 21km
• Garmin kms: 20.95km
• Total time: 6:56
• Calories burned: 3251
• Body battery: 8/10
• Accommodation: Upper Travers hut.
• Tent nights tally: 14
• Zero days had so far: 20

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/walking-te-araroa-3000km-for-the-key-to-life

Track me live here:

https://aus-share.explore.garmin.com/curtiss

We started the day early this morning. The plan is to leave at 7am. We were on time. It was initially a nice fast easy walk on big open flats.

The plan is to stop for breaks every 2 hours so it would work out perfect to have a break & then the second break around 11am at John Tait hut. This was 14km in & was a nice easy gradient & track. We stopped here for 30 minutes for an early lunch before taking off. The sign said 3 hours & 6.7km to Upper Travers from here.

Just over 2km after leaving from lunch, Mark, Alina & Ladina decided to stop for a swim at Travers falls, I decided my legs were feeling good & it was only 4.5km to our end point with 350 metres of elevation still to gain, I carried on & tackled this last bit.

I managed to push on at a pretty good pace & even passed a group of 6 on their way up. The scenery as you got further up was amazing!

I arrived at the hut at just on 2pm, Alina & Ladina were about 20 minutes after & Mark about 20 minutes after them.

It was good to get here early, have a wash, rinse & dry clothes & just relax the legs.

It’s been awesome having Mark on the trail with me. We have a big 4 days ahead of us though, hoping the weather works in our favour!