Wednesday 05.04.2023

• Te Araroa kilometres done: 2777.5km
• Official kms: 26km
• Garmin kms: 28.14km (1.5km extra to hut)
• Total time: 7:31
• Calories burned: 2718
• Body battery: 7/10
• Accommodation: Kiwi burn hut.
• Tent nights tally: 18
• Zero days had so far: 28

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

I woke up about 4am to heavy rain & wind & was glad I was in a hut! I managed to fall back asleep & not wake again until 6:30am.

At about 8:15am I said goodbye to Jen & set off for the day. It’s just under 10km from here to the campsite following a 4wd track sometimes above the lake & sometimes around the lake.

I have another 28km day today to get to my destination of Kiwi burn hut. It was initially fast walking & by the time I got to the campsite just after 2 hours it started raining. I put my raincoat on & sat down at a picnic table for a 10 minute break.

After leaving again it wasn’t long before I got to the swing bridge south of North Mavora lake from here the rest of the day was basically in bush, it was also raining for most of this.

I didn’t stop for lunch until close to 2pm, that’s when there was a break in the weather & I could stop & sit down. It was nice to be off my feet as I had done about 22km at this point.

After lunch there was only a little over 6km to go, but there were a few detours around some pretty big wind falls to navigate. One of them was a quite a detour to find the trail again.

I managed to get to the hut & Arnaud & Monique were already here having camped 4km before the North Mavora campsite last night. It’s an amazing hut with 2 rooms on opposite sides each having 6 beds. In the centre is the kitchen/dining area with an inside sink, tap, bench & fireplace.

It was good to get here early enough to sort out life admin & rest the legs before tomorrows 30km+ day to get to the highway where I intend to hitch to St Arnaud.