Thursday 06.04.2023

• Te Araroa kilometres done: 2806
• Official kms: 29km
• Garmin kms: 28.19km
• Total time: 6:37
• Calories burned: 1953
• Body battery: 6/10
• Accommodation: The village inn hotel Te Anau.
• 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 set the alarm early this morning, the plan is to leave at 1st light which is around 7am now that daylight savings has ended. I need to get to the main state highway early enough to hitch the 30km+ in Te Anau.

I was on time, this time joined by Jen. We thought we would pair up incase we need to cross the main river together.

It was about 1.5km to the main river but didn’t get more than knee deep. After we both crossed we followed the trail along a fence line for about another kilometre, it was quite overgrown & we had read on the notes that it is advisable to walk the gravel road out.

We decided to do just that & once we found a gate went through it following a row of trees all the way up to the road.

Nothing exciting here just a quiet gravel road. Once we got to about 14km in we stopped for a morning break in a run down tin bus stop. There were inscriptions inside calling it the TA Hobo tin lol.

After this Jen & I carried on. Jen stopped for lunch about another 9km down the road but I decided to keep going as there was less than 6km to the main road & I wasn’t feeling too hungry. About 3km before the highway I hit the next milestone. 2800 kilometres completed!

I reached the main road just before 2pm & managed to conjure up a ride into town where I was dropped at the hotel I’m staying at for tonight (I booked this while walking along the gravel road). I thought I would treat myself to nice accommodation as the next 3 nights after are in a lodge with just a bed & a desk.

It’s going to be awesome to have the next 3 days off to just relax, catch up on videos & blogs & resupply etc. it’s like a mini holiday off the trail. Only 200 kilometres to go……